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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: "'<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>'" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Peck, Matthew x96724c1" &lt;<A HREF="mailto:x96724#exmail,usma.army.mil">x96724#exmail,usma.army.mil</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 18:47:35 -0400</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>

&gt; [Marc Bowden]
&gt; &gt; 
&gt; &gt; On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Robert Woods wrote:
&gt; &gt; 
&gt; &gt; I find this 'tried-and-tested' heirarchy ironic, given that most (large)
&gt; &gt; businesses strive for an open management style, as flat as is possible.
&gt; &gt; Bear in mind what management knowledge I know is from various lectures
&gt; and
&gt; &gt; videos I've been forced to take in as opposed to first hand experience.
&gt; &gt; 
&gt; &gt; One mud I visited admitted they used an internal numeric representation
&gt; &gt; for 'wiz levels', not because it is actually useful but so they can
&gt; award
&gt; &gt; them to wizzes for actually doing something.
&gt; &gt; 
&gt; &gt; I personally find this distasteful, I hope never to use anything like
&gt; &gt; this but deep down, I know this horrendous Victorian approach works. 
&gt; &gt; 
&gt; 
&gt;   Yeah, well.
&gt;   Your cast members are no different from the players in that they need to
&gt; feel like they've achieved something, and need ways to benchmark those
&gt; achievements. If they don't they drift lethargically away, or turn to
&gt; more anti-social activities.
&gt; 
&gt; 
&gt; I would have to say that most "staff" members tend to act this way.  They
&gt; feel the need for advancement, even if there is no logical reason why they
&gt; should be advanced, regardless of the merit of the promotion.  In most
&gt; MUDs I have worked at, promotions tend to give more access to
&gt; administrative commands, which can easily be abused.  In addition,
&gt; promoting immortals tends to make the hierarchy very top heavy.  "If
&gt; so-and-so immortal is level 80, why can't I be level 80?"  It doesn't
&gt; matter that they do more work than the higher level person, or perceive
&gt; that they do (someone earlier in the thread stated that the initiates and
&gt; lower creators do most of the "real" work or something like that).  Though
&gt; if they are an excellent builder, what recourse does one have?
&gt; 
&gt; The hierarchy that I want to create will be a little different, in that
&gt; there are no real ranks, only jobs.  A person cannot be promoted from
&gt; initiate to senior creator to elder, but instead, they have the job of
&gt; "builder", where that is their main assignment.  Specialized jobs will
&gt; have different commands and such, but there is no way that you can be
&gt; promoted unless you enter one of those jobs.  Since there is a limited
&gt; number of specialized jobs (quest master, guild master, etc), there is a
&gt; more even hierarchy.  I will, however, retain some measure of rewards.
&gt; Not all builders, for example, will have the same authority.  Builders who
&gt; have been working for a while and have proven themselves will receive
&gt; access to additional commands, which should serve as a reward for their
&gt; labors.
&gt; 
&gt;   What are people finding is the life-cycle of the average immortal, etc?
&gt; Over the last ten years, my perception of it has dropped from 18 months to
&gt; closer to 6; why work your way up somewhere when you can start your own?
&gt; 
&gt; 
&gt; I have also found that jobs don't last very long anymore.  On the first
&gt; mud I was immortalized on, there was an average turnover of about 5 months
&gt; for a given staff member, and they also tended to run in groups (that is,
&gt; about 4 or so would leave at once) and also be replaced in groups.  
&gt; 
&gt; One thing I have been wondering is the hiring of immortals.  On the MUDs
&gt; I've been at, we tend to hire immortals from within the ranks of
&gt; established players, instead of from outside sources (such as adds on
&gt; Mudconnector).  Is this the exception or the rule?  I'm sure there are
&gt; advantages and disadvantages to each method, and I'd like to hear what
&gt; some of the more experienced members have seen.
&gt; 
&gt; 
&gt; Matthew Peck
&gt; No ICQ
&gt; No Homepage to speak of
&gt; x96724#exmail,usma.edu or 
&gt; valatar#mb2,mudservices.com
&gt; 


</PRE>

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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01368" HREF="msg01368.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</A></strong>, 
Marc Bowden <a href="mailto:ryumo#merit,edu">ryumo#merit,edu</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 20:12 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01374" HREF="msg01374.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</A></strong>, 
T. Alexander Popiel <a href="mailto:popiel#snugharbor,com">popiel#snugharbor,com</a>, Wed 30 Sep 1998, 01:04 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01367" HREF="msg01367.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</A></strong>, 
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 19:41 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01370" HREF="msg01370.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</A></strong>, 
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 21:29 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01373" HREF="msg01373.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: A little help</A></strong>, 
Peck, Matthew x96724c1 <a href="mailto:x96724#exmail,usma.army.mil">x96724#exmail,usma.army.mil</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 22:43 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01348" HREF="msg01348.html">[MUD-Dev] [CUSTOM] ScryMUD is opening for Beta on Oct 1!</A></strong>, 
Ben Greear <a href="mailto:greear#cyberhighway,net">greear#cyberhighway,net</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 05:07 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01358" HREF="msg01358.html">[MUD-Dev] Mud adverts, was: ScryMUD is opening for Beta on Oct 1!</A></strong>, 
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 17:46 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01347" HREF="msg01347.html">[MUD-Dev] A little help</A></strong>, 
Dale Hoffman <a href="mailto:edaleh#igg-tx,net">edaleh#igg-tx,net</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 03:09 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="01326" HREF="msg01326.html">[MUD-Dev] Autogenerated room descriptions</A></strong>, 
T. Alexander Popiel <a href="mailto:popiel#snugharbor,com">popiel#snugharbor,com</a>, Mon 28 Sep 1998, 03:24 GMT
</LI>
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>

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