[MUD-Dev] Re: mudschools

[Marian Griffith]

In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Mon 11 May, Holly Sommer wrote:
> On Mon, 11 May 1998, Koster, Raph wrote:

> > >    dumps you into the big bad world.  I guess he wanted a Merc mud 
> > school :)

> > An issue we have wrestled with a LOT. After all, even newbies tend to 
> > hate mud school.

Actually, no. It is not the total newbies that dislike mudschools but the
experienced players who are new to a mud.  They know most of what is said
in the school  and hate to have to plod through it  to gain the necessary
first experience points and basic equipment.  For players who are totally
new to mudding it is great.

> OK, not to make an issue of this but... well, I will :)

> What, exactly, is the problem with mud schools? They serve the singular 
> purpose of letting those who are brand new to your (type of) world gain 
> some familiarity with it, before venturing forth. I should think that any 
> admin would be glad to have a "mud schoo" which answers newbie questions, 
> rather than having to answer those questions him/herself time and again.

True, and more than one mud has added a mudschool of sorts as an after-
thought. In fact, the newbie sword on one of the muds mentioned here at
times is nothing more than a kind of mudschool.

> The mud school which ships with Merc derivitives is great for what it 
> does - namely, that listed above. If you don't want any remaining 
> vestages of Midgaard, that's fine - use whatever you want for a central 
> city, if that floats your boat - but to make negative comments about a 
> learning center seems... myopic, IMO. Why would newbies hate a mud 
> school? It lets them collect their wits, and prepare for the rest of the 
> game. I can't see anything wrong with that, as a concept, nor with the 
> functionality of the "original" mud school itself.

The problem may be that the mudschool serves two separate purposes. One
is to tutor new players and one is to get them started in the game in a
relatively safe environment.  The mudschool  that is shipped with mercs
mixes these two purposes, which annoys the experienced players I think.
I have written a mudschool  for a mud called hexonyx  where I attempted
to avoid that problem as well as to stay more in character (and avoided
the players having to kill silly animals). I don't know how the players
appreciate the area though I had the impression that overall they liked
it.
Actually the area as is in use today is not quite the way I wrote it, I
was a bit nastier to the players but apparently the current admin deci-
ded that the newest players needed a little more coddling.

> PS: Thanks for the write-up, Adam... some of us live in (big) cities 
> which never seem to have game conventions :(

Seconded :)

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey


--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.