[MUD-Dev] Re: After a long absense, a semi-return (and TFD)

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scatter [mailto:scatter at thevortex.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 1998 10:37 AM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: After a long absense, a semi-return (and TFD)
> 
> 
> Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> wrote:

> >Functionally, the difference *is* more or less nonexistent.
> >Psychologically, there is a BIG difference. 
> 
> On the subject of psychological difference, a real admin character
> makes players a lot happier. As an admin I've got commands that
> will generally let me fix problems from anywhere - destruct and 
> replace an object in a player's inventory for example without
> leaving my workroom. However I've always found that that player
> will be a lot happier if you appear next to them first. It makes
> the admin a real person rather than a vague, remote presence and
> makes the player feel that they are getting personal attention.

UO originally tried to have admins completely removed from the game. The
expectation was that they were completely divorced from the game. Access
to powers is done via using a special client, not via intrinsic
capabilities in the character. An effort was made to present the admin
as an anonymous figure so that cries of favoritism could not be raised.

It was a terrible mistake, IMHO.

I now believe admins should be publicly visible, available,
personalized, with individuality and personalities. It leads to MORE
trust of the admin and to a greater willingness to forgive
administrative errors. Humans simply do not trust anonymous people with
power over them, and I find that lack of trust to be worse than dislike
of individual admins. I wrote some about this at the following link:

URL: http://mud.sig.net/raph/gaming/essay5.html

-Raph