<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: (fwd) RESEARCH: Why do you admin a Mud? --> <!--X-From-R13: pynjerapNphc.uc.pbz --> <!--X-Date: from fabius.globecomm.net [207.51.48.6] by in4.ibm.net id 865891467.52102-1 Mon Jun 9 21:24:27 1997 CUT --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199706092122.OAA00397#xsvr3,cup.hp.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: (fwd) RESEARCH: Why do you admin a Mud?</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg01268.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01270.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg01275.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01256.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#01269">Author</A> | <A HREF="#01269">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#01269">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: (fwd) RESEARCH: Why do you admin a Mud?</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: (fwd) RESEARCH: Why do you admin a Mud?</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</A></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Mon, 09 Jun 97 14:23:11 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Reply-to</em>: Chris Lawrence (Contra) <<A HREF="mailto:clawrenc#hpuxps,cup.hp.com">clawrenc#hpuxps,cup.hp.com</A>></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> From: darudy#Eng,Sun.COM (David Rudy) Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin Subject: RESEARCH: Why do you admin a Mud? Date: 7 Jun 1997 14:40:17 GMT Recently I did a survey of the programmers on The Two Towers LPMud, asking why they were a mud coder. >From the answers I received, I have tried to put together some sort of research on why people program muds. I have found some very distinct areas where people's responses can be grouped, as well as some fundamental differences in opinions. ;) "Drive" : Create .vs. Control I found two distinct drives behind people's actions. The Creators want to make new things which never before existed, while the controllers are more concerned that all the areas created are consistant with each other - continuity and balance. "Focus" : Action/Code .vs. Description Regardless of their motives, people generally focus on two 'realms'. Those who focus on the Actions (or the Code, which is a bit specific to certain mud systems) try to make the world "behave" as reallistically as possible. A bottle should be twistable, twirlable, spinable, drinkable, breakable, throwable, and recyclable - Actions. While Describers try to make the world "visibly" as real as possible. Every little item must have it's description, and the writing should set the mood and feel of the area. Describers ensure the mud tells a real 'story'. Using Drive and Focus as axis we can form a plot. However, we must first come up with definitions of the combinations of each Drive and Focus. The terms I have come up with might not be the most correct, but they provide a basis to go on and are derived from observed behavior. Create + Code = Hacker The hacker wants to add new features, complex code, faster code, and is always looking for a better way to do things in the code. Descriptions are somewhat meaningless to the Hacker. The hacker typically reads all code as "this could be done better!". Hackers do not always work well with others, feeling they are above everyone else - often true when their code is unreadable. Create + Description = Storyteller The storyteller wants to, well, tell a story. They are capable of creating a never-before-heardof place and make you feel like you are really IN that place! Their coding skills are not always strong to give their area special things to do in the area, but the descriptions make you feel as if you were really there! Control + Description = EditorInChief The 'editor' is a spellchecker and grammar checker, and wants to make sure that the entire mud is consistant in its portrayal of its setting. The editors can be quite harsh on others who provide less than prime descriptions of their areas. Editors think in large scale terms over both distance and time, and every description must fit into their 'picture' of that world. Control + Code/Action = Director These are the typical mud admins. They want to control the actions on "their" mud, and are often quite powerhungry. They are typically very interested in the enforcement of the 'laws' on their mud, or even that all code is produced "to standard" as per the docs and the guidelines which they have provided. Their favorite commands are those involving snooping and information gathering. Now that we have our axis and definitions, we can plot it! Director Controller EditorInChief | | | | | Coder ----------+---------- Describer | | | | | Hacker Creator Storyteller So far that is all I have come up with. What I find more interesting and as a direction for the research is how these groups interact. Will a mud with too many Editors scare away the Storytellers? How many Hackers does it take to make the Directors completely paranoid about security? A followon research would be to relate this to Bartle's research on players: <A HREF="http://journal.tinymush.org/jomr/v1n1/bartle.html">http://journal.tinymush.org/jomr/v1n1/bartle.html</A> and see how the four player types are influenced by the four admin types above. I am sure we have all read the articles when a player will decide to complain about the "power hungry admin" on a certain mud. Some of these relations are then self-evident. Killers don't like to be controlled, Socializers want the Storytellers to give them more realms to 'live' in, Explorers perhaps want the Hackers to provide more of the rare cool code tricks which they live for. I am posting this preliminary research because I need help in gathering both data and opinions. What type(s) of immortals are on your mud currently, and what state is the mud because of it? Do you have only one single power-hungry admin who refuses to let anyone else become a coder? What type of player base has this generated and what complaints have hit the newsgroups because of it? Do you have a lot of storytellers but little consistency from one area to the next? Are the players doing hack-n-slash or roleplaying in these completely different areas? Do you have ever feature under the sun, measure seconds of cpu time over periods of days, but not have enough areas to support more than 5 players at a time? And are those 5 players explorers or achievers? (NOTE: the above are examples of what I have seen posted to the mud.admin newsgroup over time, and the reactions they have generated but are by no means meant to be taken as results or expectations of this research.) So, fellow admins, if you would take a bit of time out of your schedules to perhaps help me gather data and share with me your own thoughts and feelings about coder relationships I would be extremely thankful and will note all who have shared their input if this research ever ends up anywhere. :) David Rudy darudy#aule,eng.sun.com -- J C Lawrence Internet: coder#ibm,net ---------------(*) Internet: clawrenc#cup,hp.com ...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... ----------------------------------------------------- -- End of forwarded message ----------------------------------------------------- -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net (Contractor) Internet: coder#ibm,net ---------------(*) Internet: clawrenc#cup,hp.com ...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01268.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Death</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01270.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] web archive for MUD Design List ?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01275.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] web archive for MUD Design List ?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01256.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] "short" Introductory Message (fwd)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#01269"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#01269"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Intellectual property</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="01304" HREF="msg01304.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Intellectual property</A></strong>, Jeff Kesselman <a href="mailto:jeffk#tenetwork,com">jeffk#tenetwork,com</a>, Thu 12 Jun 1997, 12:18 GMT </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="01293" HREF="msg01293.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Genuinely brief intro</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Thu 12 Jun 1997, 00:03 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01270" HREF="msg01270.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] web archive for MUD Design List ?</A></strong>, Dmitri Kondratiev <a href="mailto:dima#paragraph,com">dima#paragraph,com</a>, Tue 10 Jun 1997, 04:41 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01275" HREF="msg01275.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] web archive for MUD Design List ?</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Tue 10 Jun 1997, 20:56 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01269" HREF="msg01269.html">Re: (fwd) RESEARCH: Why do you admin a Mud?</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Tue 10 Jun 1997, 04:24 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="01256" HREF="msg01256.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] "short" Introductory Message (fwd)</A></strong>, Jeff Kesselman <a href="mailto:jeffk#tenetwork,com">jeffk#tenetwork,com</a>, Sun 08 Jun 1997, 11:58 GMT <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="01329" HREF="msg01329.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] "short" Introductory Message (fwd)</A></strong>, Martin Keegan <a href="mailto:martin#cam,sri.com">martin#cam,sri.com</a>, Tue 10 Jun 1997, 16:35 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01367" HREF="msg01367.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] "short" Introductory Message (fwd)</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Fri 20 Jun 1997, 06:10 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01380" HREF="msg01380.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] "short" Introductory Message (fwd)</A></strong>, Martin Keegan <a href="mailto:martin#cam,sri.com">martin#cam,sri.com</a>, Fri 20 Jun 1997, 15:34 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>