[MUD-Dev] Lorry's document on wizard-hood

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <3.0.32.19970605224639.008ff51c at mail.tenetwork.com>, on 06/06/97 
   at 08:21 AM, Jeff Kesselman <jeffk at tenetwork.com> said:

>At 07:48 PM 6/5/97 PST8PDT, JC Lawrence wrote:

> [ MUD ethics document ellided ]

>Heh. Thanks.  I skimmed it already-- a few quick observations...

>(1) Anyonen who starts out by quoting Robert Anton Wilson (or was it
>Levay? I forget.. in any case) can't be taken TOO seriously at least
>by me. (The "Do what thou whilt" quote.)

The thing is that was the line emblazoned over the entrance to SX MUD
and I *think* MIST also (I played a lot of SX MUD, but only got on
MIST once or twice).  It was a guiding principle to the game, if not
the single universal yardstick on which all else was measured.  Read
some of Bartle's later comments (or heck, read Trubshaw's book) and
you'll see that pretty well everything design-wise was based off that
maxim.

Very much: "Build the world, and they will come and do something with
it."

>(2) Something that becoems clear as you read it though at least in my
>skim he never sp[ecificly adrssed as such, is that he at least
>implicitly understasdn that a MUD universe is all about psychology. 
>After all, terhe IS no physicality.  Its all psych and group
>dynamics.

True.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...