[MUD-Dev] Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World]

[JC Lawrence]

On Wed, 31 Dec 1997 19:08:07 +0100 (MET) Ola wrote:

>> The admin is tha ultimate authority, should know that, and should
>> be comfortable with that.  The reason is that the admin will define
>> the bounds and reaches of the world, both physically and socially,
>> if only by consent.  He has no choice in that regard, so he'd
>> better take the reigns of power before they take him.

> Ahum.  The physical (technical) part yes, the social part, not
> neccessarily. Look at IRC.

Nahh, that's where the aspect of consent mentioned above comes in.

>> However, the main point which I am countering is the assertion that
>> the users of the MUD world have some sort of divine ownership and
>> right to their creations and effects in the MUD world.  While I
>> know that some admins would encourage such a view, I think it is
>> essentially delusionary.  The users in a MUD are there on the
>> admin's sufference.  Quite literally he allows them to be there,
>> and to do whatever they do.  If he did not allow them, they would
>> not be there.

> Depends.  Some MUDs are run by organizations.  The admin is
> replacable. Hence the janitor.  

No, this doesn't affect anything I said.  The roles are still the
same.  The power and the responsibility is not tied to the human
individual, it is tied to whoever holds that position.

> Note that you can separate the roles
> even if the coder, owner and maintainer is the same person.  I
> believe one should try to do that.

I don't argue -- you may note my seperation of hats on this list as
List Owner and as a mere member.  However, this is really just
fracting (some say clarifying) the base position without altering its
structure or position.

> Depending on the design, users could upload their designs to
> different MUDs.  Users do have the intelectual ownership of their
> creations (legally).

Agreed, and there's a point where physical capability far outrules
technical control.

>> BTW: Mind if I cross this to MUD-Dev?

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
                                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
----------(*)                        Internet: jc.lawrence at sun.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...