Member Discussions

What I don't expect out my builders: a wealth of experience, technical knowledge or credintials.

What I DO expect out of my builders: Dedication. You'll never learn anything without dedicaton, and this is just as true for building as it is for anything else. If you intend to come for a couple of hours while I spend all my time teaching you, then dropping it and never being heard from again, don't bother, okay?

Why the hell would I build for you?

Unlike most building admins, I don't care if you have 10 years of experience of 10 minutes of experience(or less). I will TEACH you how to build, in exchange for building for me. Plus, next time you are trying to apply for immship/builder, you have something to put on your application. Send me an email and I'll even send an email to them vouching for you.

Can I build my area on your mud and then take it to my favorite mud?

To put it simply: Hell no :D What you build for the mud will be put into the mud. If I do not use it I WILL give you the file and let you keep it. If the mud closes, I WILL give you the file and you can do whatever you want with it, but if the mud opens, you will recieve credit for the area, but not the file itself.

Can I build a DBZ area?

Leave. Get the hell away from me ^_~

The mud will be rp intense, so your area will have to fit inside the theme, and its nowhere near DBZ. It is a sort-of-dark fantasy mud, email me for more information.

I wish you the best of luck finding builders.

I wonder if you realize, though, the tasty
morsel of licensing flamebait you've trolled?

Not saying it's on purpose mind you. But, boy,
what a setup.

Anyway, Cheers.

-Crat
http://lpmuds.net

licensing flamebait? How so?

He's talking about the whole "you can't keep the file, and you don't get rights to it" thing you said... something like the second to last paragraph. More or less recently, there's been quite a bit of discussion about stuff along those lines, which would indicate someone is likely to jump on you since you brought it up.

*shrug*

Best of Luck,
-Jess

> He's talking about the whole "you can't keep the file,
> and you don't get rights to it" thing you said...

Well in all fairness he didn't say they lost their rights to it - only that he wouldn't give them a copy of it. While there's nothing stopping the builder from manually walking through their area and copying out all of the descriptions for use in another mud, AFAIK there's also nothing forcing Brinson to send them a copy of the area file itself.

i have been building for about 18 years statred when you got to levle 20 and you was an imm i sitll have a few imms but the mud i was building on is done i havent built in about a year now but i still know alot of it.
i mostly built in envy greed redit medit mpedit oedit did some programing!
nut mostly i love to buildand help players
any questions just give me a e-mail
dull aka robert rohrer

That's not what I read... but whatever, as far as I'm concerned if someone decides to work for someone under upfront terms, that's their business. I was just clarifying why Cratylus said what he did.

Best of Luck,
-Jess

I must agree, if builder x and implementor x decide to work together under the said terms that builder x will receive credit on that MUD for the areas he/she puts forth but will not be given a copy of it, and that he should not use these areas ideas/descriptions anywhere else, then I think ETHICALLY (HAH! MUD ETHICS????) the builder should honor the original agreement and stick to it. I have seen many builders come to my mud and throw up a 100 room zone that was pretty outstanding in less than 4 days and then come to find out after posting on a forum such as this, that the exact same are a was built by him on 3 other muds.

Basically, stick by your agreement and have some integrity :)

Wow did I just throw this topic off subject or what?

- Gilmore

Sadly it goes both ways. A couple of months ago one person who was trying to start up a new MUD asked me for all of my old area files (I declined their offer - a few of the areas are still in use anyway). I would have been more inclined to help them if they asked me to build them new areas rather than cheekily asking me for my old stuff... so it is their loss or gain (depending on how the quality of my work is viewed *laughs*)

I may not have my name(s) plastered over 20+ MUDs by submitting duplicate area files but I'm happy with the results that I can do and I have had no complaints about my work so far (if there are any complaints please write them on a postcard and place them into the nearest recycling bin). I may take a little longer than some builders by creating original areas and not duplicating my old stuff or copy/pasting other peoples' works but I get there in the end.

Back to the subject in question, if someone wants to learn how to build and accepts all of these terms and conditions, that is their choice.

(Comment added by Templeton on Mon Dec 18 12:14:54 2006)

When I said "Sadly it goes both ways." I meant that not only some builders may duplicate their areas on different MUDs but also that some admin maybe willing to use areas that they know are from other MUDs. Sorry :D

When I said "Sadly it goes both ways." I meant that not only some builders may duplicate their areas on different MUDs but also that some admin maybe willing to use areas that they know are from other MUDs. Sorry :D

I personally don't see this as that big of a problem as long as the admins that add the zones into their MUDs don't take them at face value. ie. There are many zones that may be on another MUD, and that wouldn't be enough cause for me to say that they could never be added to my MUD. On the other hand, I would never let a builder add an area to a MUD that I hadn't previously overlooked. Even then, I would only even think of that as a logical possibility if I had the permission to also edit the zone as I saw fit. (spelling errors, adding scripts) I would also add my name to the zone if I were to do this. This is not to steal their credit from their work, as their name would stay, nor would it even be to give myself credit for their work. It would be for one reason and one reason only, this way if any of the changes I made to the zone were not up to par in the original builder's eyes they would not think that I edited the zone in their name and that it would be obvious that many changes (whether for better or worse) were made by me and them. basically it would not aim to lower their reputation or to raise my own, so much as to ensure that theirs would not be lowered by a poor choice they may feel that I have made.

On a personal note, I've never felt the need to duplicate areas I've built in previous muds onto other mud, or even my own. As a builder, I design areas based on the mud I'm working on at the time. Each mud, in one way or another, is different to some degree. As an admin for my own mud, I choose not to want areas that were done elsewhere as I feel it does a disservice to my own mud.

On a previous mud, I created the 1st layer of the 9 Hells based on information found in AD&D's Manual of the Planes. On my mud, the 9 Hells will also be found, but, the 1st layer, called Avernus, will look very different then what I built previously due to the code being different, more features having been coded into my mud, and also as a concious decision because on the old mud I was given parameters to follow which were rather restrictive compared to what I wanted to create.

Oh, and Templeton, as I've gone through your area, I find nothing at all substandard or inferior, in fact, I find your area to be of excellent quality and for someone who has never built on a theme like my mud has, you've captured the essence quite well.

I think it is sad to see copies of areas on different MUDs because I enjoy looking at other peoples' works (when it is good of course) and I love variety. Among the things that I admire about MUDs is their individuality in both code/game play and areas, not their copying skills. I am more against using copies of areas when a MUD attempts to claim that its areas including the duplicates are original... I suppose it depends on whether or not you perceive a non-stock area as "original" regardless of the number of times it is currently being used on other MUDs.

Using old areas from MUDs that are no longer operating (with permission from their previous owners) sounds like a nice way of showcasing old talent in principle. Personally I don't have any real drive to see any of my old work up and running on a new MUD – my areas have "lived their lives, fulfilled their purpose and are now resting with my deceased hamster" – I get more of a kick out of creating new areas.

Taking the original idea (with permission from their previous owners) and adding to it in principle sounds better than producing an exact duplicate - there is always room for improvements and I don't think there is such thing as "the perfect area". It is something that I was once asked to do that with one of my own areas (the original area was the first part of a two part area but I did not get to do the second part before I got side tracked onto other areas and then the MUD closed. I was then presented the area file on the next MUD I was working on a couple of years later by my new boss and after a total overhaul and addition of the second part, the area turned from one large pile of cow dung into a massive pile of cow dung double the size of the original – on one hand I got to finally finish the overall area but on the other hand to me it "reeked" of duplicate even though I think no one ever saw the original area and so I hated that area with a passion. I'm weird.)

Eek! I talk too much about building.

P.S. No hamsters were harmed in the production of this message.
P.P.S. I really hate checking over areas, especially other peoples' areas. It's one of the joys of being a Head Builder that I don't miss one bit (sometimes it's easier to lie and say you're just a newbie builder so people don’t have high expectations of you *laughs*). I prefer people pointing out my mistakes and I'm quite happy to correct them... I'm not perfect.
P.P.P.S. There's nothing quite like building an area based on a theme you know hardly anything about. I can definitely guarantee an original (disaster or masterpiece... you decide *laughs*)

Hiya I'd love to learn how to build again, awhile back I learned quite abit in a rom type mud how to build areas all the way up to making semi intelligent npcs that send players on quests and such but I did have help with guides (which I have since lost) but I'd love to get another chance at building. Email is cpgames34@gmail.com

Hiya I'd love to learn how to build again, awhile back I learned quite abit in a rom type mud how to build areas all the way up to making semi intelligent npcs that send players on quests and such but I did have help with guides (which I have since lost) but I'd love to get another chance at building. Email is cpgames34@gmail.com

You may or may not get fairly flamed for old thread necro. Just an FYI, the thread was last posted on in 2006 so any offers from it are probably not there. Would be best to create a new thread expressing your want to learn to build again.

-Syn