[MUD-Dev] The Player Wimping Guidebook

[Raph Koster]

Ya know, for all the annoyed, outraged, and amused responses to Tenarius'
Wimping Guidebook, I just HAVE to be contrarian. Yes, there's an amount of
the Devil's Advocate in the below--but less than you think.

Tenarius is dead right. And he's dead right because the players agree with
him. What you the admin think on this matter matters not a whit.

Changes going into the game are a perception battle. Admins will be better
off if the acknowledge that Tenarius' view is in fact the *default* view,
the *accepted* view, and it's us admins/designers/coders/builders who are in
the minority on it. No point in feeling smug and superior and saying that we
know better. Perception is reality, and players control the vertical, the
horizontal, and the channel line-up in this particular case.

On dealing with this view--work with it, don't denigrate it. The more
sensible players will acknowledge the flaws in Tenarius' arguments, but it
doesn't matter. The playerbase as a whole will not be sensible when their
work, their play time, what they see as their FUN is being taken away, any
more than we would like it if someone came along and removed large chunks of
our muds because "it's good for you to redesign from time to time." :)

This is the same point as when people objected to the Rights thing I wrote
up because they didn't want to give players those rights (because they
wanted to reserve control to themselves). Remember, it doesn't matter if you
think the players have those rights. It only matters if THEY think they do,
and are willing to fight for them.

Matt Mihaly's horror at the notion of a playerwipe and Tenarius' horror at
the nerfing of a sword are merely a matter of degree. Both are about a sense
of accomplishment being removed. To be nitpicky over whether a small
housefire or a big one are worse is silly--either one can claim something
valuable.

-Raph




_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev