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PhasmaInMachina · 01-16-2014, 03:24 PM

Jherlen. This is a possibility without a stringent set of guidelines on how to interact with mortals. Honestly the scenario you described is extremely unprofessional for any staff member. For instance, in the rare situation that staff members choose pop down and rally their followers, or do combat with another rival staff member, they cannot directly influence a player driven battle. It is a balancing act whereby the staff must create unique player experiences passively, and guide them into it just like a dungeon master, but ultimately let the players find their own way through whatever scenario is created.

As to rivalry, just like an office dispute where two individuals cannot get along and it is interfering with standard business operations, the two staff members in question would need to either sort their grievances out and be cordial or lose the ability to have access to a religion altogether. At the end of the day the players and the staff have a symbiotic relationship. One cannot exist without the other. When staff rivalry starts to get in the way of player fun, then the matter needs to be addressed immediately.

Anyhow, as I already stated, there is merit in what you suggest and it removes many of the problems we discussed. I'm just saying our MUD has existed happily for 20 years with the system I described. There isn't any reason to reinvent the wheel. Besides which, removing the public (IC) face of the staff does not remove the possibility of potential favoritism, or OOC coordination. That can still happen.

DarkOzma raises another issue, perhaps unintentionally, which is staff playing their own game with disproportionate game knowledge compared to the average player. If the staff are volunteers then they cannot be expected to not, at least occasionally, enjoy the fruits of their labor. The problem arises though, that they have built large parts of the game, which means they have intimate knowledge of (at least) certain parts of the MUD and animosity is generated between the regular players and the staff member.

01-16-2014, 03:24 PM	#10
PhasmaInMachina New Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 28	Re: Cronyism and Cliques Jherlen. This is a possibility without a stringent set of guidelines on how to interact with mortals. Honestly the scenario you described is extremely unprofessional for any staff member. For instance, in the rare situation that staff members choose pop down and rally their followers, or do combat with another rival staff member, they cannot directly influence a player driven battle. It is a balancing act whereby the staff must create unique player experiences passively, and guide them into it just like a dungeon master, but ultimately let the players find their own way through whatever scenario is created. As to rivalry, just like an office dispute where two individuals cannot get along and it is interfering with standard business operations, the two staff members in question would need to either sort their grievances out and be cordial or lose the ability to have access to a religion altogether. At the end of the day the players and the staff have a symbiotic relationship. One cannot exist without the other. When staff rivalry starts to get in the way of player fun, then the matter needs to be addressed immediately. Anyhow, as I already stated, there is merit in what you suggest and it removes many of the problems we discussed. I'm just saying our MUD has existed happily for 20 years with the system I described. There isn't any reason to reinvent the wheel. Besides which, removing the public (IC) face of the staff does not remove the possibility of potential favoritism, or OOC coordination. That can still happen. DarkOzma raises another issue, perhaps unintentionally, which is staff playing their own game with disproportionate game knowledge compared to the average player. If the staff are volunteers then they cannot be expected to not, at least occasionally, enjoy the fruits of their labor. The problem arises though, that they have built large parts of the game, which means they have intimate knowledge of (at least) certain parts of the MUD and animosity is generated between the regular players and the staff member.