[iovan]

Mostly true. It depends on the amount of interested individuals and how far you go back. You should be prepared to do everything though. If not because other people can be unreliable then you should because those who would be reliable are mostly inspired by the head of the project.

They may not suck but from personal experience (and having been burned once) I do not let anyone near my code anymore. The slightest bit of falling out could end up with it stolen or stolen for ****s and giggles anyway. I wouldn't say it's a rule for everyone (not to trust anyone with their code) but it's one I follow. Unless I am releasing something you will not see my code without hacking.

I agree that you will need to manage the building team. Building projects can drag on too long if you don't keep on builders and you have to set limits on what can and can't be built. It's a good idea to design building primers for various things (like say what are acceptable ranges for equipment) so that your builders have references and guidelines already established.

I do not agree on your suggestion that it's not critical to know how to build. I think you should know every nuance of your own building system. You should be able to teach any builder anything they may need to know about using your building system. That's my opinion.

See my idea of code security above. The only change between them would be if you have your website account separate from your code account. I deem it alright to give access to someone knowledgeable about website development to such a separate account. The risk is low and the pay off is high. I have no interest in learning website development personally. I have my hands full with the other languages I do care about.

I agree to a point. Initial and major PR/advertising campaigns need to be handled by you. However once you have established yourself well enough you can recruit people to handle it that enjoy your particular MUD. You can check their proposed adverts prior to their being displayed and approve or deny them as needed.

Depends.

Yes. However you shouldn't be required to step into every affair. You should set guidelines and rules for your immortals/wizards/admins in dealing with each other and players. You should clearly mark out what rules you do want the players to observe and make it clear to your immortals how they are to be enforced. Then all you need to keep your eye out for is immortals breaking the rules you have set up for them or misinterpreting the rules for players.

Good intentions and zero skill? How do builders get the skill you want unless they are taught or given a chance to learn? Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time I was a newly hired builder on someone's MUD. The owner knew I was new to building (He was not high caliber MUD owner material himself) yet after about an hour of my teaching myself to build (and getting pretty far in learning the commands) I was fired and banned. Why? I was a "newb" builder is all I was told.

That MUD doesn't exist anymore (never got off the ground actually) and my MUD does extremely well. I am an expert at the OLC system for my MUD (and others with the same system), I know several programming languages, and I am experienced in managing people to achieve a goal. I hire newb builders. I teach them how to not be newb anymore or have one of my experienced builders teach them. I don't just fire them and hope for some taught builder who is free from a MUD to show up.

The way I handle it does a number of things. 1: It increases the total of available builders for that OLC system. 2: It makes sure I can get builders without having to wait on them to just show up. 3: A good number of those newb builders who get taught are grateful and more dedicated to my project than an already skilled builder would have been.

I still fire people who do not meet the requirements I set or break timelines they agreed to meet (I'm a little forgiving on that but only when it wasn't a super important timeline). However I never fire someone just for having good intentions and zero skill. That's inefficient and unhelpful to both parties. Even the most uncreative builder who is at least taught can be helpful to me if they are assigned to do something minor but necessary.