January 2000
- JavaWorld: Build an object database J C Lawrence
- Muq update Cynbe ru Taren
- New link support J C Lawrence
- OS Inspiration Phillip Lenhardt
- OS Inspiration Greg Miller
- Chomsky's recursive theory of grammar J C Lawrence
- concerning tokenization, compilation, performance, and other fun stuff. Nate Cain
- concerning tokenization, compilation, performance, and other fun stuff. cg@ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA
- concerning tokenization, compilation, performance, and other fun stuff. Joel Dillon
- concerning tokenization, compilation, performance, and other fun stuff. Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Library submission notification and updates J C Lawrence
- EQ packet sniffer J C Lawrence
- Catalog of Compiler Construction Tools J C Lawrence
- Microthreads for Python J C Lawrence
- For those interested in parsers and compilers J C Lawrence
- EQ packet analyzer is gone? Sellers, Michael
- EQ packet analyzer is gone? J C Lawrence
- EQ packet analyzer is gone? J C Lawrence
- RFC: Worldforge project Scott Clitheroe
- ScryMUD 2.0.9 released (compiles on Windows (cygwin)) Ben Greear
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" J C Lawrence
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" Raph & Kristen Koster
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" Sellers, Michael
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" Nick Shaffner
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" Sellers, Michael
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" Jeremy Music "Sterling"
- Clay Shirky's "Playfulness in 3-D Spaces" msew
- ShowEQ Ashran
- Hello! F. Randall Farmer
- Hello! Cynbe ru Taren
- Y2K archives J C Lawrence
- An introduction... Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- An introduction... Lovecraft
- Laws website moves Raph & Kristen Koster
- Ok, got some brand new core dumps. J C Lawrence
- player politics (was An introduction...) Sellers, Michael
- player politics (was An introduction...) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- player politics (was An introduction...) Sellers, Michael
- player politics (was An introduction...) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- player politics (was An introduction...) J C Lawrence
- player politics (was An introduction...) Sellers, Michael
- A quick business question... Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- A quick business question... Matthew Mihaly
- A quick business question... Darrin Hyrup
- Question about multithreaded servers Fabian Lemke
- Question about multithreaded servers AR Schleicher
- Question about multithreaded servers Nick Shaffner
- Question about multithreaded servers Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Question about multithreaded servers Fabian
- Question about multithreaded servers Jon A. Lambert
- Question about multithreaded servers J C Lawrence
- Question about multithreaded servers Greg Underwood
- Question about multithreaded servers cg@ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA
- Question about multithreaded servers J C Lawrence
- Question about multithreaded servers Greg Underwood
- Question about multithreaded servers J C Lawrence
- Question about multithreaded servers Emil Eifrém
- Question about multithreaded servers J C Lawrence
- Community Relations Dundee
- Community Relations Christopher Allen
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Greg Miller
- Community Relations Darrin Hyrup
- Community Relations Dundee
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Dundee
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Dundee
- Community Relations Marian Griffith
- Community Relations Koster, Raph
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Marc Bowden
--On Tue, Jan 18, 2000 12:10 AM -0500 "Jon A. Lambert"
<jlsysinc@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> "Thy shall not insult or offend any member of the administration"
> and
> "Thy shall not insult or offend any player"
>
> Note that the former is usually enforced with great enthusiasm,
> while enforcement of the latter is haphazard and oftentimes
> explicitly non-existent.
>
> Any thoughts as to why this is so?
>
I believe it's because the majority of the people starting up
out-of-the box MUDs have very limited social experience, and mostly
as misfits or outcasts (usually by choice because it's trendy
nowadays to be a rebel just like everyone else or because they just
don't play well with others.) Emotionally immature, they only really
have one tool available - make the noisybadthing go away, or hurt it;
I suppose that depends on the exact degree of social dissonance which
they enjoy more. So they lash out to make it stop and (they believe)
make an example so people leave them alone.
The same administrative "type" tends to ignore the playerbase for
largely the same reason - they're not him, so it's not that
important. It's much easier to work on code than play referee, plus
they don't feel all nervous and anxious when they deal with code as
opposed to people, who never do what they're supposed to.
> Do such policies introduce a "class" system into a muds social
> structure regardless of whether the administration is faceless or
> not?
>
A class system always gets introduced into any social structure -
it's human nature to form those kind of social divisions. In any MUD
or MUD variant there's always going to be in the players' minds and
us-or-them mentality; in fact, more and more lately, people sign on
to play on-line games...but not the ones we built for them. Their
games tend to be more of them trying to see how far they can push or
outwit the "evil" administrator/administration/anyonebiggerthanthem -
and evil in their personal context is defined in almost Randian terms
as "anything that prevents me from doing whatever I want."
Kids *need* to have something to hate - it's pretty much all they
know how to do when they feel inadequate or frustrated, and we're
perfect targets. I'm sure there's not one of us here who's had to
fail out an "apprentice" or remove a "wizard" who was morally,
technically, or mentally unfit for the job and hasn't had a few of
them continue to hang around under many many aliases and try to "get
us back" for what we did to them, because it's *obviously* our fault.
I use the term 'kids' not in the pejorative sense but as a
reference to the level of social awareness because the problem isn't
limited by age. Case in point, while reading the above paragraph a
name, face, or situation that fit the profile came to you unbidden.
I'm willing to bet not everyone's personal example fell within that
13-17 age range we all cringe at dealing with.
>
> What is it about administration personnel that makes them so much
> more delicate and important when it comes to being insulted or
> offended?
>
For the amateur (see above for a vastly oversimplified model)
administrator it's usually poor modeling behavior - pick a bad admin,
any bad admin. Now do what he does. For a smaller (I hope!)
percentage it's because they assume that their ability to use tar
-xvf and gcc means that they should be accorded instant respect,
adulation, and limber nubile slave women. If they don't "get what's
coming to them" from the playerbase, they feel more than justified in
handing out wholesale death.
The professional now - and I believe that includes almost everyone
on the list - realizes that, as long as the kids don't cross the line
into profanity or character assasination, it's okay to let them vent;
they'll eventually expend themselves, get bored, and go back to
playing. I put up with an amazing ammount of crap myself, which
doesn't bother me because I realize that it's just immature bluster
and they'll eventually grow out of it. I do admit to encouraging
people who pick on people on my staff besides me to find something
else to do very, very soon, however - backing up and protecting the
dignity of your subordinate "wizards" is part of the job too, and
they deserve the respect.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Bowden - Soulsinger Dreamshadow:The Legacy of the Three
ryumo@merit.edu 206.246.120.2 3333
-------------------------------------------------------------------- - Community Relations Eli Stevens {Grey}
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Raph & Kristen Koster
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Koster, Raph
- Community Relations Travis Casey
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Travis Casey
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Rahul Sinha
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Koster, Raph
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Travis S. Casey
- Community Relations Douglas Couch
- Community Relations Dundee
- Community Relations Marian Griffith
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Lovecraft
- Community Relations Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- Community Relations Lovecraft
- Community Relations Marian Griffith
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Community Relations Sellers, Michael
- Community Relations Lovecraft
- Community Relations J C Lawrence
- Community Relations Lovecraft
- Community Relations J C Lawrence
- Community Relations Koster, Raph
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Community Relations Lovecraft
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Lovecraft
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations Jon A. Lambert
- Community Relations J C Lawrence
- Community Relations Wes Connell
- Community Relations Marc Bowden
- Community Relations Dundee
- Community Relations J C Lawrence
- Community Relations J C Lawrence
- Community Relations F. Randall Farmer
- Community Relations Dr. Cat
- Community Relations J C Lawrence
- Community Relations Koster, Raph
- Community Relations Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- Community Relations Matthew Mihaly
- Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases (was: help me find 100% fre (fwd) J C Lawrence
- Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases (was: help me find 100% fre (fwd) J C Lawrence
- Databases (was Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases) Charles Hughes
- Databases (was Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases) cg@ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA
- Databases (was Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases) Jon A. Lambert
- Databases (was Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases) Jon A. Lambert
- Databases (was Commercial-use Restrictions on Code Bases) J C Lawrence
- Mud-Dev FAQ part I Marian Griffith
- Mud-Dev FAQ part II Marian Griffith
- META: List goals (was OS Inspiration) J C Lawrence
- Valhalla license? CFrancy@aol.com
- Valhalla license? Matthew Mihaly
- Valhalla license? Richard Woolcock
- Planet/Solar System Generation Wes Connell
- Planet/Solar System Generation icecube@ihug.co.nz
- Planet/Solar System Generation Christopher Allen
- Planet/Solar System Generation J C Lawrence
- Planet/Solar System Generation Nolan Darilek
- Planet/Solar System Generation Wes Connell
- Planet/Solar System Generation Richard Woolcock
- How to handle/display partial language skill Joe Kingry
- How to handle/display partial language skill Greg Underwood
- How to handle/display partial language skill Wes Connell
- How to handle/display partial language skill Matt Chatterley
- Signing off... IronWolf
- Simulated Populations phlUID
- Simulated Populations Charles Hughes
- Simulated Populations Vladimir Prelovac
- Simulated Populations phlUID
- Simulated Populations Dundee
- Simulated Populations Wes Connell
- Simulated Populations Nicolai Hansen
- Simulated Populations J C Lawrence
- Simulated Populations J C Lawrence
- Business Licenses CFrancy@aol.com
- Business Licenses Bruce
- Business Licenses J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? (fwd) Wes Connell
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? (fwd) Erik Jarvi
- Multiply oriented interactive worlds... Justin Rogers
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] Topic list repost (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] Spellbound Hierarchy and Keys (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] Spellbound Hierarchy and Keys (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] Better Grammer Detection J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] MUD-Dev vs. adv-mud J C Lawrence
- MUD-Dev vs. adv-mud phlUID
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? phlUID
- (fwd) Avatarism and Role-Playing Game Design claw@kanga.nu
- Starlane test Joel Kelso
- hoho Matthew Mihaly
- Current Status of Middle Earth Online Geoffrey A. MacDougall
- ScryMUD 2.0.10 released. Ben Greear
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? Ben Greear
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? J C Lawrence
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? Wes Connell
- [adv-mud] What good is a hero when nobody knows? J C Lawrence
- Some new Library references J C Lawrence