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Brody · 02-15-2003, 04:46 PM

I run a site that currently sits in the 21-40 turf of the listing.

And I think, after much consideration, that the direction we're going with the "rewards-for-voting" dilemma isn't necessarily the best to follow.

Oh, I definitely believe it's wrong to use fake IPs to inflate votes and bypass the one-vote-every-twelve-hours limit. But even if I might never see my site in the Top 20 *again*, I still think games should not just be allowed, but *encouraged* to hold gamewide rallies to see if their players can pull together as a team and reach a certain level by voting, and they should be allowed to hand out XP or whatever they want as a reward to their players at the end of each voting cycle.

Part of building a successful game is developing a sense of camaraderie and community - and Top MUD Sites provides one of those cool competitive features that can allow a Little Game With Attitude the potential to rally and make it into the Top 20 sometimes. It's not merely an ego boost for a game developer, but also for the players, to see their game on the list. That's a motivator for building community. It also keeps people coming back to TMS, more and more. When we had the ability to reward an entire game for making progress on the list, I saw more of my players perusing the forums and posting here. Since we quit that due to the rules changes, there's really not as much motivation to either 1) vote or 2) spend time in the TMS forums.

Some people will abuse the system, no matter what form it takes or what rules you put on it.

I just think we should be careful not to regulate the system into oblivion. The current setup - banning any gamewide rewards - marginalizes the players who might get behind a voting rally for their favorite game.

I understand the *point* behind a blanket ban on rewards-for-voting, and I respect the premise, but I suggest we keep in mind that adding regulation on top of regulation to the site may have a long-term detrimental effect. A game like mine, for example, might make the Top 20 if I can rally my troops with the promise of XP at the end of the cycle. But the bigger games don't *need* to dangle a carrot-and-stick much - they've often got the playerbase to dominate without it. Taking away the gamewide-reward option hurts the smaller games, in the long run.

All that said: I once again encourage those small games who *can* to help support Top MUD Sites and buy a banner ad that can run in the front page rotation. Now that I'm back to writing a column for TMS, I'll probably get back to advertising - and we got lots of visits to my games thanks to those banner ads when we ran them in the past.

02-15-2003, 04:46 PM	#20
Brody Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: North Carolina Home MUD: OtherSpace Posts: 1,599	I run a site that currently sits in the 21-40 turf of the listing. And I think, after much consideration, that the direction we're going with the "rewards-for-voting" dilemma isn't necessarily the best to follow. Oh, I definitely believe it's wrong to use fake IPs to inflate votes and bypass the one-vote-every-twelve-hours limit. But even if I might never see my site in the Top 20 again, I still think games should not just be allowed, but encouraged to hold gamewide rallies to see if their players can pull together as a team and reach a certain level by voting, and they should be allowed to hand out XP or whatever they want as a reward to their players at the end of each voting cycle. Part of building a successful game is developing a sense of camaraderie and community - and Top MUD Sites provides one of those cool competitive features that can allow a Little Game With Attitude the potential to rally and make it into the Top 20 sometimes. It's not merely an ego boost for a game developer, but also for the players, to see their game on the list. That's a motivator for building community. It also keeps people coming back to TMS, more and more. When we had the ability to reward an entire game for making progress on the list, I saw more of my players perusing the forums and posting here. Since we quit that due to the rules changes, there's really not as much motivation to either 1) vote or 2) spend time in the TMS forums. Some people will abuse the system, no matter what form it takes or what rules you put on it. I just think we should be careful not to regulate the system into oblivion. The current setup - banning any gamewide rewards - marginalizes the players who might get behind a voting rally for their favorite game. I understand the point behind a blanket ban on rewards-for-voting, and I respect the premise, but I suggest we keep in mind that adding regulation on top of regulation to the site may have a long-term detrimental effect. A game like mine, for example, might make the Top 20 if I can rally my troops with the promise of XP at the end of the cycle. But the bigger games don't need to dangle a carrot-and-stick much - they've often got the playerbase to dominate without it. Taking away the gamewide-reward option hurts the smaller games, in the long run. All that said: I once again encourage those small games who can to help support Top MUD Sites and buy a banner ad that can run in the front page rotation. Now that I'm back to writing a column for TMS, I'll probably get back to advertising - and we got lots of visits to my games thanks to those banner ads when we ran them in the past.