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

[Scatter]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> wrote:
>J C Lawrence jumping up to say:
>>
>>What is the difference between an admin character able to alter the
>>world thru super-commands, and a normal "puny" character whose player
>>also has access to the admin console of the game?  
>
>The admin character carries special powers that make it difficult for 
>him to experience what a particular area is like for a low-level 
>character.

I tend to think the opposite - the admin character's special powers
enable the character to experience what an area is like for any
level of character. This is because those powers enable the admin to
change any aspect of his character to match that of any player.

>Separating the character and the administration permits the player to
>separate his administration role from his character's role in play, and
>thus allows him to more easily enjoy the game. 

Perhaps our concepts of what an 'admin character' is are different.
The last thing I'd expect an admin character to be doing is actually
playing the game (with the exception possibly of role-playing NPCs).

I would expect a character with admin powers to be doing admin work.
If an admin wishes to play the game as a player, they can easily
start a player character which does not have the admin powers. Many
muds consider it cheating for an admin character to play the game
since the temptation to use their admin abilities to cheat is too
great. Some go further and say that admins may not even play the
game with a seperate player character for this reason.

>When those commands are easily accessible from your character, admins
>rapidly forget what commands are available to the average player and what
>commands are restricted to admins. Separating administrative commands into
>a separate console *maintains* their separation in the admin's mind.

I disagree that player commands are rapidly forgotten - in my
experience it's rare to have admin commands that do "in game" type
things - they have admin purposes instead. However I do encourage
seperating the two types of command, generally by making admin command
output differ from player command output in style and colour.

>>The difference can easily be argued as non-existent.  
>
>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.

--
Scatter ///\oo/\\\