Just wondering how many Muds most builders have built on...Do they stay at one mud and just help that mud grow? Or do they move around. Some builders I've seen stay for a day or two at the Muds i've worked on, then disappear.

Well, I see that disappearing act quite frequently. As head builder I hire people who claim they have experience sometimes not much and then when they find out building is not as simple as it would seem they just disappear.

The first mud I built on has long since died out. The second and third muds I still build on.

People who stay for a day or two and then move on are not called builders.
They are non-builders, and a disgrace to all serious Builders in the Mud World.

I made a 10-vnum area, does that count?

When I was a newer builder, I had a hard time saying no to friends.

I built for the mud I first immed on, a mud a friend started, one small area for Julez's mud, and the mud my husband and I were working on. (I also helped a friend by imping his Dalemud, but that did not include building).

Eventually I realized that I was not doing anyone any favors by stretching myself so thin. I only build for my husband's and my mud now.

Neranz Laverani, Seeker of Knowledge

I've built for 4 seperate MUDs. The first being a MUD that I was really dedicated to for a year and a half until the Immortal staff screwed me over big time.

Second was for a friend who had started up her own MUD because we both left the previous MUD. This quickly died.

Third was for another friend for the same reason. Plus I had started my own at this time and I guess I was stretching myself pretty thin too.

And now my own, which has been going extremely well.

When I hire new builders, experienced or not, I ask them to show a practice mobs/obj in a small set of vnums set aside for such things. So they at least get a feel for what building is about, and it doesn't take them long. Plus it's like a refresher.

There are periods where I don't feel like building, myself, so I try to be patient with all of my builders.

At first I built to learn at a friends request, then I passed his meager skills and found a few new realms for myself. My few excursions away from home though have been spontaneous and short lived. Hopefully though, they left some impact.

Application processes and trial periods remove most of the doubt about a serious builder. I highly recommend them.

Well, lets start in 1996 and work to now.  I will not include MUDs where I only built a house for myself, since I was not considered a builder, just a guest.

1996
Dragon'Spire - Owned by George Greer (Azalin) of Circle.  I made it one step from Assistant Head Builder in early 1997.  Arsenal was Head Builder, Mendou was Assistant.  A problem with a friend caused an issue and we were forced to leave.

1997
A Spectre of the Mind - Drevlin ran it, but then he ran off with the Head Builder and the MUD was closed by its owner.  This MUD was the one which I first saw InterMUD Communications (IMC2).  4 Dimensions was the second (IMC).

Winterkeep - Owned by Tsalin, he comes back a few more times with various MUDs in the late 90s.  On one of the MUDs I was head builder.  I do not remember the names of the two or three other MUDs.

The Gate Keeper - Owned by Magus and Josh.  By this time I was both building and Head of Public Relations.  I got to be the one who interacted with mortals in addition to building.  The plus was I was at Head Builder level without having to teach building.

1997 - 2002
ResortMUD - Based off TGK code, I asked Magus and Josh to allow me to start a resort for MUD administrators, Magus offered to host.  We stayed strickly a resort for roughly a year.  During that time we started the ambassadorship programs.

1999:
Gate Keeper of Instara - I guess it was technically the second Gate Keeper.  It had merged with another MUD, Realms of Instara.  The staff of three MUDs made up the staff and many did not get along.  When everything seperated, I ended up with the few misplaced staff on ResortMUD.

2000:
Gates of the Arcana - ResortMUD and GotA were on the same server account and the owners, Prophecy and Callinon traded Head Implementor positions with me.  As a Head Implementor on GotA, I helped alot of new builders.  As Head Implementor's on ResortMUD, Phophecy and Callinon enjoyed the quiet that is a resort.

The Gate Keeper II - Short lived and ran by Josh, we never got very far.

2002:
ImmU-SMAUG Building School - I am Head Builder.  Iliana of RoD is suppose to take over at some point.  Xerves runs the Coding School.

I have the feeling I mixed one or two up, but in total, it was something like ten or eleven MUDs since 1996.

In three years of building I've built on 4 muds. The first mud was run by friends, i learned how to build offline using arcanum and put one of the imps in a tight spot so I could build for that mud. I was there a little over a year, and then the only remaining implementor fired the entire staff due to politics, cheating, and other problems. I can't say I was really sorry to go, I had had conversations with the imp about the politics and problems there. A crooked head builder didn't help matter eiher.

By the time I lost my position there, I was working on my own mud with my fiancee. We started in January 2000 and it's the place I primarily build at. The ability to shape the world is graifying to me, and there's no head builder looming over my shouldar, or other people telling me how to shape my areas.

Last summer I played on a mud for a while that had a couple run away immortals that really messed up the mud. I offered to help out the imm staff by re-working the areas that were messed up, and had prepared to start work there, but one of the imps flew off the handle at a statement my fiancee made and reacted in a way I felt was really out of line. So, I left the mud. It folded a couple months later.

A person I had befriended on the previous mud was helping his friend out, and I agreed to come in and give them a hand for a while. I built one area there and then decided I didn't like the imp or the theme of the mud, so I left a note saying I wasn't coming back. Then the imp decided he was going to make his own graphical mud, so the project folded.

This past June I saw an ad for a mud that seemed kind of interesting, it was the idea of an eternal struggle between fighters and magic users. I logged in and after talking to one of the imps for a while I decided I'd like to build there if they'd have me. I built there for a while, but for the past couple weeks the mud's been down for long stretches at a time, the imms never log in, bugs aren't fixed, and notes aren't replied to. It's like the owners of the mud have just given up on it. If it ever comes back up I'm going to write a note and leave. I don't feel it's appropriate to just disappear.

I've learned over time there's a lot of people who want to build because it's cool. As a result my fiancee and I have a test area requirement before we hire builders. It weeds out the people who are unable to even build 5 rooms.

I can build on more than one mud at a time, but it's not easy. I have no intentions of building on a second mud permanently, my mud is my main focus now. I do have a soft heart for people who are just starting a mud and need someone to make areas. However, I've seen twice that it doesn't always work out, so I only look when I want a temporary change of pace.

Some of the fly by night builders are people who thought building sounded cool until they realized everything that was involved. Small initial areas are good to give new builders a taste of building to determine if it is for them as well as to determine builders who are not serious.

Neranz Laverani, Seeker of Knowledge

The first MUD I built for folded soon after I started building for them. My second, and current MUD, I joined as a builder after several builders from my previous MUD headed there. They all left after a very short period, but I think this November I will have been there 5 years (4 if you count the occassional needed hiatus).

As a Head Builder I have trained dozens of builders who never did a single thing after I trained them and helped them start their areas. For years I basically would run a short school for the newbie builders and teach them the fundamentals and then give tips and hints later as they progressed. Now I would rather build it all myself...

Personally myself, I believe that your first area should be at or under 100 vnums. My first area was around 150, but it took me 3 months to build it, then another month or 2 to fix what I did wrong. This logic is hard to swallow for a new builder who comes in and only wants to build some really big area that would take ME a year or more to complete.

Too many new builders just do not know what all is involved.

4 well actually 5. The first one i joined when i didnt have a clue and the staff were very kind in teaching me at least the basics. I left there after a few months though because I couldn't fit in with the lack of a concrete theme to the mud. Then I joined a mud that looked like it had a theme, but no one was ever on and it crashed permanently just weeks after I joined so i gave that up as a lost cause. I have been co-working on a lpmud for the past year doing all sorts of stuff and generally enjoying it, although recently I got in a rut and decided I needed a break, so I helped a friend on his own mud and have recently started a mud from scratch on my home pc.

I've built for about 7 muds, 4 of them are still in existances... Generally, I look at the long term for the mud and myself... If I've contributed all I feel I could have, and the mud doesn't seem to be expanding anymore, I look for work elsewhere. As a builder its not exactly fun waiting around for the admin to decide he wants more areas.