[Threshold]

I don't think the 4 select options (which are popular with what, 5 people? 10?) are good at all. They still allow, for example, people who sell merchandise to claim they do not accept payment. They also let people pretend donations or merchandise purchases do not result in any in-game rewards, which is an idealistic claim that is at best unverifiable and at worst false.

This actually starts to matter if you create explicit, searchable categorization. Once you have that, you create the impression in the player's mind that the information is accurate. That set of 4 options would reward people for lying, and I think systems that reward lying are always a bad idea.

This site was created with the express purpose of promoting muds. A big part of that means giving mud operators the right to describe their mud in the manner that is most accurate and important to them. Very few aspects of a mud are more important to describe accurately than its costs to play or if it is free. That is precisely why we have such massive discussions about it. So to force mud admins into 4 vague, often inaccurate choices is antithetical to the goal of promoting muds.

Like chaosprime, I am very much against any efforts to try and "ghettoize" professional muds simply because they have some form of revenue stream. I believe that is precisely what some of the very small, vocal minority in support of these "4 select options" are hoping to accomplish. If their goal was truly "giving the player useful information" then they would be totally in support of the professional vs. hobbyist select options as well. But it comes as no surprise that they are against those. I imagine they feel those options are an attempt to "ghettoize" hobbyist muds. I think they are incorrect, but you'd think they would at least get the point.

Ultimately, that is why I think it is an extremely bad idea to cave to this small handful of people and create these "4 selection options." Their motivations are certainly suspect, and even their addmitted goal cannot be reached with this change. This change would only open up the system to more abuse, and it would be worse because explicit search options would create an illusion of truth that would not exist. At least players KNOW hand written information about a mud is in the words of the admins and therefore inherently taken with that bias in mind.

That is why I think the text area for filling in payment model information is the best option. It gives mud operators the ability to describe their payment system (if any) in a way they feel is most accurate about their game. It also gives players useful information they KNOW is biased (since the admins themselves entered it).

If you absolutely must have some sort of select options, then go only with things that are pure fact and actually can be verified. Something like:

[ ] Money accepted in some form (payment, donations, sale of merchandise).
[ ] No money accepted in any form.

And of course, since the goal is information for players, create at the same time:

[ ] Professional Mud. Admins are paid and full time.
[ ] Hobbyist Mud. Admins are unpaid or not full time.