[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method (Was: Re: Wi

[J C Lawrence]

On Tue, 14 Jul 1998 02:12:12 -0500 (CDT) 
Cat <cat at bga.com> wrote:

> Raph Koster wrote:

>> I'd agree with this approach, but there's the issue of time and
>> manpower. How long does it take to talk the person out of quitting
>> over this incident, how much effort should you expend on it, how
>> much time will it take, how much bad PR will be generated when the
>> person turns around and reports that "Bubba was a jerk to me and
>> ruined the game for me and the admins did NOTHING!" to every new
>> player... how much manpower and therefore how large are your costs
>> using this solution?

> I wouldn't call it a "solution", it's just something I do right now.
> We're in the "society seeding stage", where the founders put more
> personal time and effort into the community than they will (or can)
> when it's 100 times as big.  Recall I did say immediately following:

>> > Of course this could be put in the introductory or help text >
>> somewhere, where all the players will avoid reading it in order to
>> > plunge right into the game and have as many problems as possible.
>> :X)

> An additional alternative is training the players to deliver this
> particular speech.  Free manpower isn't bad when you can get it.
> Talking people out of quitting I have no interest in, by the way,
> it's a matter of replying in some way when someone pages you with a
> question or complaint or issue.  Bad PR you'll get out of
> dissatisfied people whether you talk to them or not, though
> admittedly purrhaps a little more than if you don't talk to them.
> (Though that gets you the "admins are unresponsive" bad PR.)  But
> you also get the PR going about which types of problems admins will
> do things about, and which types you're on your own about from all
> this, and I think it's vital for the society to learn that.

An idea:

  > help admin

  If you have a specific plea or case which you wish decided upon or
reviewed by the game administrators then you will have to present it
at the Throne of the Mountain King penned on a signed dragon-skin
scroll.  Please ensure that the case as presented on the scroll is
compleat and contains all the data that you can find pertaining to the
case.  Scrolls which are unverifiable, incompleat, which leave
questions unanswered, which require the administrators to personally
investigate or involve themselves in the matter, or which are rude,
presumptuous, or impertinent will be discarded and not acted upon.

  It is up to you to find the TotMK, to acquire the dragon skin, and
to pen and sign the scroll.  It is also up to you to find out how to
present the scroll once at the TotMK.  These are not easy challenges.
Most die in the attempt at any one of them.  Only scrolls properly
presented at the TotMK may be considered by the administrators.

  If you should happen to meet or indentify an administrator in the
game, please do not interrupt, annoy, or get in their way.  They are
usually in the game to accomplish some very specific mission, not to
entertain or help individual players.  In fact they are almost always
very lowly administrators without the power to do much of anything in
the world and distracting them from their duties is likely to do
nothing more than annoy their superiors who tend to take a very dim
view of players interfering with their juniors.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...