There are some friendly players who helped me out when I began,
but there are also a lot of other players who are cruel to the
newbies of the mud. I've witnessed many occassions where a low
level player died, and high level player said to them 'Well, you
shouldn't have gone there' or something similar and then refused
to help the new player regain his equipment from his corpse.
The mud has many glaring errors, besides the apathy of the high
level players. For example, the players are far too overpowered.
All mobs in the game are soloable, so one does not need to group
with others, really. The most time consuming aspect of this game
is the 100 level levelling system. While fun in a way, it makes
players too powerful, due to massive amounts of hps/mana/blood.
It also takes a very long time to reach avatar level.
The other main concern (the one that brought about my leaving of
the mud), is that the senior management of the mud allows theft
from player housing simply because 'there is no rule against it'.
I find this type of attitude to be disheartening, especially
when the mud claims to be newbie friendly.
The majority of quests are automated quests, so glory is very
easily accumulated, and nigh on worthless. Also, the ease
of which glory is accrued makes the game even further imbalanced.
Overall I find Edge of Creation to be a mud that has alot of
potential. However, without a serious reworking of the mud, and
some changes in immortal and player attitude, I fear new players
will be continually driven off.
Post a comment
Comment posted on Wed Jul 30 13:14:40 2003 by Shalarra:
I would like to respond to the extremely critical
review by Kizarvexius.
When he first came on our MUD (under a different name
than the review) he was treated with a lot of attention and
respect by the immortal staff. He and one other player, an
avatar, took an instant dislike to each other. The other player
didn't take it all that personally, but Kizarvexius apparently
did. From that point on, all his actions were colored by his
dislike of this other (popular and very active) player.
Kizarvexius was given the opportunity to build on our
building port and was doing a wonderful job. All his suggestions
for improvements were listened to, and many were acted upon
immediately. We are constantly working on the balance of the
MUD, and he was told that, as well, and his suggestions were
taken into account.He was given every curtesy and consideration
by the immortal staff and was accepted and enjoyed by the other
players.
He had criticisms of the ease of our MUD, but compared to
many I have seen ours is not nearly as easy. When I hear players
talk of 20 levels in an hour on certain MUDs, it puts things in
perspective. He was evidently used to very difficult MUDs. I
also feel that our MUD is one of the most newbie friendly places
out there. We go out of our way to help new players who are
sincerely trying. I speak not only for myself, but for our
players, as well. We DO, however, encourage new players who
constantly want others to do EVERYTHING for them to read the
help files and give things a try for themselves before
disturbing others who are also busy. Kizarvexius did call our
attention to one incident where a new player was being ridiculed
by an older player. We immediately spoke to that older player
and told him to adjust his attitude. Every MUD has one or two
players that have to be reminded of manners, I'm sure.
Kizarvexius also made reference to the automated quests.
What he failed to mention is that the huge majority of those
quests are original to our MUD and many are submitted by
players, themselves. We do also run live quests when there is
player interest, have a Capture the Flag game for high level
players, and have players as well as immortals writing other
live quests for the MUD. The Edge of Creation is a very player
responsive MUD. I visited one MUD recently that had specific
instructions NEVER to speak with the IMP. Our MUD is very much
NOT that way. Our immortals are accessible and friendly and
always help as much as possible.
Kizarvexius's reference to the stealing incident is
completely one sided and biased, based on his dislike for the
other player involved. At the time the incident happened the
immortals who were online were extremely busy with several
players who were seriously abusing a bug, which could have led
to an even more serious problem. We explained to him that we
would deal with the stealing and make a policy on it, as player
houses were relatively new and no specific rules had been made
for them, but that we were dealing with this other very serious
issue at the time. The stealing was dealt with within two days,
the thief was punished, and Kizarvexius was notified of
everything that happened, including the punishment of the thief.
He decided to quit the MUD and forget that the thief was
punished and that a rule was made that there would be NO
stealing from player houses. My belief is that his views were
slanted due to his personal dislike for the player who was
stealing and was punished.
I believe that the review by Kizarvexius is extremely
biased and unfounded and does not give an accurate portrayal of
our MUD. The immortals and players on the Edge of Creation work
very hard to make it a fun place to be and a place that welcomes
all and encourages all. I would hope that anyone reading the
review by Kizarvexius would still log on and judge for
themselves.
Sincerely, Shalarra...Guardian on the Edge of Creation
Comment posted on Wed Jul 30 12:36:00 2003 by Samus:
In my opinion this is a biased view of a player who could not get his
way, and overreacted to a minor situation that occurred recently on
Edge of Creations. The creatures are solo-able to a degree, if you
wish to spend 30 minutes in combat, quaffing enormous amounts of
potions in the process. The Avatars(Level 100) are always grouping
to kill mobiles, even the less difficult ones.
The cruel players he mentions are the minority and get a subtle hint
to be nicer. I, myself, am not one to help very often other than with
information, as many of the new recruits are lawful and I try not to
assist them(A RP approach to my laziness), but I am still willing to
assist. However a majority of players and the Imm staff are always
assisting the low-level characters, whether it be Life saving
restores, or corpse retrievals(Clerics Only). Players never say,
'You shouldn't have been there' as all the areas that are too
difficult are cut off, prev2enting people unprepared to venture into
them.
Due to a lack of active players which was up until recently, the
quests were automated, but as our numbers grew, some of the Imms
have taken the time to create some more delightful quests, and they
have been a work in progress, and have helped add to the diversing
the equipment the players use.
And his excuse for leaving was the no punishment against the
culprit behind the theft. The thief was me, and I was punished,
along with losing a few friends for my acts. Houses are impossible
to steal from now, as the area is now anti-teleport, and most people
make the chest rooms anti-astral, and the doors anti-
pick/bash/passdoor/knock/etc.
In my opinion, this is just a disgruntled player, who could not get
his way, put his actions into harming the mud, instead, of trying to
help it. I have been here for quite some time, and it has
definitely improved, and will continue to improve because of the
staff and its players.
