my ATS question regarding becoming staff

Started by 650Booger, February 14, 2018, 11:43:29 AM

Hey all, so I was rereading my question in 'ask the staff' and I don't know why but it read back sounding immature and sarcastic, which I didn't intend it to be.  I'll try to phrase it like an adult (and open it to a wider audience)

what skillsets are required of staff?  in particular I'm wondering about coding languages that one needs to learn, etc.  does a builder need to know the same things as a storyteller, for example?
"Historical analogy is the last refuge of people who can't grasp the current situation."
-Kim Stanley Robinson

I'm not at all qualified to answer this question, but what I read (somewhere in the GDB) was that JavaScript is used to script NPCs and custom actions or whatnot, so that particular language might be good to understand. Besides C, which the game runs on, of course.

cool, good tips!  so when a builder job is advertised, would they expect you to be a proficient coder already, or is it something that one could learn by doing?  I have some familiarity with both of those languages, but am by no means expert.
"Historical analogy is the last refuge of people who can't grasp the current situation."
-Kim Stanley Robinson

Building isn't really scripting, though I'm sure it'd help if you wanted a weapon to screech a lullaby every time it was drawn from its scabbard.
Case: he's more likely to shoot up a mcdonalds for selling secret obama sauce on its big macs
Kismet: didn't see you in GQ homey
BadSkeelz: Whatever you say, Kim Jong Boog
Quote from: Tuannon
There is only one boog.

Be a steady, communicative and trustworthy player. Learn about the game and what makes it work and not work. There's really no formula to it save time, experience, and ideally a generous dash of creativity.

Generally with regards to building - it's not the same as coding. Building makes use of existing scripts, templates, commands, created by the coders. So really all you'd need it some patience (not a lot, but at least some!), so that you can learn how to make use of the tools created for you to build.

My primary building experience is with MOO but our coder was amazing in creating tools "on the fly" if I wanted something that (to date) couldn't be done, but that he knew would take a few seconds to whip up for me (such as turning table objects into push/pullable table objects, which made it possible for me to turn a bench into a scripted porch swing). Don't know that the coders here would do stuff like that, but generally speaking - it's the coders who WOULD do that stuff, and the builders who would write up using whatever is already coded.
Talia said: Notice to all: Do not mess with Lizzie's GDB. She will cut you.
Delirium said: Notice to all: do not mess with Lizzie's soap. She will cut you.

Those are all good suggestions.

But the quickest way to become staff is to defeat one of the current staffers in a trial by combat and win the position.

Quote from: Yam on February 15, 2018, 09:02:35 PM
Those are all good suggestions.

But the quickest way to become staff is to defeat one of the current staffers in a trial by combat and win the position.

Everyone knows you must eat their liver while their heart still beats in order to gain their power.


Quote from: Yam on February 15, 2018, 09:02:35 PM
Those are all good suggestions.


Quote from: Yam on February 15, 2018, 09:02:35 PM
Those are all good suggestions.

But the quickest way to become staff is to defeat one of the current staffers in a trial by combat and win the position.

Everyone knows you must eat their liver while their heart still beats in order to gain their power.



I thought you had to kill kittens and puppies for practice first? Once you can snuff the life of cute little animal, then you can graduate to PCs.  (only virtual kittens and puppies were imagined dead in this post)

February 16, 2018, 07:14:07 AM #9 Last Edit: February 16, 2018, 07:30:11 AM by nauta
ArmageddonMUD is originally based off of DIKU, although fairly early on the author claimed most of the code did not look very DIKU any more.  The original author also wrote his own scripting language called Dan's Mud Scripting Language (DMSL).   (Caveat: I'm basing this off old usenet posts from the original author [Jhalavar].)  At some later date, we've been told that javascript was added.  The web-site has php hooks.

So, codewise you are looking at c, javascript, DMSL, and php.   However, a builder will usually only have access to an 'abstracted' level of functionality for their building.  One of Jhalavar's biggest innovations, in fact, was implementing an 'On-line Creation Tool' for ArmageddonMUD which, at the time, was novel, allowing people to create content online.  (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_creation

By the way, a lot of CS classes used to at least have a 'build-a-mud' section of the course, and there's an old CS 'build-a-mud' thing up on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MUDS150/


Also check this out:

http://galacticsoft.github.io/DikuEdit/

Also, I think its been said before, but you don't really need any programming skills to storytell: JUST RAW CREATIVITY AND THE ABILITY TO OLOAD MEKS.
as IF you didn't just have them unconscious, naked, and helpless in the street 4 minutes ago

For being regular staff, including builders, there's no required technical skills, beyond a good knowledge of the game, world, and setting.  General accountability, reliability, and communication skills are helpful.  A little understanding of JavaScript would be helpful but is hardly required.

If you're asking about becoming a coder, that's an entirely different matter.  The game is written primarily in C and JavaScript, but we don't just bring on coders.  It's kind of a "don't call us, we'll call you" situation.

Very few established games will just accept a volunteer coder they don't know. It's an access thing.

If you want to get your hands dirty with game code though, you can download many different flavors and versions of Diku (my favorite) from the web. Not hard or problematic to get going and you can use a Linux VM to run it on your own computer while you test it out.

Also, if you go to the TMC mud forums, there's dozens of muds out there who are begging for coding help or builders or staff. Most of them are going to have like 3 players but everything starts out somewhere.

A word of caution though ... I've been a coder/builder on three muds so far over the years. You can go over to MUME and see huge swaths of the gameworld I built 20 years ago still in the game. But it also kind of ruins the playing for you. You'll end up with a "staff mud" and a "playing mud" often. Because once you've seen the strings it's very hard to enjoy the puppet show.