Ask the Storytellers

[Talia]

lolollllllllllllll seidhr got redacted

What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?

I've done some dumb stuff here and there, but nothing on a global level. The logging in drunk thing was the funniest. See, I also dropped my mouse on the floor, which made my client go wonky, and every time thereafter that I switched windows it spammed the last thing I typed into immcomm. This resulted me saying "you guys are awesome"...quite a few times. And some other stuff I don't remember.

Thank Tek I don't log.

[Xolotl]

What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?

I doubt anyone noticed, but I accidentally renamed all of the dust-colored facewraps in the game to something else entirely for about 3 seconds.

Twice.

[seidhr]

*ignores nyr*

An example of something I'm doing is working on creating more desert elf and/or human tribal clothing/armor/tidbits that will eventually be available in the desert elf outpost.

Sweet!!!!  Can we help?!!!

Yes, come to think of it!  See http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,48291.0.html for details.

[Taven]

What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?

I doubt anyone noticed, but I accidentally renamed all of the dust-colored facewraps in the game to something else entirely for about 3 seconds.

Twice.

What did you re-name them to?

[Barsook]

Talia, will the Publicity be started up again?

[Xolotl]

What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?

I doubt anyone noticed, but I accidentally renamed all of the dust-colored facewraps in the game to something else entirely for about 3 seconds.

Twice.

What did you re-name them to?

A new mastercraft I was trying to make.  But the way I tried to change it, since I was making a new object, meant that every single iteration of it on the mud was suddenly something new.

I also switched into an NPC to talk to someone, then transferred myself (AS THE NPC) into the middle of a completely different clan's compound with PCs around.  Fortunately the NPC had a very generic 'this is just a guard' sdesc, so I quietly walked somewhere unpopulated and transferred myself back to where the NPC was supposed to be located.  And nobody seemed to notice.

[Talia]

Talia, will the Publicity be started up again?

I think we'd need to have a specific plan for what to do with the Publicity forum in order for this to be useful. My feeling about publicity/marketing right this very moment is that what we really need to do is figure out how to convert and retain new accounts better, as well as draw back veterans. If we raised our conversion/retention/re-attraction by even, say, three players per month...that would make a big difference over the long run. (Especially since, I believe, having more players is a factor in retaining current players. Partly psychological, partly "can I find someone to play with.")

[Talia]

In a text-based game environment, it is so easy to change the descriptions with a few words, yet some of the pre-written world hasn't changed in decades.

What is the current process to change some of the world that we see each day?   

This question wasn't directed to the Storytellers, but it brings something to mind. I'm not sure that players are aware that when STs are building objects, NPCs, and rooms, we are using the same text editor that players are using for writing rumor board posts or books/scrolls. So we are subject to all the same vagaries of the code: dropped lines of text, errors in formatting, inability to edit something in the middle, and the fact that when you're in the text editor you can't "see" the rest of what is going on in game.

It's not like using a word processing program, so it's not actually easy to change anything with little effort. We don't have a sekret magickal web editor to do this stuff for us. (If we had something like the web bio tool, but for objects/rooms/NPCs that would be literal fucking heaven.) There's really no "few words" when it comes to building new portions of the world or tweaking old ones. There are STs who vehemently dislike the building aspects of staffing, and I have to believe it's partly because our tools aren't great.

I know that the Producers and coders want us to have better tools to use and stuff has been done and I'm sure stuff is in the works, but where we are right now it's basically what players have. By way of example, I finished building eight objects last night, that have taken me the last week to build. And I am an extremely fast and competent writer, I enjoy building, and I'm good at the details. If any of those things were not true, building would be very daunting. I really sympathize with any staffer who doesn't like building because of the tools at hand.

If you want to know how much of the world is being changed "daily," you can keep a watch on the weekly update pages. Categories such as NPC Approval, Object Approval, Room Approval, Shop Approval, and Crafting Approval reflect the changes that we are making. (It's not a one-to-one ratio; a single approval may have multiple items under it, e.g. the 8 objects I just submitted were under 1 object approval request.)

On a final note, there are lots of things in the game that have been the same forever that there's no compelling reason to change. Players aren't going to notice if I tweak the descriptions on Caravan Road, and if they do notice they won't care; it won't add anything to anyone's game. Change for the sake of change is pointless, IMO.

[Desertman]

That makes me a little sad for you guys. I always assumed you had a different editor/processor for building/staff-stuff.   

That gives me a whole new level of appreciation for the effort you guys put in. I hate writing my own character descriptions and backgrounds in game for new PC's. Creating entire areas and crafting trees in it....damn, just damn.

[Talia]

That makes me a little sad for you guys. I always assumed you had a different editor/processor for building/staff-stuff.   

That gives me a whole new level of appreciation for the effort you guys put in. I hate writing my own character descriptions and backgrounds in game for new PC's. Creating entire areas and crafting trees in it....damn, just damn.

I seem to remember that I also thought, before coming on staff, that there would be a better editor for staff to use, and then I was a little horrified to realize that the text editor and I were now basically married.

The crafting recipe tool actually IS through the website but it's sort of painful in its own way. It's extremely detailed and easy to screw up when you start with it. Mostly because as STs we have to put the recipe in, hope we've done it right (there's no way to test it before submitting for approval), then it gets looked over by our Admin and...well, something probably wasn't done right. It's like typing with a blindfold on.

[Adhira]

Jumping in on someone elses thread.... Thanks for bringing that up Talia. I never realized that players might not realize that we were using the game text editor for everything we build, alter and so on. This goes with changing character descriptions etc too, which is why we do have restrictions on who can edit Players info/file. It's really really easy to screw it up and sometimes not so easy to fix. (Like if you accidentally change a PCs name then their whole file is screwed).

[wizturbo]

It's not like using a word processing program, so it's not actually easy to change anything with little effort. We don't have a sekret magickal web editor to do this stuff for us. (If we had something like the web bio tool, but for objects/rooms/NPCs that would be literal fucking heaven.) There's really no "few words" when it comes to building new portions of the world or tweaking old ones. There are STs who vehemently dislike the building aspects of staffing, and I have to believe it's partly because our tools aren't great.

This sounds like a problem that if fixed could add an enormous surge of productivity for staff.  The same tools could be used for PC character creation as well I suspect, which might improve conversion rates!  What if we crowd sourced a bit of funds for the staff to outsource this project (or ones like it), to give the game a jump start on tech/tools?  

I spoke with someone who runs a software tools building team and explained the general problem.  He said that a great option that he's suggested to small start ups or anyone on a tight budget is to post projects up on sites like www.freelancer.com where coders (mainly in China/India) take on projects at pretty low rates.  For instance, a small project like this may be only $250-$750 USD for an experienced coder to tackle (won't really know until you post it up for people to bid).

Just a thought?

[Rahnevyn]

I'm at a work conference this week, and attended a reception last night where I totally did not take too much advantage of free drinks, so excuse the belated replies, please.

When did you start playing, and what is one of your favorite memories as a player or a staffer?

I started playing over a decade ago. Some of my favorite memories include the Copper War, the two Allanaki Senate RPTs I've taken part in (one as player, one as staff), and some stuff that's probably still too recent to mention.

What is the most entertaining thing you have ever seen while monitoring players (that you can talk about)?

I won't name names, but there is or was a certain character who is/was normally a fairly intimidating person, but could get extremely overdramatic and melodramatic in moments of solo roleplay. I sometimes read over the logs and imagine them in William Shatner's voice and drive myself to chuckles. But mostly I don't monitor players to be entertained, I monitor to make sure you guys are entertained and so I can stay abreast of events and think of new and timely ways to enrich the world around you.

What's your favorite npc?

I actually have several. I don't currently have an avatar, so NPC animations are sort of my way to enjoy roleplaying and bring the world to life at the same time. I actually had to kill one of my favorite NPCs off not too long ago due to IC events, which made me really sad, but the story called for it and the death was too fitting to pass up. Armageddon Extra Hard Mode: when you have godlike powers and could completely save your favorite character's life but choose to let them die anyway.

What one thing do you wish the players understood about your work as a Storyteller?

That we're not omniscient. As much as I'd love to, I can't be online on the game 24/7, and even if I could I couldn't monitor every single player in every one of my clans, and even if I could I can't see what your characters are thinking and feeling if you don't show me, and even if I could I don't always know how you or other characters have interacted with NPCs unless I've been animating them or keeping up on clan updates. We do our best to keep up with these things, and typically we do pretty well, but sometimes a bit of extra context can help out. On that same note, Storytellers can't check the run logs, so when we get wishes like "Can I ask this NPC if he saw anything unusual 2 hours ago?", we may or may not be able to answer timely. Sometimes we do know what's up, but often someone needs to get an Admin to check a run log.

[James de Monet]

You know...for anyone having problems with the in-game text editor...someone who got bored at work may have tried to help you out there.  Just saying.   



(Admittedly, the downloadable version is better than the web-based version, and both are far from perfect.  But, they do allow you to input text in a text editor of your choice [Word, etc], copy your whole text, paste it into the text limiter program, click format, and *poof*, text you can take and paste directly into the game editor! [And since it already has the line breaks in it, you can paste a whole 'page', or 2000 characters, worth of text into your client's input window at once, because it will basically hit 'enter' at the end of each line for you.]. FWIW).

[Rahnevyn]

More belated answers...

What's your favorite IG dish?

Flame steak on kaipha.

What's the biggest/most amusing mistake you've made to date with your Imm powers, staff avatar, ect?

On more than one occasion while animating NPCs, I've accidentally said things with my staff avatar rather than the NPC. This can be pretty jarring and freak players out, as they think someone invisible is there spying on them.

I've done some dumb stuff here and there, but nothing on a global level. The logging in drunk thing was the funniest. See, I also dropped my mouse on the floor, which made my client go wonky, and every time thereafter that I switched windows it spammed the last thing I typed into immcomm. This resulted me saying "you guys are awesome"...quite a few times. And some other stuff I don't remember.

Thank Tek I don't log.

I log everything, and could be bribed to provide relevant logs for the right price. Just sayin'.

Lastly, on the building sidebar, I am definitely one of the STs that doesn't enjoy building as much. The tooling is, as Talia and Adhira have said, not great. But also, descriptions don't come easy to me and I'm far too critical of my own writing style to be a prolific builder. I'd rather focus on the things I enjoy and feel like I'm stronger on: plots, player communications, NPC animations, and so on. Other staff members definitely feel differently about building than I do, but even for them it probably isn't productive nor a good use of time to go around and edit all the descriptions in the world just because.

Strangely though, my aversion to room and object building doesn't extend to NPCs, at least as far as backgrounds and minor desc updates go. I tend to connect to the NPCs in my clans, I guess, or tweak them and invent new ones until I connect better.

[BadSkeelz]

What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?

[knight]

I'm a software/web developer with a little spare time on his hands. What kind of tool are you guys interested in? What kind of features? I could throw together a quick demo and host it somewhere where you guys could check it out. Then maybe we could talk further.

Shameless self-plugs: my blog, and my projects page (neither of which are really up to date with my current projects, but hey, whatever).

[Rahnevyn]

PSA: Storytellers aren't the right folks to ask about helping in terms of development, so you may want to post in the Ask the Producers thread instead.

What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?

We can switch in to an NPC, at which point it's almost exactly* like playing a PC, and we can set a prompt to show us the NPC's hp and so on as well. We can also control NPCs while not switched into them with commands that execute a command as an NPC rather than our avatar, which is easier when animating multiple NPCs at once.

*Some stuff PCs can do, NPCs can't, and vice versa. One time I tried to change my tdesc while switched into an NPC, and the game crashed when I looked at myself. So there's that.

[knight]

Oh, right, my bad. I'll cross-post over there, then. Danke schön!

[Talia]

What's it actually look like when you guys enter an NPC to animate it? Can you access its skills, stat, and score in the same manner we can look at our PCs? Do you suddenly gain a prompt with the NPC's numbers? Or do you have to control them through some sort of third-person view?

We actually have a few different ways of controlling NPCs which we might do in different circumstances. When we want to enter an NPC to animate it, we take on the view of that NPC just as if it was a PC. If the NPC has a skill, then we have it at that point. If we type "skill," we see the NPC's skill list. (Side note: I never type "skill" on my staff avatar because I have EVERY skill in the game and it's a neverending list of spam.) Stat and score work the same.

Prompt is different, though; I see sort of an odd prompt that includes the NPC's coded name and number, which is very helpful to remember that I'm switched in and what the hell I'm doing. I stop seeing health/whatever/stun, though...so if the NPC is Waying a lot it's possible I could make them pass out, hah.

We can also make NPCs do things by forcing them, depending on what our game permissions are. Sometimes that's convenient to do, or it might be a situation where one staffer is animating 2 or 3 NPCs, in which case there's going to be some forcing happening (because quickly switching between the bodies of NPCs can be really confusing).



About coded stuff: I appreciate the offers, you guys, but I'm just a Storyteller telling it like it is Whether/when to increase or change coding staff resources is a Producer-level decision. I know there has been a ton of work done on the website and our web tools since last time I was on staff (I think I've said before that the request tool is my favorite thing ever), and my understanding is they've really been concentrating on making the basic staffing job easier, and will continue to do that. But that's all I know!

[CodeMaster]

What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?

[Enthemu]

What MUD clients do you use, and how do you keep your notes for the game organized?

I actually picked up zMUD again for its automapping feature (huge help for building). For notes? I use Google docs.

How about you guys? Anyone have an awesome automapping client that works well for the MUD? I've gone through about three so far and have settled with zMUD for the time being.

[Eyeball]

This question wasn't directed to the Storytellers, but it brings something to mind. I'm not sure that players are aware that when STs are building objects, NPCs, and rooms, we are using the same text editor that players are using for writing rumor board posts or books/scrolls. So we are subject to all the same vagaries of the code: dropped lines of text, errors in formatting, inability to edit something in the middle, and the fact that when you're in the text editor you can't "see" the rest of what is going on in game.

One solution of which is to do the edit in a notebook window, then cut and paste into the command window.

In fact, I remember including commands in the notebook window too, so that I could define rooms, objects and all of their details offline and then just paste it all in a single go.

[seidhr]

I think I can honestly say I've never tried to use an automapper on any mud, including Arm.

[Voular]

How many assassination attemps have you witnessed that were linked to mudsex somehow either during/after or used as bait etc etc? LET'S GET TO THE JUICY STUFF PEOPLE.