[MUD-Dev] update on selling Godhoods

[Brian Green]

Matthew Mihaly wrote:

> Well, as many of you predicted, the experiment has so far not gone well.
> We've had a number of enquiries, and the $3000 was not really an issue.
> The issue was that the persons in question were not willing to give up
> their mortal characters (which they had sunk quite a bit into), and,
> unfortunately, that's not negotiable with us. 

I'm sorry to hear. :(  While I wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, it
did have some merits.  Plus, I know how much you like to show up the
naysayers. :)

This isn't too suprising, though, if you think about it.  This scenario
happened with me a lot on Meridian.

---------------
Player: "Hey, can you fix my character?  He's got high skills and stats,
but he never hits and never does any damage."

Me: "Hmm.  Let me look at it quickly.  How long has this been the case?"

Player: "For quite a few months now, since a few updates ago."

Me: "Well, I don't see anything wrong after a quick look, and I
unfortunately don't have the time to do an extensive look."

Player: "Well, when can you get around to it?  The character is pretty
much useless as it is...."

Me: "Unfortunately, I'm really busy working on bug fixes.  Why haven't
you rerolled it?"

Player: "And give up all the hard work I've put into it?!?"
---------------

This was more common than I'd really like to admit.  People had useless
characters in terms of power on a combat-centric game.  Yet, they
refused to get rid of them, even after months of waiting, because they
felt they had invested so much.

I think this falls back on some of the laws of identity.  For these
people, it's more than just a bunch of bytes in a database.  The
character is something you've put time, effort, and (in Matt's players'
cases) money into it.  The character truly becomes an extention of the
player.

--
"And I now wait / to shake the hand of fate...."  -"Defender", Manowar
     Brian Green, brian at psychochild.org  aka  Psychochild
       |\      _,,,---,,_      *=* Morpheus, my kitten, says "Hi!" *=*
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_  
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'  "Ritalin Cures Next Picasso" 
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)               -The_Onion_, August 4th, 1999



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