[Darren Brimhall]

There are MUD's out there we either once enjoyed for a long period of time, or simply didn't bother continuing with after the introductory period, but became disenchanted with how it was being run at that point and left.

Why?


The theme of this thread is to bring such to light in a constructive manner, and give suggestions in the same manner. Perhaps those who continue to play these outed games may take a look themselves and offer rebuttle to the reasons posted, or pass them along to those who own the said MUD.

Mine involves Castle Marrach.


The reasons are:


1. The place has sunk down to the level where those still playing it 'beef up' the Character Roster by creating Alts in the hopes of attracting more players to the game. This was confirmed to me by a player who recenty left this game and Skotos alltogether over Yahoo Chat.


2. A very poor player retention raito because exsisting (established) players usually consider the newbies to be Alts, and don't really pay attention to them very much. This has been a long standing problem there , and apparently hasn't been corrected. Lately it seems more Alts have been created as 'Sacrafices'--characters that get killed off in plots--to protect their long-lived (and favored) characters.


3. Not very much to do beyond taking lessons and trying to meet and impress people. VP players are usually very far and very in between--and said players keeping logs is very, very rare. This alone leads to frustration on the player's part because you need to be noticed by thise characters to gain rank and access to where all of the 'real' RPing is going on.


4. (the biggie) Plots are, again according to the recently departed player, largely OOCly driven. And again, refering to #3, you need to either be a ranking character or 'in the know' to participate. If you don't, there really isn't very much t do until the climax which usually occurs three or four months after the start of the Plot--during which the amount of information given to your character is usually of poor quality
and not worth the time spent trying to gain it.


5. The Game is 'top-heavy', meaning the higher positions are 'choaked' up with players very protective of their statius, and positions that have yet to be filled (Royal Tutor, Royal Pigeon Keeper (there are no birds in Game) and The Lord Warden of the Coast--are examples) in the ten years the Game's been run.
This top-heavyness stymies upward movement, leading again to frustration on the player's part.


6. (another biggie) The poor handling or resources (namely coding) has left various groups with in the Castle without very much to do. Sorcery, The Garden Society, and varrious other attempts at starting other Crafting Guilds with in the Castle suffer from this neglect as resources are channeled towards more favored groups and players, or into events that really don't further gameplay. There were Staffers who I had to yell at repeatedly to get even the simplist things done, while there were Staffers who did things at the drop of the hat--so quality will varry.


7. (the real biggie) Staff that repeatedly 'helps' favored players get whatever they want, even at the cost of other player's characters, then protects them by denying all efforts by those players displaced by the favored thought the deliberate 'disavowing' of of plots that have occured in the past (if the walls have ears, the cats are the Queen's 'eyes', and when she once fell deathly ill when the Grand Bridge collasped in places--so how can it be said that she isn't connected to the Castle?).
This also spreads to information about plots and the use of OOCly gained information against other players, though in one case that I have recorded Staff stepped in to stop legal proceedings against one player (who was a mid-level staffer) started by a Staff-favored player. In my case, involving a donated Rumor which wasn't posted 'officially' but still used against my character. And OOC information, given by the above mentioned Staff-favored player using OOC info, to me over Yahoo Chat, which I later reported to Staff. That player's character gained a new tile soon afterward, instead of serious punishment for both the player and character.
I have both of these incidents saved as well.


8. There is no real means if inflicting damage in a realistic manner that occurs automaticly InGame, in other words there are no staits for players beyond their skills. It takes four stab wounds from a sword to effectively kill any character in this Game, and location is debatable--so no instant kills unless ok'ed by Staff. The player can also set the damage to their character by using @woundme command. Which means any character there can get bashed about, have heavy stones fall upo them and then get doused in highly leathal poison, after getting trampled by wild horses ridden by brutish warriors being chased by horrible giants, and then brush all off with "It's just a scratch."


Now, for suggestions;

The number of characters one can have should be limited.
In Castle Marrach, you can have a total of six and possibly play them all at once (by using different Internet browsers) depending on your computers CPU. When the Game started, players were limited to only a single character. But when Alts became available, they also became quite common place--hense the attitudes towards Newbies, and the lack of effort on the established players part to make them apart of the place.
Plus, killing off alts in the course of a plot is a very cheap way of 'promoting' them because they can be 'reawakened' after Eight hours--and brought quickly back up to speed InGame, to either die heroicly again (repeating the process) or somehow aiding to save the day thus gaining attention from their betters (Staff run VP's) and promoted.
Limiting the number of Alts one can have, and keeping track of them by Staffers who have no connection with either the Game or any member of it's playerbase (more on this later) would help eliminate this problem significantly.


People come to MUD's to Play, not stand around when the action is occuring--especially when they want to be appart of it. Limiting access during castle-wide plots prevents the new from really getting a 'taste' of the place--especially if they have taken up arms in defense of their new home. How better way to show off their character's mettle in such siturations, especially before the Noble Characters.
This can also be used to keep players in the Game, who can then 'promote it' on other Boards.


InGame Plots should never be driven by OutOfCharacter desires or wants.
All instances of this should be (and would normally be) quickly stopped, with the players responcible severly admolished and punished for the action. But since in Marrach the Staff is pulled from the Player Base, there is a 44% chance that the montiff of 'Friends helping Friends' is quite alive and well there--in fact, it explains all the recorded instances I have as well as personal esperience.
A Staff drawn from other Skotos games, and having no relationship with any player currently in Marrach,
can stop this corruption in its tracks. Using the Players Guide, these Staffers can be quickly brought up to speed on how the game works and what is exsected from those who play it--removing the ease in which 'favored players' can have their way at the exspence of other players.


The removal of useless and pointless offices from the Great Chain. They just clutter things up and serve no useful purpose InGame.

Promote 'risk' especially amongst the higher placed players. Nothing was ever guaranteed in Mideval Societies, even Nobility, Knights and respected citizens all knelt before the Executioner--just like Murders did. To promote upward movement in Marrach would mean the unseating of the established players and NPC's either through scandal or 'assending'.
Prior to my leaving, a player's character, a Knight, did assend to the level of a Fae Knight and thus became a NPC. It has not happened since, and should be considered as a means of removing that log jam on the upper levels of the Great Chain to give other players a chance to move up.

The better management of Game Resources is a must, In stead of the scatter-shot (and favored player motivated) method Marrach uses, the resources should be utilized towards the promotion of player ideals (either in the formation of groups, skills or storyplots) or suggestions on how things can be more realisticly done with in the Game. I recall one Player, who wrote for GURPS, trying to get a Brewery started, another had an ideal for glassmaking, I myself hatched a plan to make the frozen Royal garden's bloom again by using brazers--all were cut down by Staff. And mine was especially painful, because it had so many players excited at the prospect of doing something constructive in the Game as characters.
Granted, there maybe limits on what can and cannot be done. But seriously, these were all good ideals killed off because the resources simply weren't available or were being used in other areas...


The giving out of game information OOCly, whatever the reason, can be considered 'cheating'. The Player in question, the very same one who willfully used OOC information against others (and has yet to be punished for such action even to this day), gave me this information willfully in the hopes that it would effect my character's actions.
I reported it, but since she is 'favored' there, nothing was done. A Staff with no connections to Marrach would have handled it far differently. In fact, Marrach's very first Staff had zero tollerance for such things, and would have most likely stripped her character of Knighthood, Favor, Position, and nearly everything else up to throwing the Player out of the Game--but not with Marrach's current staff.

There's no need to discuss @woundme, it explains itself easily.

Darren Brimhall