Member Discussions

The following current openings are available for 6 Dragons:

Head of Player Relations
Area Architects
Player Relations
Game Events

We are a Chronicles code base mud which is a derivative of Smaug. Please do not log in from from the first room, and ask to become a Staff member. That is bad form. At 6 Dragons we prefer to hire from the players, and require all who are interested to at least level to 20, so you have a feel for the game, and we have a feel for what type of person you are. We are a medieval/fantasy mud the story is on the website. http://6dragons.org/bin/story.html

6 Dragons Organizational Chart and Job Descriptions

Game Admin....Head of Area Architects.......Head of Game Code
Vladaar.............Ilyessa/Samael.....................Volk

Head Player Relations.............Head of Game Events
Vacant........................................Aurin

Game Admin
Main Job is to oversee the Heads of the councils. The Game Admin has final say on all game issues. The Game Admin will assign tasks to the Heads of councils to carry out, and for them to delegate to their council members. The Game Admin will attempt to know the job of every council, as a jack of all trades and help out as needed. The Game Admin will strive to steer the game development in a direction to maintain the theme/storyline of the game and at the same time have a fun/challenging game for the majority of players. The Game Admin will try to generate the highest player base possible my attempting to have a little of something for everyone's interest in the game be it role play, hack-n-slash, or player killing.
The Game Admin will encourage and listen to ideas suggested by STAFF and players.

Monthly Tasks
Spot Check areas being built with Head of Area Architects.
Attempt to find a player to group with one of your alts, and spend at least
30 minutes grouped with them.
Promote the Game on websites.
Meet with Heads to review ideas submitted by players/STAFF and receive input on whether they think ideas should be added to the game, then make decision.

Weekly Tasks
Send out mass emailing on Latest 6 Dragons News
Log on one of your alts, and level them one level.
Run at least a 30 minute Game Event when 2 or more players are online.
The Game Admin will work with Head Architect to maintain game balance in power for areas - mobs, and objects.
The Game Admin will work with Head of Game Code to maintain game balance in power for spells/skills.
Create a new player and level it 5 to 10 levels. Even if you don't use it anymore, this will help generate excitement and player involvement as they think new players are joining daily. Also will help us see how the game affects new players.

Daily Tasks
Vote for the 6 Dragons Game
Review code changes through SVN
Review bugs/typos/ideas
Greet Staff/players
Determine Highest priorities of work needing done by council Heads, and set the priority tasks to council Heads.
If less then 5 players in-game log a alt on.
Work on building an area, or coding when time available.

Head Area Architects
Main Job is to oversee all STAFF that are assigned vnums and ensure that 1) They are making progress on their areas, and 2) They are building according to the building guidelines. The Head of AA is also a coach or teacher if you will, in that they often find themselves having to teach other STAFF how to build areas, and how to write properly.

Monthly Tasks
Spot Check areas being built with Game Admin.
Attempt to find a player to group with one of your alts, and spend at least
30 minutes grouped with them.
Meet with Game Admin and other Heads to review ideas submitted by players/STAFF and give input on whether you think they should be added to the game.

Weekly Tasks
Log on one of your alts, and level them one level.
Run at least a 30 minute Game Event when 2 or more players are online.
Work with the Game Admin to maintain game balance in power for areas - mobs, and objects.
Create a new player and level it 5 to 10 levels. Even if you don't use it anymore, this
will help generate excitement and player involvement as they think new players are joining daily. Also will help us see how the game affects new players.

Daily Tasks
Vote for the 6 Dragons Game
Review typos/ideas
Greet Staff/players
If less then 5 players in-game log a alt.
Work on building an area.

Head Game Code
Main Job is to ensure that all coding that is getting done is done correctly, and meets the coding guidelines.* The Head of Game Code is also a coach or teacher if you will, in that they often find themselves having to teach other STAFF how to code properly. The Head is responsible for maintaining a bug and crash free game, as well as for assigning coding tasks to other coders.
* Coding guidelines yet to be developed.
Monthly Tasks
Run game on Valgrind to seek and destroy any/all memory leaks/crashes.
Attempt to find a player to group with one of your alts, and spend at least
30 minutes grouped with them.
Meet with Game Admin and other Heads to review ideas submitted by players/STAFF and give input on whether you think they should be added to the game.

Weekly Tasks
Log on one of your alts, and level them one level.
Run at least a 30 minute Game Event when 2 or more players are online.
Work with the Game Admin to maintain game balance in power for areas - mobs, and objects.
Spot check coders assigned projects to see how far along they are in progess, and keep Game Admin informed.
Create a new player and level it 5 to 10 levels. Even if you don't use it anymore, this
will help generate excitement and player involvement as they think new players are joining daily. Also will help us see how the game affects new players.

Daily Tasks
Vote for the 6 Dragons Game
Review and Fix bugs
Greet Staff/players when not in shell. Use afk - coding in shell please beep, or some type of equivalent.
If less then 5 players in-game log a alt.
Work on building an area if time permits.
Work on coding the highest priority on coding to do list.

Head Player Relations
Main Job is to interact with players. The Head should be encouraging conversation, and work on generating fun/excitement in the game. The Head will also address player discipline/rewards/concerns with the Game Admin.

Monthly Tasks
Attempt to find a player to group with one of your alts, and spend at least
30 minutes grouped with them.
Meet with Game Admin and other Heads to review ideas submitted by players/STAFF and give input on whether you think they should be added to the game.
Report to Game Admin new player statistics for the month.

Weekly Tasks
Log on one of your alts, and level them one level.
Run at least a 30 minute Game Event when 2 or more players are online.
Spend at least 30 minutes Role Playing with players when 2 or more players are online.
Review the latest news, and ensure any code changes/enhancements have proper help files created or old help files updated to reflect changes.

Daily Tasks
Vote for the 6 Dragons Game
Greet Staff/players
If less then 5 players in-game log a alt.
Work on building an area if time permits.
Ensure players follow rules of Game.
Keep Track of new players, and assist new players, as well as old players.
Create a new player and level it 5 to 10 levels. Even if you don't use it anymore, this
will help generate excitement and player involvement as they think new players are joining daily. Also will help us see how the game affects new players.


Head Game Events
Main Job is to promote interaction among players. The Head should be encouraging conversation, and work on generating fun/excitement in the game by running game events. The Head will also create game event templates, schedule, and post game events.

Monthly Tasks
Attempt to find a player to group with one of your alts, and spend at least
30 minutes grouped with them.
Meet with Game Admin and other Heads to review ideas submitted by players/STAFF and give input on whether you think they should be added to the game.
Report to Game Admin Game Event statistics for the month.
Attempt to schedule and notify the Game Admin of Game Events for the month, so they can be posted on mud advertising sites, as promotions for 6 Dragons.

Weekly Tasks
Log on one of your alts, and level them one level. Create a game event template. Schedule and post game events for the week.

Daily Tasks
Vote for the 6 Dragons Game
Greet Staff/players
If less then 5 players in-game log a alt.
Work on building an area if time permits.
Run at least a 30 minute Game Event when 2 or more players are online.
Create a new player and level it 5 to 10 levels. Even if you don't use it anymore, this
will help generate excitement and player involvement as they think new players are joining daily. Also will help us see how the game affects new players.

Create a new
player and level it 5 to 10 levels. Even if you
don't use it anymore, this will help generate
excitement and player involvement as they think
new players are joining daily.

Such treachery...

Heh yeah - was thinking the exact same thing.
Same with the
if < 5 players
log in alt


*boggles*

Its not all that treacherous when its out in the open for all to see.

Seriously, I don't see the problem either. I mean, he is very honest about how it works.

Can you imagine if your real world job worked this way?

Say you love ice skating and work at the rink. In the middle of your morning zamboni fuel tabulating the boss comes in and says, "Hey, we don't have enough people skating. Get your gear and hit the ice."

So very cool a job.

Kitkat -

It's more like dress up as someone else and hit the ice. He
doesn't want new players knowing its staff playing the
characters to make it look busy. The players don't look
like staff they look like players. Someone working and
skating would still be getting paid to help customers and
thus still obviously an employee that is working and not
just someone pretending to be a customer to make the
business look better.

Wow thanks for the flames guys.

I am just looking for new Staff, I didn't mean to
cause a problem posting the job descriptions. Times
are tough for new mud owners, and if your not willing
to do what it takes to get new players that log on
and type who and quit, then you wont ever make it.

I know tons of small muds do this, they just want to
make fun of someone who was being honest about it.
I'm not trying to fool players, but trying to make the
game interesting enough that they will try it out,
and see if they like it. Additionally, all my Staff
play the game, so the alts are real.

Vladaar

and if your not willing
to do what it takes to get new players that log on
and type who and quit, then you wont ever make it.

There's definitely new muds succeeding still that don't
deceive their players into thinking the playerbase is
larger than it really is. If you really don't think so then
you're delusional.

Drizzt is right.

My MUD has been around for 5 years and always had (and still do) a playerbase. Example: right now there are 11 people on.

And I've never deceived anyone like that. I've never thrown random keywords into my MUD desc, faked players online, etc.

I'm betting you guys won't qualify for Staff positions. ;)



And I don't think you're walking in his shoes.

faked players online

But he stated the staff was supposed to log in and play, not just log in and fill up WHO space.

Attempt to find a player to group with one of your alts, and spend at least 30 minutes grouped with them

That is a big difference.

I have built for RP muds (in the long ago past) where playing my alt to help spark or boost rp was just as important as the building I was doing. I didn't get as much built, but it was a lot of fun.

Kitkat -

Even if you don't use it
anymore, this will help generate excitement and player
involvement as they think new players are joining daily.

I think it's specifically that part which strongly suggests
the goal is to fool players.

There is no deception in this tactic. If a staff member
creates a new player to help the mud succeed then the
amount of players has grown. It isn't fake, they aren't
pretending to be players. If you make a new character on a
mud and play it, you are a player right? For someone being
worried that current events will hinder small mud owners
(In the Kyndig/MM thread) you sure do go out of your way to
hinder them yourself Drizzt.

I don't believe having morals is going out of the way to
hinder new muds.

(Comment added by Drizzt1216 on Fri Sep 12 21:13:33 2008)

And sure you would be a player, but he specifically
mentions new players, which is something you would not be.

Having morals is certainly NOT going out of the way to
hinder new muds. Excellent straw man tactic. Going out of
your way to express an opinion (morals are opinions)
publicly that portrays an individual or their ideals in a
negative light can certainly hinder them though. So, were
you just "having an/ opinion/morals" or expressing them to
others? And your comment is also correct, I was so
irritated when I posted that I didn't take to time to think
that part out very well. When you make your first player
character it would be new, but I have no way to justify
making a new character every so often.

I don't believe having morals is going out of the way to hinder new muds.

It would seem to the casual observer that this has very little to do with your moral position and more to do with your own self promotion. On the now defunct MudRage you made it a habit to Mod yourself up at every available opportunity, this would give anyone new to the site the impression that your opinion is highly regarded by your peers and that you should be looked up. Which in itself could turn off anyone new to that site when they see someone who is purportedly highly respected involved in or instigating every other flame fest.

I think Vlaadar has been very clear on exactly what his position is and what his intention was, if you truly felt that this was not in the best interest of mudding then you would have approached him in private and discussed your concerns with him about this approach, instead you make a song and dance here trying to sway the general consensus to the position that this is bad.

In the end this has no effect on you or any game that you might happen to staff on, so i can hardly see what all the fuss is about, players can vote with their feet, if they find Vlaadar an objectionable character then they just wont play his game. About his only failure so far was to use words that could be construed to mean something other than his real intention.

Another well written and useful post from The Fury. I
always love it when you jump in on something. That's the
point I was going to make originally but I couldn't come up
with the words I was looking for. =)

This is what I think.

An Imm having a mortal they play is generally okay (although it always seems to result in a conflict of interest).

An Imm having a mortal they play with because it's part of their job, not so much. I'm not saying it's bad enough that I would remove anyone on my MUD host for doing it, but I wouldn't do it myself either.

The_Fury/Eldhamud/spallapide wrote:
"It would seem to the casual observer that this has very little to do with your moral position and more to do with your own self promotion. On the now defunct MudRage you made it a habit to Mod yourself up at every available opportunity, this would give anyone new to the site the impression that your opinion is highly regarded by your peers and that you should be looked up."

I'm not much in the habit of agreeing with
The_Fury/Eldhamud/spallapide, but this is a fair
debate point, well made. For once.

I would suggest that Drizzt was using the system as
it was intended, and that if self-voting was allowed,
it wasn't a secret nor an exploit. But you make
a good point about the appearance of deceptiveness.


The_Fury/Eldhamud/spallapide wrote:
"if you truly felt that this was not in the best interest of mudding then you would have approached him in private and discussed your concerns with him about this approach"

Ah, this is better. I completely disagree with the implicit
message here that public debate of policy is unacceptable.

The problem with "discuss concerns in private" is that
this forum is not private. If someone publicly says
somethingI disagree with, I'll damn well disagree with
it publicly. This is a position that's gotten me banned
from sites where admins can't handle adverse opinion,
but I'm not seeing why I should keep private my opinion
on an public idea I object to.

There are, of course, exceptions, IMO. It's polite to
give someone time to patch a security bug. And of course
it's ok to talk in private about whatever you want to.
But to declare that disagreement belongs only in PM
is to infantilize the community. We're grownups.
We can handle it. Really.

As to the staff-populating-the-game stuff, I dunno. It's
apparently not actually a secret, so I'm not sure what
the big deal is. It's obvious to me that it is a vector
for abuse, so I would suggest that it's a good idea to
provide an explanation of how abuse is avoided. But other
than that, who cares if staff plays. I think that's a
good thing for a whole bunch of reasons...not only keeping
things lively, and providing real live help to newbs,
but also for keeping a finger in what it's like to actually
play the game. I see mostly plus. I'm not convinced
about the minus.

-Crat
http://lpmuds.net

The_Fury/Eldhamud/spallapide wrote:
"if you truly felt that this was not in the best interest of mudding then you would have approached him in private and discussed your concerns with him about this approach"

Ah, this is better. I completely disagree with the implicit
message here that public debate of policy is unacceptable.

Oh i agree with you also, my point was not to stifle debate or hide it, but rather that "there are ways and there are ways" to achieve the same outcome and that before you accuse someone of being dishonest you at least have a good understanding of their intent. It just seemed to me that this was more about self serving interests rather than good honest debate on whether it is ethical.

Unlike the OP my personal choice would be that my staff had an understanding of the game that's not learned by playing, but through the development process. I too do not like the conflict of interest type scenarios that can arise or allegations being made of staff abuse and favoritism. I am also more of the MMO way of doing things where game staff are not seen all that often, but are always there watching.

In the end it is the players who will make the ultimate vote, not those of us who develop other games.