[Ed: I found this interesting read over at alt.games.everquest ... what a busy group that is ... had never been there before] Welcome To The Player Wimping Guidebook!
(or how to dry up your mud in no time)
uking up a mud is surprisingly simple. With a little bit of time and
dedicated effort to your own stupidity, you too can ruin your mud for the
players, cause strife beyond belief, and take your mud down a slow spiral to
implosion from within. The two best ways to do this are Wiping and Wimping.
For those of you new to being little tin gods, I will be using the following
definitions:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Terms Used Here:
Imms, Immortals, Gods: Those who run a mud. These are the admins that build
or oversee the mud. Sometimes called Dungeon Masters or GMs, DMs, or IMPs.
Mud: Not the gooey stuff women wrestle in, but a multi-user dungeon. An
online game where multiple players interact with each other and computer
generated monsters.
Mobs: No, not 100 middle-aged women in a store with a big shoe sale! Mob
refers to computer generated monsters on a Mud.
Trolls: People who simply like to cause problems and get off on watching the
resultant fallout and fighting.
Wiping: is the act of doing a player file wipe. This destroys all player
information, including hours played, gold collected, equipment earned, and
all other facets of the character. It may or may not include the player's
name.
Wimping: is the act of taking away from a player's skills, spells, or
effectiveness in some other way, such as reducing weapon effectiveness or
boosting mobs (computer generated monsters) to an incredible degree. It can
also refer to the reduction of gold. Wimping is called nerfing or blunting
in many circles.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Player Wimping A Critical Examination
Generally done under the rationalization of "mud balancing" or "restoring
the challenge" the act of wimping players or 'nerfing' is one of the most
insidious acts one can undertake. Wimping results in more hurt players, and
more shattered morale for a mud than anything any player could ever
accomplish. What is worse is that it is done by those who ostensibly are
tasked with protecting the game and making it a better place to spend your
entertainment hours. Wimping has destroyed more than one mud that I have
been on, and has hurt loyal mudders across the world.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Best Intentions:
Almost without fail, when a mud starts, it starts because a player decides
the gaming world needs something "friendly and unique" and finds himself in
a situation where he is not satisfied with how the mud he is on is run. The
player, now a new Implementor (chief administrator) believes that he can do
a better job than those whose mud he has left and so he simply starts his
own. In many instances he is disappointed or sad at the way that players on
his X-mud have been treated and thinks he can do it better, making an
environment where people can feel wanted and safe. Indeed the ideal he
starts with is to become for his players what he wished the gods on his
X-mud had been for him. So he sets about the task.
His idealism is in full bloom as he hires a staff of builders and coders and
installs a couple of gods, (usually friends from his X-mud), and he then
sets out to make a wonderful new place for people to come and enjoy. He goes
to great lengths to find out what players want in a mud and does his best
within reason to accomplish it. As part of this process he puts together an
Alpha-Test team, (usually a group of players from his old mud), and later he
opens the mud up for Beta-Testing. During these two formative stages,
adventuring areas are built, weapons are made, gold is calculated, spells,
skills and player attributes are decided upon and put in place. It is a hell
of a lot of work.
Of necessity Alpha and Beta testing are times of changes, massive equip and
spell adjustments, boosting and reducing of mobs, gold and whatnot. The
basics are balanced. Weapons are made to be effective but not insane in
their power, spells and skills get the same treatment. Mobs are made to be a
challenge but not suicidal - which is a demoralizer for players. During the
beta-test time, all that is to come is set up, balanced, and put in place
for the people who will come to play. When this Herculean task is finished
the mud is opened up to the public. Sometimes a player-file wipe is done and
all of the beta tester's characters are destroyed so everyone starts out on
equal footing. Many times Imps give those kind enough to have been alpha or
beta testers some incentive like leveling tokens or something for their
efforts and the time they invested in beta testing. The new mud is on the
air and everyone is excited!
The Honeymoon:
As the mud opens, the gods and builders are visible and helpful, they give
freely of their time to players with little grudging. The Imms make attempts
to get people to come try their mud and they are usually responsive to
players requests. The Imms and builders PLAY their own mud, (as opposed to
just RULING it) , leveling characters and grouping with those players they
are there to serve. Imms will sometimes make it known who they are sometimes
not so as to judge how well the players are enjoying their new creation. In
short the Imms CARE about how the players feel about the mud, and they are
more interested in the players than they are in anything else. This period
can vary in length greatly depending on the personalities involved and just
how idealistic the new IMP and his gods are about making players happy. It
is a good time to be in the game for everyone.
At this stage players are the reason for the mud. The Imms know why they
went to all this work, it was to make the players happy! And by god they are
there to do just that... for a while.
As time goes on however, the mud begins to grow. As may be easily surmised
so do player requests for interaction and assistance, requests for special
favors or weapons, demands for change to the basic skill set, and a plethora
of other demands and expectations that can be expected from the type of
people drawn to mudding and role playing games in general. At first, the IMP
and his gods do their best to keep people happy, sometimes giving in to
truly bad or stupid ideas and even fringe-player demands. It is likely that
they will give in against their own gut feelings when they do some of these
things. In their rightly motivated effort to please they sometimes go
further than they should thus setting themselves up to fail.
After a while things begin to change for the Imms... not in the mud or with
the players but within themselves.
Midlife Crisis:
Somewhere along the way the gods begin to feel pressured and they begin to
withdraw. Slightly at first, simply going invisible, but they still talk
regularly with players. But it does not stop, things slide more and more and
they find themselves slowly cutting even simple player discussion down. Soon
the Imms find themselves only talking to their peers. They start to see
players as a bunch of whiney cheaters who are there simply there to take
advantage of the generosity offered by the immortal staff.
Another thing that seems to happen about this time is that the gods begin to
re-examine things that a year or six months ago were just fine and were
accepted as normal. For some reason they reach a point where they find fault
with things that were okay just a month ago. Imms also begin to care less
and less about the PEOPLE on the mud, those who the mud was originally built
to serve, and they begin to think more in terms of the CREATION - that is
their computer-code, damage-tables, or the fact that people seem to be
actually having too much success by leveling in a quicker manner than the
gods think is reasonable.
In short the admins lose sight of the fact that people are having FUN, and
instead choose to dwell upon the fact that the mud didn't evolve, and
players didn't play in the way that they had pre-structured in their own
minds.
Danger Point:
It is at the point where the players become secondary to the creation that
the danger exists. Along with a select group of other gods, (generally the
ones perceived by players as having earned the rank to satiate their power
hungry or controlling natures), the IMPs begin to look at changing and
blunting ESTABLISHED skills spells or weapons. They talk to people who will
by their nature agree, asking little if any input from the players that will
be most affected by their choices. After all this is "not their mud" and
"they didn't work so hard to create it". The imms also tend not to ask
others who might disagree. Like generals who believe in their own
press-releases this self-serving time will cost them later.
The Imms now go back and revisit some of the 'special favors' they did for
people. The realize that they made mistakes in trying to kiss ass to those
they tried to draw to their mud and they start to make adjustments to the
things that they themselves fucked up in an early attempt to please. Many
times this is somewhat justified, one or two spells might just be way
overpowered. These are changed, and the predictable outcry from those
affected occurs. The imms put up with this, attempting to justify their
actions, and taking time to try to mollify the people who have been hurt.
They even apologize and in some cases admit their own culpability. However
at the same time there is an undercurrent of resentful feelings that the
players would "whine" so much and "create so many problems" over something
that was obviously so wrong.
This sets them up for the mind set wherein the players become even more of
an enemy. All later complaints are relegated to "whining" or "selfish
bitching" and when the next round of wimping comes, with its predictable
outrage the Imms don't try to explain it nearly as well, instead opting to
be aloof and uncaring or they will blame it on players for 'overusing' an
item or spell. Some will even blame it on builders or imms who have departed
and can not defend themselves. The mindset does not abate even later when
Imms are mucking with things they should not be. At that point they actively
antagonize players and the 'my mud not theirs' mindset is fully realized. In
short they set themselves up against the players and so their
rationalization is that no matter what they do the players will be a bunch
of whiners...
What has happened is a marked shift from player centerdness to one of
worshiping at the alter of their creation - the software program that runs
the mud. Damage tables become more important than player satisfaction and
they begin to seek out the most minor of things to change in what was once a
well established world under the banner of 'making everything equal'.
As time goes by pressures of all kinds, from the external player complaints
about other classes to Imms own air-headed want to relegate players to a
pre-structured jail cell of how the Imms expected people to play or level
becomes much more important than player happiness and more and more things
are slated to be wimped; weapons, gold, good-solid established skills or
spells.. nothing is safe, nothing is sacred.
Within the players, this produces a natural, rational, and predictable
reaction. What they counted on today may not be there tomorrow. These gods
that were so kind and helpful before have now become the adversaries, seen
as tyrants or people not to be trusted because they have betrayed the
implied and implicit trust that the players gave them when they decided to
invest their personal time and play the mud on a regular basis.
The Death Spiral:
As the immortals, (and yes I do place full responsibility on the immortals,
because it is in fact they who have the power to ameliorate things, and the
responsibility to the mud NOT to do it in the first place), continue to wimp
players, boost mobs, drop gold gathering abilities, raise prices, and reduce
weapon effectiveness, players begin to align themselves into two camps. One
group who "backs the Imms, 'because they know best and wouldn't hurt us'",
and one group who feels "betrayed and hurt" by the removal or destruction of
that which they have worked so hard to obtain.
The first group, the 'god-backers' seems to break down into three subgroups.
Before determining how great you are for your wonderful wimping, consider
the fact that the motivations of those players that appear to be backing you
may not be as pure as you believe.
Factionalization Of The Mud:
Once the wimping begins the mud breaks into little parts. Myopia sets in and
people begin to lose sight of the fact that once they were all friends and
having fun playing together. Instead it becomes a power struggle and a
political infight with groups breaking off into encampments trying to get
their way. If the IMPS have foolishly surrounded themselves with "yes-man"
type gods, then this won't carry over into the administration, but if the
IMP had the forethought to install people as gods who would speak their own
mind, this factionalization will also occur in the immortal camp as well.
God backers seem to break down into one of these three groups:
Self-Preservationists - Probably the largest group on the god-backers team
are the self-preservationists. They are also the least loyal to your
position as an Imm bent on wimping. These people are participating in a
typical human reaction similar to that of the pre-war Germany where the
populace allowed those in power to take rights and property from others, and
even SUPPORTED it in the vain and stupid hope that the authorities would
remember them, and not take similar action against their race or class at a
later date. As with the people in Germany, this belief of course vanished as
soon as the authorities turned their interest toward their particular
minority. It is indeed gratifying to watch self-preservationists become
enraged and vocal when they get the nerfed as the self-preservationists tend
to be the ones that have the fiercest and most vociferous outcry when THEY
are the ones being betrayed by the administrators of the mud. The already
wimped players will see this as an ironic form of justice for not having
stood by them when the imms were mucking up their stuff.
Ass-Kissers - When an established skill or spell is taken from others, a
very significant portion of those who back you as an Imm are doing so for
the sole reason that they would blindly agree to any damn thing you did! You
should already know the kind. These people likely want to ingratiate
themselves to you because they have their own aspirations for immhood in the
future and know full well that being buddies with a god, (especially when
standing up for an unpopular action), will win them approval with you and
subsequent favors or other consideration or bent rules. It is also important
to remember that many people who want to cause strife to your mud, (See
'Bitchers' in the next section), will pretend to agree with you because its
the best way that they can think of to be able to SAFELY (to themselves)
stir the shit with arguments which they know will cause problems and hurt
others in order to meet their final agenda. Online these people are known as
trolls.
Genuine-Believers - There will be a few people who will genuinely and
honestly believe that what you are doing is right. A person is most likely
to belong to this group if he agrees with what you are doing and it is being
done to him. (Although its very important to remember that the Ass-Kissers
many times will do this even to their own detriment.) Genuine believers may
believe their points after rational and cerebral introspection, or they may
simply be blind followers. The fact that you can find people to agree with
you even if that belief is genuinely held in no way makes what you are doing
right however.
In the same way as the god-backers have subgroups, so too do the
wimping-detractors.
The Betrayed - Probably the largest group of those who would be labeled
wimping-detractors are those who rightfully feel betrayed and hurt by the
immortals. These players have invested very significant periods of time on
the mud, and have raised themselves up to a certain level of skills and
spells by hard work and initiative. They have gone to great lengths to get
the equipment they feel is best, and they have developed a persona and a
playing style around the items and rules originally supplied to them by the
gods. They operate within the rules and use the equipment and spells to its
fullest advantage - as well they should - and then some Imm notices it and
BAM. These people have a genuine sense of betrayal. That which they were
allowed to earn is stolen from them by the very Immortals that they counted
upon to do right by them. They have lost abilities, or had them
significantly blunted by those who once said "We made this game for you, and
for your fun.". Instead those same immortals are now telling them "If you
don't like it start a new character or your own mud... we know what's best".
When the immortals take that attitude it simply reinforces the betrayed's
feelings and proves him right.
The Bitchers - There is a certain group of mudders who will always cause
problems. Wimping is but another excuse for them to attempt to cause strife
on the mud and to do the best they can to control other people by using the
unhappiness of the situation to make them do things they might not
ordinarily do. You will already know these people, as they never ever ever
have anything positive to say, they spend no time whatsoever trying to make
people happy or doing good, but instead always make it their business to
cause shit. They are labeled as trolls in many communities because they do
nothing more than spoil things for others. Though comprising nowhere NEAR
the numbers of actually betrayed people, the bitchers do present a
significant number of wimping detractors. These people should be completely
ignored by both sides in this battle as they are there for the sole purpose
of causing problems and inciting unhappiness.
The Ethical/Moralists - Most certainly the smallest group in the
wimping-detractors are those who have thought the issue through thoroughly,
not having taken into account how they were affected, but instead looking at
how things really are affecting people and determined that the wimping was
just simply wrong or unjust. These people will make good directed arguments
which show forethought and a care for players above all else, including the
sacred damage tables or other garbage that the imps might trot out to
justify their stance. Of course this pisses off the Imms even more because
the damage tables and economy tables are now the imms sacred cows, not the
players but they cant SAY that for obvious reasons. Hell maybe they don't
even see that in themselves!
Almost always the Ethical/Moralists people will find themselves ostracized
or vilified simply for speaking out, and because their arguments make sense,
they will be seen as a threat to the mud and to the mud by the admins. If
the Ethical/Moralists are gods on the game they are usually removed or
chastised for not being a "team player" rather than being allowed to speak
out, as their arguments are compelling and well directed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
The Effect:
As you can see factionalization shatters the camaraderie and friendships
that a good mud will have groomed and encouraged. This downward spiral has
resulted in the death of more than one mud that I am personally familiar
with and made a couple others totally not worth the time to play... unless
of course you simply like to watch people fight. These actions pit friends
and players against each other in the same way as a civil war pits brother
against brother or adultery pits spouse against spouse. There can be no
winners once this occurs, only those who have not lost as much as others. Is
this what you want to have happen to your mud? Would you like a nice set of
well balanced tables, damages, leveling times, and the other things you seek
through wimping, or would you prefer to make 50 to 3000 people happy to play
on your mud without infighting?
The above described events comprise a circle where one screw-up feeds off of
another which feeds off of another until a continuing and destructive
downward spiral occurs. The spiral stops when one of two things happens,
either the mud dies because someone with enough power pulls the plug on the
mud itself out of disgust, or a large portion of the players and dissenting
immortal staff are purged or quit leaving only those who were in blind
agreement. The residual players and Imms are battered, bruised and wary from
the fight. People in this condition are in no mind set to help newbies or to
recruit new players and this apathy results in a feeling of morbidity that
takes months to dissipate.
Basically you've fucked yourself and your mud at this point.
Solutions and Suggestions:
So far I have presented the realities of what I opine happens when you wimp
or wipe your players and/or their equipment. Almost without exception it
results in pain, strife, fighting, factionalization, forced-deletions,
players quitting, rules about free expression imposed, and many other
negative repercussions. So what can you do? Your mud is unbalanced and
players are whining, your mathematical formulas don't add up the way you'd
like and you want to change something....
First re-evaluate. WHY are you considering making these changes, is it
because players are bitching that one class is better than the other or can
deal death out to mobs faster? Is it because you're bored and have nothing
better to do and you feel change for changes sake is good? Is it because you
have power, and just want to fuck with people? (If so don't bother to read
any more, just mail me so I never go to your mud. :P)
Second, look again at what you hope to accomplish and for whom. You likely
created this game in part to make people happy. It wasn't an exercise in
programming (well not in most cases anyway) it was to serve the public, do
do a greater good wasn't it? Or was it so you could stroke your ego? Was it
because you wanted to have power over people? Were you attracted by the hope
of power to make them sad to ruin their free-time, and to make their efforts
worthless? Naw, I didn't think so! If you don't do this wimping will your
mud fail? Doubtful. Unless you are a total fuck up and put in dozens of
things that were way to powerful from the start, and didn't sweep them out
in beta, then your mud will survive without the unfriendliness that wimping
will bring far better than after you participate in wimping.
Lastly, is it worth the cost? You are about to lose players and maybe an
immortal or two. Is this what you want to occur? Are players worth anything
to you? Will you GET more players in return for the ones you lost when the
game playing public hears of what a great job of wimping you have done? If
so have at it, but think... few people come to muds because they have heard
of how great the balance is, most people come because they hear the gods
make it a FUN place to play and that the people are friendly. Nerfing begets
the antithesis of a friendly environment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Last Logic:
I am sure that I haven't covered all potential arguments with the following
Q&A nor will I try, however you decide to ignore this, I do wish you and
your player-base luck.
But Tenny, some of my players are bitching that the classes aren't balanced!
Yea? when have they not bitched? I know it seems rhetorical, but some
players will ALWAYS bitch that the classes aren't balanced. Hell if you took
all classes off your mud except say warriors, and then you copied all of the
skill set into 4 other named classes, renamed the skills and classes, making
no adjustments, people would STILL say they weren't balanced. Instead simply
state up front, classes do not compare. Tell them, "Play the one you like
best for you, don't judge yourself against others, and if the one class is
much better make one of them". (don't then fuck that up by rebalancing
another class).
Now IF you are so damn interested in balancing classes, and you feel that
this is of paramount importance, then they key is to GIVE and not to take.
GIVE new skill-sets or powers to the ones you feel are weaker. There will be
some bitching from those who are who don't get something new, or increased
damage, but that will subside a lot faster and be far less divisive than if
you steal that which the others have already earned. If you are worried
about it making it easier to defeat mobs, then make a new area with bigger
mobs! People will always go for a challenge.
If you had two knives, one dull and one sharp, would it not make better
sense to make them equal by sharpening the dull one - not by blunting the
sharp one?
Computer generated creatures don't get their feelings hurt if they are
replaced or some new mob gets some special power. Players do.
Tenny, I just found out that the Druid Spell 'stick poke' has been
overpowered since we put it in!
Lets see if I got this right: You have an established spell that people have
come to rely upon that you just figured out all this time later was over
powered? Well then in point of fact it can't be that overpowered can it? If
it was, you would have seen this class just wiping the floor with the others
long before this and you would have corrected it within a month of its
inception. You did not. Therefore your assessment that this is going to mess
up your mud is fallacious. Had it been that big a deal before, it wouldn't
have gone for a period of months without being noticed.
Tenny, I put in some new equipment that makes the other stuff obsolete and
too high powered in comparison. Now I have to lower the older stuff so they
will want the new or so that there is more incentive to get it.
With all due respect, you are setting yourself up for failure. If your new
stuff is too powerful the answer in not to hurt the players that already
have the old stuff, its simply to lower the new stuff. You should have
looked at this before you put in the new items! If you don't lower the new
stuff, someday this new widget you put in today will look a lot like the old
stuff you're about to wimp. As for incentive, people will go to great
lengths to get that one extra damage roll or even just for bragging rights
("I got me a big mythril sword and I'm only the third person on the mud to
have done so!") So don't worry about it... and if the players don't want to
get the new thing... so what? Are you trying to stroke your equipment
building ego or is your goal to make a fun place to mud where people have
choices? Taking that which players have rightfully earned from them is
simply wrong.
Tenny, people are leveling too fast. I had envisioned it talking 3 months to
make Avatar, and this one guy did it in 2 weeks!!
So the players are having fun at the expense of how you perceived the mud
would play? They aren't sticking within your little cage of expectations and
are not blindly doing things in the way you had envisioned? Uhm, again with
all due respect SO WHAT? Did you see Jurassic Park? It makes for a good
analogy. Players are people - People, life itself, can not be boxed into
your perception of how to act and how to play. Some people mud to get
millions in virtual gold, some to attain levels, some want one Avatar
(highest level player) of each class, some come solely for social
interaction. As long as they are not maliciously hurting each other leave em
be and let them have fun!
To punish the average player for the success of your top ten percent players
is ridiculous. Unless your mud is dropping in players because massive
numbers of them are telling you 'this twink mud is too easy so I am
quitting', let them be! They are enjoying your creation as is! You made this
mud to be fun. People are having fun. THAT should be something you should
sit back and be proud of not screw around with simply to somehow chase the
unatainable ideal of making things appear fair, and never for some
mathematical calculation.
Tenny, I am in Beta test, and I don't want my players to keep all the stats
and weapons from our testing period, it wouldn't be fair.
This is the time where I agree that a Pfile wipe is appropriate. Also Alpha
and Beta testing is the time for you to make all the mods, wimping, tuning
and changes you're going to make on the basics. Beta testers should be told
in advance that they can count on a Pfile wipe. The problem is that most
IMPS look at normal mud life as an ongoing beta test and find themselves
continually fucking with established skills and spells. Do it once do it
right then leave it the hell alone. If you missed some moderate or small
problem after beta is over and people have come to count on it leave it the
hell alone. Nobody's gonna get hurt. Also you must give those nice people
that beta-tested for you some cool incentive to come back when the mud
opens, a few levels, or even a character that's half way up already, special
personalized equipment or something else that reflects your thanks for a job
well done.
Tenny, I just put in the Mage Spell 'urine pool' and found out that it is
too powerful, you cant say that I shouldn't reduce it are you?
Hell no! Though some would argue the point I don't feel I am that stupid.
When you have a brand new skill or spell make sure your players know that
you will be making changes as they are warranted. But hold yourself to a
limited beta period for each item. A month or two at the most. My thesis
through this entire treatise has been that it is the ESTABLISHED skills and
spells that you have a moral right not to mess with as people count on them.
If you put in something new, and people know that its in testing, then they
also know not to count on it. Once its in and relied upon, its too late.
Fine Tenny screw you, I will just tell everyone that NOTHING is stable or
static and that I can change anything I want to anytime and that if they
cant live with it then they should go to another mud.
Good! Now were making progress! At least you're finally being honest and
ethical with your players, even though you give them nothing to count on you
for - with the exception of change, loss, and pain, at least it is a fully
informed decision. You have given them all the consideration you morally
need to at this point. If they bitch after this then too bad. But do know
this, some people, (those who would be your most loyal 'cheerleaders'), will
be those who make a mud a long term home. Many measure this commitment in
years. If you take a stance like this, you will also find the loyalty
quotient to be fairly low. Nobody wants a long term commitment that
fluctuates. How would you like to be married to someone that would fluctuate
in how much they do drugs, commit adultery or beat you?
Tenny, I am a player and this wimping is happening to my mud, what can I do?
Hey! You are a PLAYER!?!?!? What are you doing reading this! Go away shoo!
Shoo! This was written for people a lot better than you, people more wise
and all knowing, people who KNOW that your ideas suck and that you have no
right to protest or complain! Go on hit the back button!
Seriously? Sadly my friend, it is likely you can not do not a damned
thing... I do NOT think that hiring a good sniper is a really prudent
solution and no matter how much you are upset, remember this IS a game and
it is completely insane to take any real life action of any kind against an
Imm over something as meaningless as mudding or online gaming. Try to write
well written notes to the Imps, complain publicly but not in a shrill
manner. Make your arguments using all the facts you can, and include in your
notes points that they make that you concede. Give them this URL if you
like. Try to be direct and always be honest. In point of fact tho, its not
gonna do a damn bit of good most likely. Decisions like this are made
usually made by people with the idea that players are going to bitch and for
whom the people who play their games are longer meaningful so their
happiness no longer drives the Imm staff. If that was the case, they would
have taken steps to avoid this sort of thing prior to your being upset.
If it bothers you enough, on either a personal level or on an ethical level
vote with your feet and leave the game. Let everyone know know why you are
taking this action, but don't do so with the intent to take others with
you... that's manipulative and wrong. When you go to your next mud or online
game, ask to talk to a god or better yet an imp. If one comes to you that's
a good sign. If they will talk openly and honestly with you about this topic
that's even better. You're about to make a commitment of some months and
many hours of your time, I don't think it unreasonable to ask a few pointed
questions. If they do think it is unreasonable.... do you really wish to
play there? I would not.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Closing Thoughts:
As I close this, it must be more than obvious where I stand on the issue of
Wimping Players and why. I am empathetic, even sympathetic to a degree to
what as a Mud-God you are trying to accomplish but I can not support that
which causes people to be hurt or stolen from. As many are fond of pointing
out, this is only a game, and as a good friend, Danilo's mother pointed out
"Don't you play this game to have FUN?!?!". We as immortals are here for the
players of our respective muds. We are no more real gods than Mao Tse Tung
was, despite our power to cause hurt feelings and destroy hours of play on a
whim.
Because we posses dictatorial power does not mean we are obligated or even
free to use it.
Sadly many of us lose track of the real purpose of what we began our muds
for. We lose sight of why we left our last mud, and begin to see our mortal
players as the enemy. Is it any wonder why we offer so many times to quit or
pull the plug? If the mud stops being fun for us because the damage curve
has a little blip in it, or because when we try to correct that tiny
mathematical anomaly and the PEOPLE we hurt complain, then have we not lost
track of why it began at all.....
I thought games were for the players to have fun, and for us to have fun in
serving them.
Was I wrong?
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup