114 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
114 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
chapter 2 "The Vision Thing"
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Are you sure you want to run a mud? I mean, are
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you *really* sure?
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Most newbie admins have no idea what a difficult
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task lays before them. I started my own mud in 1995.
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It's still around today, in fact. Back then, I'd
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been coding on a mud that had its hosting pulled. I
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finagled access to my university's systems and
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told the old mud's admin "Hey, let's host it here!"
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He didn't want to, so it was just me and my
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new Nightmare IV mud. I figured "what the heck, maybe
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I can run my own," and the rest is history.
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I hadn't a clue how to manage people, and things
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just wouldn't come together. I had literally dozens of
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creators come and go, and I could never figure
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out why they'd build a few things and leave. The
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problem was me, obviously. There was nothing about
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the mud people disliked: Nightmare was a very popular
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lib at the time.
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The problem was that people wanted leadership
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from me, and I didn't even know it, much less know
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how to provide it.
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Creators ("builders") are your most precious resource.
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Without them you don't have a mud, you have a lib. Sure,
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you can try building everything yourself...and with
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Dead Souls, that's not so farfetched an idea. But
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after a few months of toil, you'll see that you have
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weaknesses, you are not the perfect builder, and you
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will wish for the help and support of others.
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If you don't carefully cultivate your relationships
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with these people, you will fail. Your mud will be a
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failed mud, and your self-expression squelched.
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This is why I ask you if you're *really* sure you
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want to run a mud. Running a mud isn't about lording
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it over puny mortal players. It isn't about being
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the sharpest lib coder logged in. It isn't about
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bossing your staff, or making long lists of rules
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and job titles and meeting schedules.
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Your job as an administrator is to manage
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people, and guide them toward a single vision, over
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which you yourself may not have full control. People
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will listen to the admin at first because, well, she's
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the admin. But if you can't demonstrate the qualities
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of leadership they expect, they will stop respecting
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you, and they will leave. Or worse, they will hang
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around and be difficult.
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What's this about a "vision"? People will work for
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a variety of reasons, mostly money, fun, recognition,
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etc. Rewards. When your new coders show up, they
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will need motivation to work. Since you probably
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won't be offering much in the way of money or
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recognition, you'll need to find a way to motivate
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your coders by making it fun to work with you.
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Obviously I don't mean you need to be jolly and
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wear funny hats. In fact, you can be quite boring a
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person and still be good to work with. When I mean it
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has to be fun for your creators, I mean that they
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have to be inspired to do stuff...they have to *want*
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to build because they are expressing themselves in
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a way they enjoy.
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This means you'd be unwise to start parceling out
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"missions" and "assignments". Find out what your new
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creator *wants* to do, then do your best to
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accommodate them. It's that simple. If they're working
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on what they *want* to do, you don't need to actively
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motivate them...you just need to make sure they
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have what they need, and that they understand what
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is expected of them.
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These expectations are the other part of the
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individual management of creators. Just as is it
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fatal to give creators "homework", it is just as
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counterproductive to say "do whatever you want, man,
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you're free to do anything." Part of the fun of
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work is knowing what the standards are, and how your
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work will be judged. If your creator feels like you
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don't actually care what she builds, she won't
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care much about doing a job that's up to any standards
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but her own. After a while of this, she's going to
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figure out she might as well just run her *own* mud.
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You therefore have to have a strong sense of what
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your mud will look like, and what each creator's role
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in that mud will be. If you don't know, or it seems like
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you don't know, you'll lose them.
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You don't run the mud because you have the admin
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password. You run it because people think you run it.
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If they stop thinking it, you stop running it.
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So I ask again. Do you know what you want out of
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this mud? Have you planned out what you want people
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to be doing? When a talented coder shows up, will
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you be prepared to negotiate their proper role,
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and persuade them that the mud will succeed?
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Do you *really* want to be a mud admin? Or are
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you just looking to be someone's boss?
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First, find your vision. Everything else will be
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hard work, but if you know what your mud will be,
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and what you need from other people, then you
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just might have a chance to succeed.
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