[MUD-Dev] Whereabouts of 'Evil MUD Admin' Handbook

[Koster]

From: Richard A. Bartle
> On 9th January 2003, Raph Koster wrote:
 
>> BTW, this doc is not meant in jest, it's meant completely
>> seriously. That's part of what I've been discussing with him...

> I don't want to spoil Lawrie's fun or reputation here, but I feel
> duty bound to point out that you're writing to someone about an
> article they wrote that may be true or may be ironic, and in
> either case you can't be sure whether their reply is true or
> ironic. There are few Englishmen who, faced with questions from an
> earnest, truth-seeking American, would be able to resist
> exploiting their gullability and winding them up something
> rotten. I'm not saying that Lawrie is doing this (as I haven't
> seen your correspondence), but I'd just like to check that you
> have considered this as a possibility.

Well, my assumption had always been that it was ironic,
actually. But among the items we ended up discussing in our
correspondence was the rivalry that existed at the time between MUD1
and MIST. My favorite particular bit was a cartoon of him about to
take a chainsaw to you. That convinced me that he meant it deadly
seriously...!

  http://lorry.org/arch-wizard/Mist/

As he described it, his goal was to make being a wizard effectively
part of the game, essentially making it into a political PvP
game. He outright stated that he made fun of them in "Confessions"
in part to make it clear to the Wizards that they were players, like
mortal players were.

-Raph


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