Request for Your Thoughts

[Sanvean]

I'm working for an essay for a collection that deals with rights and virtual worlds, and one of the things I'm touching on is the policy move we made a number of years ago with the decision to refer to staff as staff rather than "immortals", including changing the terms in game messages like "An immortal sends:". It's a move that I pushed for because the underlying metaphor of staff seemed a much more professional one than that of "immortals" and I believe metaphors tend to shape the ways people think.l

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on whether or not it makes any difference to you, or whether it's something that you've even noticed? I suspect most people don't, but some of you may remember the shift, which I think we talked about a little on the boards at the time.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I absolutely like the fact that we have Staff and not Immortals. It is indeed more professional.

[enigma]

I personally think it's a little jarring when "an immortal" sends a player an OOC message.  I like the "a staff member sends" thing.

[Dakurus]

I always wanted to be a knobby, well-polished staff.

[Marauder Moe]

I didn't notice.

Professionalism is a double-edged sword, I think.  On the one hand, a professional appearance is certainly a good thing, but then people may expect professional service, something that is sometimes at odds with the volunteer nature of the staff.

[Only He Stands There]

Staff and administration > immortals. Players BECOME immortals, for good or ill, at a certain level on some (archaic) MUDs. I don't like the connotations involved.

Besides, we're not Persia.

[Tomeglow]

I like the professional connotation with "staff" as compared to "immortal" because most things you contact them with are incredibly OOC, and having a seemingly lore-fitted "immortal" respond kind of shatters the separation of IC and OOC when handling game issues.

[jstorrie]

Professionalism is good because we do not want to support a culture where administrators are seen as superior to players. We're a community that as a whole shares the same goal: fun times and a great game. That some people in the community have to have additional privileges and responsibilities–ie, be staff–is necessary, but I am definitely glad that staff members are generally not seen as existiing on a different plane than players; or inversely, I am glad that players are generally afforded the same respect and civility as staff members, even though they are 'just players.'

Mud communities with immortals/wizzes–and even 'admins'–tend to become very cliquey and elitist, with an upper strata consisting of the wizzes and their close friends, and this quickly becomes unfun for anyone left out in the cold. But no one would want to run a pen and paper home campaign that way. Game-masters exist by necessity, not by force of some kind of entitlement.

The IC/OOC split is very important as well, too. Many other muds that I've played on, which all seem to have been roleplay-somewhat-encouraged rather than the roleplay-required they claimed to be, had the administrators all playing 'god' characters. Good luck getting a feature or bug request through if your PC wasn't a member of that deity's faction, and good luck avoiding IC abuse of administrative power, as well.

[Fathi]

I'd prefer just about anything over "wizard" or "wiz." It just sounds incredibly corny.

[Ghost]

I always wanted to be a knobby, well-polished staff.

you will be one day, if you are good.

On topic:  It does not make a difference for me. A staffer/imm sending a message is ooc.  It seems more appropriate that the official word is "staff", since the word staff gives a mechanical taste.  Immortal is like a god in a high fantasy world.

Well, I could roll either way

[Adiadochokinesis]

I still call them/you Immortals.

[Sunburned]

One of the things that drew me to the game was the overall professionalism of its staff.  Immortality is a word, I hope, to be reserved for characters that will last for a long time in the minds of players... and Jimi Hendrix.

[Rindan]

I always really liked that staff was called staff.  It seems like a small subtle little difference, but I know it colored my impression of the staff a fair amount.  Calling the staff "immortals" doesn't really bring that much negative reaction simply because it is so common.  On the other hand, calling the staff staff, to me, brings a lot of positive images to my head.  It says that the staff recognizes that administrative abuse in all its forms can happen and that they are going to hold everyone accountable.  Immortals and gods thrown lightening bolts at mortals while staff members get spanked when they abuse their power.  Staff members sound like people who are there to help.  Immortals sound like 14 year old kids on a power trip.

Finally, if nothing else, I think it speaks of professionalism.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I still call them/you Immortals.

As do I often, but that is habit, not thought, for me.

[Lizzie]

I'm fine with immortals or staff. Immortal is just the term used for most diku-style mud staffers. I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me at all. Staff is fine too but it doesn't make the Arm staff seem any more or less professional to me. They do a fine job, even if we called them mob-bosses, or wizzies, or chiefs. I'd probably giggle a lot if they were called wizzies though

[Maybe42or54]

Armageddon is the first mud I ever played, and the first time I was reading about the immortals, I was doing so because I needed help.
I took all the knowledge I knew and assumed and made a desperate request to the immortal gods above by getting on my knees and praying. Praying that they would rescue me from this endless darkness at the end of this 30 room fall from the top of a Well. 

I like staff better.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

HAHAHA! That's hilarious.

[Dalmeth]

One significant difference between the terms immortal and staff I see is the perception of the staff's place in the game world.  Calling them immortals almost seems to be license to consider them part of the game world.  Referring to them as staff firmly establishes the staff as those who work on the game world.  That's where the professionalism comes in, I believe.  Often enough, I've seen immortals become celebrities on the MUDs they run, and that tends to lead to problems with the appearance of favoritism.  I tend to think that relegating them to an amorphous staff is one measure to provide pressure against that.

[mansa]

It went from:

Someone sends

To

An Immortal Sends

to

A Staff Member Sends


  All these changes makes me feel good about the game that I play.  It went from some higher power who is invisible and has no human qualities to someone who seems to have some human qualities, but still it outerworldy, to a staff member, who seems very down to earth and not someone who 'NO is no -damage 999'.

I hope you understand what I'm spewing about.   It's an awesome change.  Makes the staff more human.

[Troicha]

I didn't even notice, but in retrospect, me likey.

[Ourla]

I've never noticed, either.  The last text game I played had "staff" as well.  In fact, when my boyfriend very first got me into Armageddon, I thought the 'imms' he was referring to was game slang for some obscure gang of powerful PCs.

In retrospect, that's not terribly far off.

[cyberpatrol_735]

Staff ftw.

[Silverfaune]

Coming from another MUD, I noticed this immediately and right away I felt better about the administration of this MUD; I felt like I could trust it more - just from the label. 

Corruption and abuse exists everywhere, but as a few people have pointed out the term "Wizard" or "Immortal" as opposed to "Staff" really leads one in a different direction of expectations and perceptions.  It changes things from being "I've played this game so long, I deserve the privilege of becoming an Immortal" to "I love this game and I want to help, to become a member of the Staff".  It clearly makes the distinction that you are an authority, but one that exists to help the game function.

It also makes more sense on so many other levels.. having been an "Immortal" on different MUDs, I know it is -work- and both players and "immortals" should respect that - it's not a shiny badge of l337ness   (not that you staff people aren't super-cool!)  It clearly divides the ooc from the ic, so people aren't trying to figure out how the Imms relate to the game world.  And it suggests a level of professionalism and accountability that is missing in most MUDs.

I like.  Maybe it's a clever illusion but it is like a warm and fuzzy security blanket to me, having seen a lot of very unprofessional MUDs in my time.   

[JustAnotherGuy]

Personally it's a game...  No one is making any money off of this and Staff is professional yes, but it's also a game and people are volunteering to help it.

Immortal is just the standard term that I've seen within MUDs since the day I started playing them many moons ago, either way.. I personally believe it makes very little difference, but Staff does seem more Professional.

[My 2 sids]

One significant difference between the terms immortal and staff I see is the perception of the staff's place in the game world.  Calling them immortals almost seems to be license to consider them part of the game world.  Referring to them as staff firmly establishes the staff as those who work on the game world.  That's where the professionalism comes in, I believe.   Often enough, I've seen immortals become celebrities on the MUDs they run, and that tends to lead to problems with the appearance of favoritism.  I tend to think that relegating them to an amorphous staff is one measure to provide pressure against that.

Well put.