[obit]

This is all very interesting. There are several superstitions associated with JTrek.

Just to clarify a little on the game I'm referring to, which bears no resemblence to a MUD, JTrek isn't a diku-ish scrolling-adventure game, but rather a PK space-combat/flight simulator that uses a "scanner/tactical display" field, in which the numbers representing a ship's condition are updated through curser movement sequences. So, for example, as your ship takes damage, or changes speed, the value stays in the same spot on your screen. All you'll see is "Damage: 0"
change into "Damage: 5" or whatever.

One myth is that if your shields are raising,(they increase by 1% per second) your ship will heal damage faster. The truth is, it's really just a matter of "watching water boil". So while the player has other things going on at the same time, he perceives that the damage is being healed faster, which supports the superstition. I'll often see players lowering their shields, just so they can be "raising" them while they heal their damage.

Another of my favorites, is that if you dock your ship at every planet and base in the game, in the proper sequence, you'll unlock a "Q" class ship, which is virtually omnipotent. This legend is supported by the fact that there is indeed a "Q" class ship, which is used by admins for testing/debugging. The only real way to get one, is to go into the database and manually change an exisisting ship's class from X(whatever class it is) into the "Q" class. The hilarity of this one is endless, as we tell the players that it doesn't work, but nonetheless, players will spend hours, cruising from planet to planet, hoping that they will get the sequence right. With 216 planets/bases, spread out over six massive quadrants, a player might waste a week of their life trying to get something, which even if they did get, would be deleted in short order by a "real" admin.

One way to perpetuate myth and superstition, is to plant actual "bugs" and easter eggs(though nothing that would give a player any real advantage). The speculation it causes among players can lead them to draw their own conclusions about the actual mechanics of a game.. and in turn garner more interest in the game among the existing player base. An example of this in JTrek, could be the "double gold chunk" bug(actually a feature) which can be turned on or off, serverside. This feature causes, on a purely random basis, a second "chunk" of gold to appear shortly after a player dies. The second chunk is the exact same amount as the normal one, and it appears in exactly the same spot. This has led to a lot of discussion among the players, as to whether it's more likely to appear if the dying player detonates vs. running out of life support, the distance to the other ship, the distance to a planet, ext.