[MUD-Dev] selling Godhoods

[Matthew Mihaly]

Since all the replies so far have been rather similar, I'll just reply to
one. First though, let me point out that we won't stop promoting people
who catch our eyes, for free. Further, the ultimate prize: Ascension (ie
where your mortal actually becomes a god in-role, rather than the person
behind the character just being given access to a God) cannot be bought.

On Tue, 25 Apr 2000, Richard Woolcock wrote:
> 
> You lose a lot of staff?  Does that not mean you also need to recruit a lot
> of staff?  As J C Lawrence stated in his post, this could prove a problem 
> should you decide to promote someone who can't afford it (and if you don't,
> you might end up with hardly any staff, which means those who remain will 
> be so overworked they're more likely to start leaving as well).

Yes. It's probably been our fault to some extent (or to the entire
extent), as I don't think we have done the best job in the past of
communicating just what life as a God is like. The players really only see
the in-role side of things for the most part (which is what attracts them
to being a God...remember that as a God, you are quite powerful. You can
slay mortals at will, reward them heavily, etc. It's quite a kick for
people, though of course we require them to be very stingy with
punishments, and stingy (but less so) with rewards). Unfortunately, that's
only half the job. The other half are admin duties.

 
> > My hope is that someone who pays 3 grand for his God is going to think 
> > long and hard about just how badly he wants to be a God, and once he is a 
> > God, he's going to want to remain a God. 
> 
> Perhaps - but if he's just paid 3 grand, he's going to expect something for 
> his money.  I can't see many people who being overly excited who, having just 
> paid you $3k, are told that they're now expected to spend their playing time
> dealing with player problems.  Will you offer refunds?

No, no refunds. We will explain very carefully to them what is expected of
them before signing any contracts.

> There are often cases of imms who are banned even though they don't feel 
> that they themselves have broken any of the rules.  If they've paid $3k 
> for the privilage, I strongly suspect they'd try and take legal action 
> against you.

Writing a contract which protects us against this is not difficult.

 
> Personally, I wouldn't pay over a month's wages just so that I could spend 
> my spare time working (rather than playing) on a mud for free, while the 
> owner was raking in profits from the players.  That's just my outlook on 
> the situation.

No, I'd imagine not. However, I've been offered, in the past, well more
than 3k for a Godhood (and turned it down, as the two people who offered
more...each more than 5k...were not suitable candidates). You'd be quite
surprised how powerful the lure of being a God is.

--matt




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