Purpose

I've sought to capture in web-pages the various topics that need to be addressed when starting a new MU.

Like all MU wizards I've got my own views and biases. These pages aren't to sell my views; instead, they are to list the decisions that MU wizards and staffs will face and issues that various solutions entail.

They are not prescriptive: they don't say "If player A does X, then you respond with Y." Every MU has to decide based on their goals and styles how they will handle these issues. But it's better to have thought them through before problems emerge than deal with them in the heat of irate players or angry staffs.

So, ignore who the author is; these pages won't tell you what to do anyway. And remember that plans are mostly worthless, but planning is crucially important. Having taken the time to think through and discuss these topics will provide a foundation for deciding what's best for YOUR games.

And please, if you wish more topics added (or have suggestions to the pages here) then let me know. You can reach me at brianj@otterspace.com

Pages

Controlling the Size of the MU Based on the Number of Players

This page discusses the issues involving population density. Specifically, it addresses quotas and shrinking large amounts of rooms to affect RP and the mission of your game.

The Wizard Staff

This page discusses the issues of working within a management team (or a non-wizard staff team as well). It looks at modes of high-level policy and choosing the fundamental operations decisions.

Players, Alts, and Zombies

Deciding on how new players can join and form alternates.

Privacy and the Logs

Being clear on exactly what your positions ARE and issues in choosing those positions.

Pending Topics

• conflict resolution
• choosing wizards during startup of a new MU

About the Author

Brian Jones (aka Otter) has hosted, run, and coded both in-game and server-side for MUCKs since 1995. He currently runs the Nameless MUCK Codebase server/MUF source project.

Outside the games, he is president of High Reliability Software, Inc. (DBA Otter Space Software) and is an instructor and course author for Learning Tree International.