I'm a newbie

[Kennath]

Do the staff approve your characters faster if they like you?

[Marauder Moe]

Yes, and they like you if you spell-check and correctly format your apps.  

[Kennath]

speaking of which my char ap hasn't been approved/rejected and its been 25 1/2 hours since i sent it in, is this normal?

[Kankman]

Log back in and disconnect using 'x' rather than just disconnecting. If you drop link after sending in the app it can't be approved because it considers you are still editting it. So, just log in to your account, press x and hit enter. Things will go faster.

[Kennath]

Did that, next idea?

[joyofdiscord]

Wait for your app to be approved.  Also, if you select "list your characters" while logged in, you will see the character that is pending approval there, so you can be sure that the app went through.

[Kennath]

I exited useing the x disconnect thing 26 hours ago, not just now... WTF

[Delirium]

Did that, next idea?

Patience.

[Kennath]

P4t13nc3 15 t3h 5ux0r, i'm gonna watch dirty harry...

[Bestatte]

Also keep in mind, they don't mean use the "x" at the upper right corner of your client to close the window. You need to type the actual letter X in the game, when the menu prompts you to disconnect.

[Kennath]

Thats what I did.... 27 hours ago...

[fearwig]

Thats what I did.... 27 hours ago...

Smithers! Call my lawyers!

I know it's pretty evil to resurrect a thread that ended like this, but I did like the commentary on saturday downtime and alternatives, even though it seems pretty futile.

Has anyone considered making Saturday a no-wish day, rather than a no-play day? I realize that there are cases like the templar who saw the murder happen, but that seems like a rather extreme exception to the rule.

Probably not the best idea in the world, but I think it's explorable.

Plus, I strongly suspect that there are imms who are responsible for roleplay alone, and are not involved in the code or testing process. These people would be entirely free to service the mud on saturdays, given the test port scenario.

As for the "random reboots", well, some muds have such a thing as a "copyover warning", basically a reboot warning--items on the ground will be zapped, but you'll get say, 30 seconds warning that this will occur, or more, perhaps. While it might be detrimental, you could potentially permit action during that period to be considered OOC, that things may be picked up and then replaced so that the game may go on.

A whole day's delay is, after all, a great deal more harmful to ongoing RP than five minutes'.

An OOC broadcast should definitely warn players before a reboot anyway--one doesn't now, does it?

[Maybe42or54]

Yea.. But I don't.

I already feel bad that I schedule to have a full day on Saturday of me and other humans, non pc type people.

Including, sex!

[fearwig]

Sex is stupid. That's what porn is for.

[Xamminy]

fearwig, the reason the mud goes down for players is so that updates to the game can be done that can not be done while the game is live.  The reason it is down for so long is to give all staff the chance to make updates that they need to.  It has little to do with players bothering the staff.

True, not all staff are involved with the direct code, but one does not need access to the code to build, just to be staff.  Some updates that have nothing to do with code are the ones that can't be done with players in the game moving about and changing things at the same time.

Also, yes, an OOC broadcast gives warning well before 5 minutes, however, that comes at the time that the Staff wants to shut the game down to players.  It is heavily encouraged that you wrap things up as quickly as is possible and let them shut the game down.

Does that answer your concerns?

[fearwig]

Yes, though I think my point wasn't a complaint about the mud going down or a question as to why it must so much as an offering: a lot of muds do use a test port (a separate copy of the mud running on another port for admin access, that is), and I was suggesting this as a feasible way around the offtimes. I do see the other reasons that the day as a whole is given, though, and I can certainly live with it, if it means the mud gets to be as fantastic as it is now.

The rest was pretty much elementary "I'm not sure if you do this already..." (but as it turns out you do) stuff. I can see where you thought I was wondering about the need for the day as a whole, if you'd only noticed to read my last post in the thread.

I know this might be crazy talk, but:

Has anyone thought of running a second copy of the mud on a test port for implementation/changes/et cetera? Is that impractical, given the current server situation, or something? Because my old mud happened to do it this way, and the downtimes were nonexistent as a result. Possibly this is a suggestion from the uninitiated, but I've seen it work awfully well.[/quote}

[Xamminy]

Yes, I did read your last post.  I won't say if there is a test-port or not, but what I'm trying to impress is this:  some of the changes made are not code-related and are world-related.  Those changes have to be done to the live port for them to affect the world that we play in, and done without players logged in changing things.

I understand what you're saying, but for the mud we all know and love to continue to operate in the fashion that we all know and love, downtime is a necessary evil.