--* RULES FOR CREATORS *--
1: NEVER MAKE THINGS THAT DOES NOT BELONG IN THE SETTING OF THIS MUD.
This includes known items/monsters/characters from other worlds even
if that's also AD&D. Also includes things that we compare with our
own world. Both in descriptions, as comparisons and otherwise.
Reason for this rule: If things from other settings pop up the entire
athmosphere of the game is undermined.
2: NEVER MAKE SUPER-THINGS (armours/items/weapons/spells/monsters etc.)
This includes all things that are not balanced with the rest of the
excisting things in the game. This also extends to your private
use and private directory.
Reason for this rule: If the game is not balanced the fun for the
players is greatly reduced, tho they may love to have such items.
The reasons why you are not allowed to make such items even for your
own use are that:
1: The items has a tendency to get into the possession of players
whether the creator inteded it so or not. Possible reasons are
that you drop them as you log out or other creators clone them
and gives them to players (reason for demotion).
2: Your private directory is open for all to read and clone things
from, so they may be misused.
3: When such an item appears in the game there is no question as
to who cloned it and gave it away. It's simply always the fault
of the one who made it.
3: NEVER HELP PLAYERS. This includes giving away money and other things,
transportig them where they want to go, try to fix bugs that bothers
them and giving away info that is obviously meant to be hidden. Also
never CALL functions to raise lower stats/hp/ability scores/gp/etc
on players/monsters or to other advantages/disadvantages. This also
includes changing their titles/race/etc.
This does not include answering questions that they need answers to
to completely understand something in the game.
Reason for this rule: Obviously helping players ruins the challenge
and fun of the game. If they get things too easily the joy of getting
it is greatly dimished. Also it feels very unfair to the ones who
work/play a lot to receive an advantage another has gotten for free.
What to do instead: Tell any lord what the problem is, and he'll act
according to what we've agreed upon in PR-meetings. Also he'll know
how to fix things safely without creating bugs. Examples of this are
trying to add a level to any skill of a player or changing their
guilds or race. NEVER do this.
4: NEVER SHOUT OR OTHERWISE SPREAD YOUR BAD FEELINGS ABOUT OTHERS.
If there is a problem with either a player or another creator,
it should be discussed in a lord-meeting. We'll decide what to do
about it there, and possibly call in the "accuser and guilty" for
an interview. This includes shouting and chat'ing words that are
bound to insult people for religious, racial, sexual or other
similar reasons.
Reason for this rule. When the creators (the ones people look up to)
here start spreading ill temper the players are bound to pick up on
it, and this will make the mud a very unpleasant place to be. Also
most things we disagree and get angry with each other for are due to
misunderstandings. After a short discussion most things are settled.
5 USE A TEST-CHARACTER FOR TESTING. You're allowed to have ONE character
besides your creator-character for testing things. Use it for this
purpose and for adventuring. When used for adventuring, the above rules
for player interference still counts. When you test new items, ALWAYS
do this on your test character, and not on players.
Reason for this rule: When a player gets hurt due to your actions you
will not be allowed to reinstate him, and if he gains more benefits than
you meant to give you'll not be allowed to remove it again. We need to
have a common policy in how to rule what should be done in such instances,
so to keep confusion to a minimum, only lords are allowed to compensate.
6 NEVER MAKE THINGS THAT KILLS PLAYERS WITHOUT PROPER WARNING. If you make
a very powerful monster or a room that is likely to kill a player, let
them be warned somehow before they're dead.
Reason for this rule: When players die because of their own stupidity,
that is of course fair enough, but if it happens without them having
ample reason for suspecting a "trap" it ruins the fun of gaming.
7 GIVE JUST REWARDS FOR ACTIONS BY THE PLAYERS. If a monster or quest is
very easy to complete, don't give huge rewards. Most monsters shouldn't
have any items on them, only the ones that are hard to beat.
Reason for this rule: When the game is balanced everything is fun. When
you get a big reward for doing just a simple thing the harder quests/
monsters lose their whole reason for being there. Players need to feel
that they're progressing towards something (the reason for a level system).
If they get it all from the start, there's nothing to look forward to.
8 READ THE DOCS. The docs provide information on what functions you can use,
and some hints to how things are supposed to work. It will enable you to
make better code than if you don't read them.
Reason for this rule: We have changes and added some function to make the
game run faster and more smoothly. If you use ...say 2.4.5 code it may work,
but not as fast or well as it would using our new functions. Also it will
help you code things faster and above all in an easier way.
9 DON'T CHANGE YOUR NAME OR YOUR SHORT.
Reason for this rule: You mire the debug logs with errors due to bad id's.
Also several commands can get corrupted by this. 'who', 'finger' and
'people' are examples of commands that always gets ruined.