Support role-based permissions

[oubiwann]

E.g., wizard, player, observer. Hrm... observers could be part of the gameplay as ghosts or spirits...

[oubiwann]

I'm probably going to do what I did ages ago for XML-RPC in another project, and use cred + role interfaces...

[oubiwann]

4th Edition D&D has class roles such as:

• Leader
• Defender
• Striker
• Controller

Perhaps the most common controller class is the Wizard. This is, of course, what is used as the super-user in MUDs. I'd like to offer more fine-grained control (e.g., creating objects, creating rooms, creating new levels in a map, creating whole new maps, etc).

There are several classes that have the Controller Role in D&D 4. The ones that seem applicable to splitting up the responsibilities of MUD creation/manipulation are listed here, with power associations:

• Wizard (arcane) - creating objects, changing objects, teleporting people
• Druid (primal) - creating natural objects, working with the earth and nature spirits
• Invoker/Cleric (divine) - changing game rules
• Psion (psionic) - changing player stats, names, classes, etc.

Another view of permissions:

• Deity - creating maps, open areas (anything on a planetary, national, regional, or prefecture level)
• Titan - creating new cities, dungeons, or dungeon levels
• Architect - creating buildings, dungeon rooms
• Craftsman - furniture, books, clothing, orbs, weapons, and other game objects

Maybe we can go with both for now :-) Interfaces for creating/controlling game content (subclasses of ICreator):

• IDeity
• ITitan
• IArchitect
• ICraftsman

Interfaces for administering users and in-game play and related data (subclasses of IController):

• IWizard
• IDruid
• IInvoker
• IPsion

There's actually a nice separation here: the creator permissions allow for the game catalogs to be updated. The controller permissions allow only for the instantiation and manipulation of cataloged items, not the creation of unknown items.