On Sat, 30 Aug 1997, Daniel Koepke wrote:
> Yes, the Art of Administration, as I said in my original message (and as
> you have agreed here), is to provide challenges for the player, but not
> to make it so ridiculous that the player leaves. In other words, you have
> to create a *balance* between the difficulty and the possibility of
> playing the game. Or, as I put it in the original message: how much
> you piss-off your players vs. how much you can before they leave. Balance.
Perhaps the reason why this fallacy of thinking is so prevelant is
how much easier it makes it on the mud's administrator. It is easier
to be hostile towards your players instead of understanding,
but it violates the primary element of a healthy mud: the mutual
enjoyment that is shared by both the administrator and the players.
Such an environment is the ultimate goal of the "Art of Administration."
No administrator wants his/her mud to be a failure. However, as in every
day life, we often find that our intentions are undermined by our
crude thinking. If your goal is the player's enjoyment, the players
will never find themselves frustrated with your mud, merely "frustrated"
with the challenges the mud provides. In the case of the mud where the
goal is to "piss-off" the players to the point that they almost leave,
the players are often frustrated with the mud's administration not
the supposed "challenges" which the mud presents them. Making the
player's experience frustrating (even if your careful that it's not
so frustrating the players leave) creates an unhealthy mud.
Studying our words can help us understand our underlying intentions
and motivations. I hope you will reconsider whether "how much you
piss-off your players vs. how much you can before they leave" is
really the same as creating challenges for your players which will
increase their enjoyment. After all, one can easily make decisions
which will frustrate the players without adding to their enjoyment
of the mud.
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