I have to disagree with that.  I signed up to become a member and was accepted.  I perused the site and read the threads.  Then, I found and read a multi-paged thread on god management heirachies, and I gave my input as a knowledgable upper-level admin on a pretty large game.  I thought my post was well-written and explained very well how Medievia's management-scheme is run and managed.  I assume the reference to flame-bait was my post.  However, It was not my intention in the least to become flame-bait.  I was merely contributing.

Within a day I was banned from the forum.  Not from just posting, but from reading it also.  I understand that there were a few posts following mine that were removed, but I never got to see them, so I cannot speak to the content.

I absolutely understand everyone's stance about Medievia.  However, we are a successful game with lots of years and experience under our belts.  We may know what we're talking about when it comes to some things.  

I do not understand how they can advertise that they are allowing anyone to sign up and participate when that is just not true.

Unifex and I did not want to ban you (and we thought your post was perfectly ontopic and just fine). Unfortunately, asking people who feel that you are actively harming them, right now, to tolerate your presence kindly, especially when you're the reason they left the last forum, just wasn't going to work out. Sorry. Given the choice between being somewhat unfair or having yet another Medievia flamewar, well...

Of course we could have just told everyone else to shut up. Would be a pretty lonely forum then...

I do have to disagree with Sinuhe though. The fact that you don't like someone does not make it okay to go around starting **** constantly. KaVir & co. are not blameless.

Good thing you still have this forum to share your wisdom with us then. I'm holding my breath. So far I haven't seen much else than promotion from you. Even the mudlab post, while I agree it was on topic, wasn't exactly informative. You told us your god system "is very well tuned and works very well" and pasted a list of your immortal levels with two links to Medievia's webpage... not a great contribution to a discussion about the advantages and flaws of different administration arrangements.

From reading these posts there seems to some holes in understanding.

I do admire them for their financial success and large playerbases, but the_logos (Matt) and the people from medevia appear to not understand that code theft is bad. I have seen attempts to educate them fail. I have seen very reasonable and forgiving suggestions that medevia just purchase a license for valhalla, keeping in totality their current codebase.

I don't have the time to do this myself, but I suggest that someone educates them. First I would suggest asking them for their code to set up your own system without having to pay them any royalties, for if taking another's code is not bad, they should gladly offer up their own. If they do offer up their code, then hey, they're ok with me. They aren't doing anything to anyone else that they wouldn't be willing to have happen to themselves. If this fails, however, join one of their muds as a developer, gain priviledges, then steal their code and set up a new system and make cash off of it, making the minimum amount of modifications needed, while giving them no credit. If this happens, and they have any complaints, there should be someone that overtly supports the theft and champions it. I think that this should cover any holes in understanding.

I suspect they just don't have any reality on what it would be like for this kind of thing to happen to them is all, and not that they are bad people. I have been in a situation where the code to a mud I owned was stolen, and it wasn't pleasant.

As for Kavir, you appear to have a fine sense of ethics and the fortitude to stand up for what you think is right despite significant opposition. But this is occasionally ruined by your inability to refrain from making pointless personal attacks on someone's character. Here is a web site with the majority of the logical fallacies:
I would hope that you could see that "Attacking the Person" actually makes you look bad, and look wrong, no matter how right you may be.

Anyhow, I hope this helps all involved. Unless you guys are really enjoying the fighting, in which case, fight on!

Xotl

What's your policy on copyright infringement?

For example - what if one of your developers, say, absconded with your codebase, set it up on a server, stripped out the credits, claimed it as her own and then began using it to make profit?

Well, to be perfectly honest and to no surprise by anyone reading this, I have no policy.  That's Vryce's department, and his alone.  As stated in my earlier posts, I'm willing and able to discuss Medievia's promotions and it's godstaff management.  Copyright infringement was never on the slate for discussion by me.  If you want to hear Vryce's side of it, feel free to email him.

Oh, come now - let's not be coy!

I'm sure you have SOME idea how you'd react in such a case.

Why not share and enlighten us? From the sounds of it, code theft and copyright infringement are pretty big issues in the MU* community these days. Coming from such a large, well-established MUD, you've no doubt encountered these sordid sorts of things in the past, no?

I know I for one would certainly welcome a few sage words of advice here from someone so obviously experienced in these matters.

The last time I commented on the state of Medievia and it's role in copyright infringement and the such I was called a slut and my family was threatened. At that point I decided to no longer "enlighten" the users of this forum with my thoughts on that topic. Forgive me for looking out for my own welfare and that of my family. As I said, If you want to know about that, email Vryce, I'm sure he'd love to enlighten you.

Well, you're still posting here - so presumably either you don't really feel that your welfare is threatened, or you've got your priorities skewed, one of the two.

In all seriousness, the aforementioned ranting nutjobs aside - while I certainly agree with and understand their sentiment, I find their presentation a bit overwrought and in poor taste - why the reluctance to answer my question?

You're a clever girl - masters' degree, as I recall? I highly doubt you're underqualified to answer the question - intellectually, anyway.

You asked if any of us wanted to know how Medievia handles its "gods." I asked what you'd do if you found out one of your gods absconded with your code and was using it to make profit, sans any credits or mention of your game.

Seems like a reasonable question in light of your invitation to me.

Soleil wrote: June 04 2005,17:27    

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What a touching sobstory from the 'innonetly punished'.

I hope nobody is gullible enough to fall for it. Soleil may be banned from Mudlab in her capacity of Promotion Manager of the code-stealing mud Medievia, for the simple reason that the mere displaying of the word Medievia, especially in connection with direct links to its webpage, is offensive to a large number of the posters there.

This should not have come as a great surprise to Soleil, since it has been repatedly stated that it was the main reason why they left this Forum to start a new one.  Consequently her mere presence there can be regarded as an intentional provocation, of the same sort as certain people here repeatedly posting flame-bait and then feigning wounded innocence when actually flamed in return. I'd say that she got exactly what she asked for and expected.

However, as for her not being alllowed to read any posts on that Forum, there was, and is, nothing to stop her from reading the boards or even taking part of the discussions under a different name, as long as she doesn't mention Medievia. But since her only interest in that and other boards is to post promotional stuff about Medievia, that is probably not going to happen. So far there have been no posts from her in these boards either that hasn't has as the sole purpose to either to promote or defend it.

She obviously isn't interested in Mud development, she is just interested in getting more players for Medievia.

Well, part of our MUD's development is the art of getting new players, the best ways to go about it, marketing techniques, etc. It is my JOB to get us new players. Forgive me for doing it.

And btw, no I cannot go to mudlab to read the posts at all. My IP has been banned from even going there. I get this message as soon as I try to go to the forums: " You have been banned from this forum. Please contact the webmaster or board administrator for more information." When I click on "register" to try and register under a new name, I get the same message. So, I cannot view the boards or create a new account under a different username as you suggest.

Ah, okay - I think I see.

In other words, you'd probably haul the thief into court for having the audacity to violate your protected copyright.

Copyright protection, incidentally, provided to all original creative works, whether explicitly copyrighted or not.

Interesting.

As I've stated multiple times, I don't know if this would happen at all. That would be Vryce's call to make. Don't twist my words to make them fact. Here's his direct email if you aren't getting my point here -

I'm not sure Vryce would be able to sue the operator of a MUD for infringing his copyright and failing to give credit to him, largely because the balls required for such an astounding act of hypocrisy would prohibit him from walking there.

Soleil: Regardless of your interpretation of the license, could you answer the question of why Medievia refuses to acknowledge the DIKU team in the game's credits, given the role they played in making Medievia possible?

Your IP is not banned. You simply asked the forum to autologin when you originally registered. Since your username was banned, you thus receive that message. If you clear your cookies (Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Cookies), you should have no trouble reading the forums.

As for new user registrations, I had the *@medievia.com email address banned from activating new accounts to stem further trouble. Since you have indicated a desire to register a new username not affiliated with the source of the troubles, I have removed that email ban. Email addresses are hidden, so I see no harm in that.