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Old 11-05-2002, 12:12 PM   #9
Rum
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Join Date: Oct 2002
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Ooh, my first post.

My MUD's early days involved a team of developers fresh off an even older mud called Mizar that closed down at the end of the 80's. This was a large and spirited group that put together a fairly decent MUD pretty quickly. Since then we've maintained a smaller but fairly steady equilibrium of development effort. The MUD developed under the wing of another established mud, Sweden's Genesis. I think this goes some way to explaining our longevity, and to some degree our philosophy.

Our "immortals" are not permitted to play (although that is often discussed and may someday change); they're subject to a lot of restrictions on their interactions with mortals, there is a set of "mythos" documents that cannot be contradicted (without a sensible reason why) and initially they're given limited access to see how things work. But we do not impose deadlines. We're still a bit rules-heavy, in comparison with other MUDs.

Our immortals are all ex-players. Right now, with the abundance of youngsters who play, this is not proving to be the ideal source for new immortals. When you're young you (quite rightly) want to do lots of different things, and assembling a nice place that fits into the world takes quite a bit of concentrated effort.

But we regularly (a couple of times each year - and for a decade now) find people whose love of the place far exceeds any need for rules. Most of them are pretty slow-moving, when it comes to making new things; a few generate great flurries of productivity. The characteristic of a "good" immortal is simply that they love the game. Poor grammar is not fatal. People who feel they lack imagination can find it again in a group environment. Overambition can often be managed (to avoid burnout), and underambition leads to the most wonderful little touches that add a new depth to someone else's area. Some people just like to test new areas and provide suggestions, which always leads to higher quality.

It is important to foster the immortal's love of the game. When that someone new comes on board we'd want them to have a mentor (we have many more successes among those who did than those who didn't) and others will also help out whenever asked. Often a new immortal is even more enthusiastic when they get to team with other recently immortalized friends. Enthusiasm comes and goes, that's fine, we just let that happen - the trick is letting the new immortals know that's okay, and we're just glad of anything they choose to contribute beyond their first creation. The MUD is always there for them. It never hurts to have one more friend.

We've a small playerbase but a wide, consistent and detailed world. That suits us. However friendship isn't a formula for exponential growth unless you could find a way to be messianic about it. I'd suggest that any friendly relations you have with the administration of other similar muds might be one way to advance both of your mudlibs quickly.
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