Posted by Proud Blade(VIP) on November 3, 2000 at 10:26:38:
In Reply to: Reply to Thoughts of the Day below posted by Ophiuchi on November 3, 2000 at 09:51:57:
1. Either make more communication channels like [NEWBIE], or classify some communication modes (such as tell) to be completely OOC (exempt from RP judgements from imms). Log them to catch cheaters, but don't judge a char by what is said across the channel. I disagree strongly. "chat" channels break the feel, and would just pull people out of their role. Wanna chat? Go to IRC or ICQ or something. Otherwise, you're just teaching newer players that their role is a "sometimes" thing. The Newbie channel breaks this rule, but it does so out of necessity, not out of boredom. 2. Lessen the requirement for tattoos, induction for cabals, etc. A newbie will learn MORE about what it means to be a rager by hanging out with more experienced players already a rager. There's no point in withholding cabal/tattoo from a newbie simply because s/he "doesn't know as much as the elites". As long as the person shows inclination to learn, and is willing to obey the rules/laws, why not. Bah. All of the times I have recently been interviewed, it was purely a test of my roleplay. Only once was I sent out to do a "task", and it was by a mortal, and I was inducted even though I half-botched it. Why? Shinkoujinei seemed to like how I handled the botching, and my failure was partly for OOC reasons. (The involved parties just didn't log in very often.) Getting into a cabal should demonstrate that you can roleplay to the standards of that cabal. Nothing less. Getting a tattoo should show that you have mastery of the tenets of that religion. Nothing less. Making them so easy that anyone can get in means that the reward is meaningless, and loses its appeal. I would open the programming of areas to players, and let them work on it with the administrative imms to decide whether it's good to put in. Nope again. Designing areas requires a strong grasp of game balance, and a grasp of what has been done before. Newer players don't have this. Could an IMP shadow them and guide them along? I'm sure they could, but it would be an inefficient use of their time. Also, newer players are not held to the type of confidentiality that IMMs are bound to. In game god duties such as quests, religions should be separated from administrative duties such as catching cheaters and deciding whether or not an area is to be implemented. They are. They are handled by the same people, but they are wearing different hats when they do it. Both policing and administrating are OOC decisions. The programming of new features, like new cabals, new skills, new spells, should be separaed from writing new areas. No. See above argument about "game balance", "originality", and "experience". It is damned hard to create a level playing field among the classes. Newer players don't appreciate this as much. Proof? Read the ideas posted on the Forum. Some are good, some are awful. They're all over the map. The staff has better things to do than troubleshoot all of them. Every player before, (and probably now) have to go through the red tape of being able to RP, Rule #1: Roleplaying is required. If it's such a task for you, you have selected the wrong MUD to play. imm by judgement from a "higher up", then kiss their ass in order to write an area or what not, and kiss more ass to get promoted to higher imm levels. You sound like the guy that thinks every co-worker that gets along with the boss is an "ass-kisser". Sometimes, a senior person with greater experience than you is better suited to make these sorts of decisions objectively. just how much time do you want a high lvl imm to supervise low lvl imms? So you are asking them to supervise lower level IMMs and any yahoo who can email in a coding idea? > I don't see any reason why a computer literate, lvl 1 who's never mudded before can't write an area or a feature for CF so long as they can stick to the themes, be willing to work with someone who were there before them. How about: "They don't understand the game well enough to improve it." Or: "They wouldn't even know what is already out there." Or: "They don't have a feel for what the playerbase wants as a whole, only themselves." Or: "Many newer players aren't very good roleplayers, and it would show in their contributions to the MUD." Sheesh.