[MUD-Dev] Criminalize Community Volunteers?

[Josh Olson]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Freeman" <skeptack at antisocial.com>
> I think for a lot of players, their perspective is that it's just part of
> the game.  "I got a 7xGMmacrobot or a 60th level camper, now what?  Ooh,
> now I'm a counselor.  Hey, must have leveled-up, now I'm an Elder.
Woohoo,
> I rox, now I'm a seer."  Companies might not like it so much, but from the
> players' perspective it's just part of the game and that's how you play it
> - get to 50th level or whatever, then become a quasi-deity and start
> leveling-up through the ranks.

That may be the players' perspective, but whether that's accurate is
entirely up to the people running the volunteer program in question.  In the
case of EverQuest, we were excruciatingly careful not only to identify and
screen for the types of people who would make good Guides, but to adequately
train, mentor, and monitor them.  Advancement was based on merit, not tenure
or popularity.  It's certainly true that a lot of the people who applied to
the Guide program were those looking for the next conquest, but few of those
tended to get past the first step.  Those that did quickly discovered that
you had to genuinely like helping people, or it just wasn't worth it.

> I think a "volunteer program" could be integrated into the game-fiction
and
> since a lot of players look at it from that perspective anyway, it
wouldn't
> even feel weird.  'Could even have all the same controls, supervision and
> requirements that you have now.  Then you wouldn't have volunteers, you'd
> just have players... some of whom "play the game" by doing all the things
> that volunteers would do, if you had volunteers.

Absolutely.  Asheron's Call does this now to a limited extent with their
Advocates (and of course MUDs have been doing it forever - scale is highly
significant here).

There are, of course, some pretty severe pitfalls to avoid.  Power issues
top the list.  For instance, what happens when certain players are given
supernormal abilities yet still allowed to compete for game resources with
other, less-empowered, players?  The potential ramifications and workarounds
could require a new thread.

-Josh Olson






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