[Detah]

Molly makes several excellent points.
I agree that the word "professional" is insufficient to have the meaning that would be helpful to potential players. [Kavir also makes several good points on this matter.] The goal for this specific selection is to give new players, who are probably unfamiliar with many of our names, some information about the work experience of the mud's staff AND the business/non-business nature of the mud. So I would propose that the "professional" category be broken down into some experience, education and lifespan measures of the staff and mud.

I think the main problem is that the terms "professional" and "amateur" do not pinpoint the real issue(s) here. So lets give measures of the things that really characterize quality.

A mud can identify itself as one thing per section. A player should be able to select multiple boxes when doing searches.

Education:
[ ] No member of the staff has a BS or higher in computer science/programming.
[ ] At least one member of the staff has a BS or higher in computer science/programming.
[ ] More than half of the staff have a BS or higher in computer science/programming.
[ ] Every member of the staff has a BS or higher in computer science/programming.
Number of staff (admin plus builders):
[ ] 1
[ ] 2
[ ] 3
[ ] 4
[ ] 5
[ ] 6-10
[ ] 11-15
[ ] 16+
Administrating or Building Experience (This is for the one staff member with the most experience on a mud)
[ ] Less than one year
[ ] 1-2 years
[ ] 3-5 years
[ ] 6-10 years
[ ] 10+ years
Lifespan (Period of time mud has been online [post-alpha])
[ ] Less than one year
[ ] 1-2 years
[ ] 3-5 years
[ ] 6-10 years
[ ] 10+ years

Yes, there are some problems with this. There are official members of Alatia's staff who had not logged on in over 5 years. Do those guys 'count'? I certainly do not think so. But think of an unscrupulous admin who is filling out the checklist, and that absentee guy/girl has the most eduction and experience of all the staff; I bet he counts that person as staff AND uses that person's education and experience to fill out the checklist. But there will always be accountability issues. But I must say, if this forum is proof of anything, it is that people don't 'get away' with false claims too often. These three categories along with the Payment model category should give the player a good idea what kind of mud it is and at what stage in its development it is.

Detah@Arcania
Ruler of 2D