So, there is this happy little community of cave people, wandering around in the jungle picking berries, carving wooden tools, and running around naked (it's prehistoric, they can get away with it). One cave man takes a casual stroll through the forest. For the sake of this example, we'll call him Gak. Gak wanders through the forests and finds a bone. It's a big bone, and a heavy bone. He picks it up and thinks how unlike the usual carving wood it is. So he takes it back, and carves off the ugly parts and gives it a nice handle. His friend Tunk comes a long, and looks at his bone. Tunk tries to take it away from him so he can look at it. Gak doesn't like this, so he thumps Tunk over the head with the bone. Tunk falls unconscious. Suddenly Gak realizes the power he has in his hands. He declares himself leader of the tribe and thumps anyone who denies his right, sending them into dreamy land! Gak threatens all the cave men to go gather berries and build him a big hut, and he demands that all the women idle around his big hut waving ferns around. Gak becomes all-powerful. Why? Because of one stupid little club, a weapon that none of the other unintelligent cavemen know how to duplicate or beat.
The question now, if we go back in time, what can we do to prevent Gak from becoming this way? Being the way he is, he will invariably discover some way to invent a club, be it out of a heavy piece of bone or a similarly shaped chunk of wood. He will learn that he can hurt people with it. What can we do to stop Gak?
(I was hard pressed to decide whether this belongs in here or in Babble, but since this is actually a question for my game, I think it fits in here.)
ID:154285
 Feb 9 2002, 7:56 am
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If Tunk and Blog both decided they didn't want Gak hitting them with the bone, they could rush him and take him pretty easily; a bone club is not an effective weapon against 2 people. That's a good point. I need to put in some kind of subdue command so you can take down the trouble makers and render them helpless. (How exactly to do that is another question...) At least they aren't smart enough to understand that pointy things hurt more than getting thumped. | |
I think the time traveler is doomed to disappointment: The problem isn't with Gak. Tunk tried to take the bone; he has issues too. Moreover, leadership would already have been established for it to occur to Gak; that leadership would probably be based on physical strength, not owning a weapon--Gak's innovation would change things a little but the leadership thing was probably there already. There's also the problem of inventiveness: Gak is probably not the only caveman with a brain, and Tunk could just as easily look for a bone himself, make one like Gak's, and challenge him. An arms race would begin. And remember, even wood is still good for bonking people over the head.
Of course, all this is moot anyway because Gak wouldn't get very far with his "I must be leader because I have the only weapon" scheme. If Tunk and Blog both decided they didn't want Gak hitting them with the bone, they could rush him and take him pretty easily; a bone club is not an effective weapon against 2 people. Gak probably also wouldn't have had much time by this point to practice using his bone; an expert club-handler would have an easier time fending off an attack. And finally, we must remember that Gak has to sleep sometime; his bone could be taken from him then.
Lummox JR