[MUD-Dev] Information sharing (was: Re: Where are we now?)

[Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Rickey [mailto:daver at mythicentertainment.com]
Sent: 07 May 2001 13:27
To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Information sharing (was: Re: Where are we now?)

> Well, there's also the fact that once we get beyond nuts and bolts,
> emotions can get a little high and egos a little bruised.  There's a
> lot of stuff I don't talk about any more because I got the
> impression.people thought I was heading off into left field.  When I
> start drawing parallels between suicide as a sociological phenomenon
> and account cancellation, and the response is either a blank look or
> a heated denunciation for "trivializing" suicide, one way or the
> other I have to figure that line of reasoning isn't worth sounding
> out in public.

I'm not sure people shyed away from it as I recall the thread, I'm
just not certain where one could go with it. For what its worth, I
disagree with your analysis. From watching people cancel accounts in
Everquest, I've seen some patterns emerge. There seems to be two
categories that people fall into when they cancel, those that stay
part of the community through message boards and the like and those
that just drop away completely. Those that linger around tend to have
invested more time in the game and one is seldom suprised when they
start playing again.

As an aside, I'm not an expert on suicide, but I'd imagine there are
two types. The first where people are actually trying to kill
themselves, the second where they are looking for some kind of
attention. What aspect of suicide do you draw the parallels to?

If I was to liken any aspect of mud playing to suicide, it would
probably be when people de-level their characters undoing months of
work. In fact I saw a player do this in Everquest this weekend, and
frankly other peoples reaction to it were more akin to what one might
expect from suicide. By de-leveling a character you are manufacturing
a huge barrier to re-entry into the game, especially one where level
stratification means isolation from your community is guaranteed
should you choose to return later. I'm not sure thinking in terms of
accounts is as useful as thinking in terms of characters - my
emotional investment lies with my characters, not the billing
mechanism...

Dan
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