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<H1>Administrative Responsibilities</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Administrative Responsibilities</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Greg Munt <<A HREF="mailto:greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk">greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 21:53:08 +0100 (GMT+0100)</LI>
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<PRE>
Yesterday I was harassed and victimised on a Circle derivative. (I wonder
what it is about me that attracts this behaviour? Anyway...) This
consisted of repetitively summoning me, repetitively killing me, creating
newbies with insulting names, and using them too, to kill me.
Additionally, they used their clients to spam me with tells for
approximately 20 minutes. There were about 5 or 6 people involved.
The administrators of said mud do not log anything. Initially, their
reaction to my complaints was to say that they could not prove that it
had happened, and so could not do anything about it. I stated to them my
beliefs:
Communication and human relationships are the two things on which the
success of all muds depend. They also - inevitably, without any
deliberate attempts on the part of the administration - cause
development of a society. All societies require rules for their
members to abide by, or chaos reigns. ("But chaos is good!") Chaos in
which harassment and victimisation is legitimised by inaction. Chaos
in which pain, suffering and emotional trauma result.
("I came here to get away from mud politics.") Politics are generated by
communication and human relationships, something which has been agreed to
be required by a successful mud. Therefore, the fundamental
existence of politics within a successful mud is implied by the features
that make it successful. Politics cannot be prevented within a society which
has social rules. It has been agreed that the lack of social rules
results in a chaotic society whose main attributes are legitimised
harassment and victimisation, causing pain, suffering and emotional trauma.
That muds are an Internet medium, and not 'real life' does not mean
that so-called victims do not suffer in a real way. This is because
communication and human relationships, although played out in an
'artificial' medium, still do cause 'real' feelings in the participants.
I also presented my expectations of an administrator's responsibilities,
in this repect:
The position of administrator carries certain responsibilities. If you
do not want to get involved in mud politics, in dealing with social
problems, do not accept an administrative role, on *any* mud.
("You misinterpret my role here. I am concerned only with maintanence
of the server and its database.") It is common - one might say
essential - for a successful mud to maintain an administrative hierarchy.
Those at the very top of this hierarchy need to maintain interests in all
things that might influence the success of the mud. Since communication
and human relationships are fundamental to this, those at the top of the
hierarchy need to be concerned with these things. They do not need to
deal with them, however. They may certainly (and perhaps should, so that
they may concentrate on things that their skills best suit them for)
delegate some of their responsibilities towards attempting to prevent
social problems. Specifically, towards attempting to prevent users to
become emotionally traumatised by chaotic individuals, and thus leave the
game, decreasing the muds popularity. This, however, does *not* mean
that they may dicharge their responsibilities to other parties. Members
of the top level of the administrative hierarchy, should only delegate.
They are fundamentally responsible for the entire game, including any
society which may develop. (Note that I did not imply 'creation' of any
kind of society.)
Remember: for evil to flourish, good people need only do nothing.
I was told that my attitudes were not shared. That users must deal with
things, or leave. I was also told that there was something wrong with me,
if the activities of certain other players caused me distress/trauma in
real life. So, I left.
My question: should mud administrators neccessarily feel any
responsibilities, in the manner of which I have described above? Are they
simply maintainers of the server and its database, or does their position
*demand* that they take an interest in social issues too? Should players
expect protection from social problems - such as harassment and
victimisation - from administrators? If protection is not offered, are
players reasonably entitled to deem the administrators unworthy? Do
administrators have any responsibilities to the users of their software?
Note: last year, Martin Keegan may have contacted you, regarding a
project entitled The MUD Documentation Project, or The MUD-DP. (Also
known as The Mud Pool.) This was something being discussed by myself
(who acted as editor of submissions), Martin Keegan, Matt Chatterley and
Niklas Elmqvist. I am considering putting certain ideas generated by these
discussions (gathered from the 80-100 emails-worth of discussions that I
have archived) into action. Niklas (now a former member of this list, but
soon to return) has already agreed to become a contributor. I actually have
a link to the intended site in my design docs, on the web (see sig). If you
are still interested in participating, please let me know. Anyone
else, who was not originally contacted, who are interested in this, please
contact me directly, and I will attempt to complete a definition of the
project's 'Mission Statement', which may turn out to be quite different
to that planned by the original MUD-DP (narrowing of focus, mainly).
Also, by permission of the list owner, I'd like to ask if anyone has
knowledge of the IT industry in the Bahamas. I am engaged to a Bahamian,
who eagerly wishes for me to move there, but I am concerned as to how
this will affect my career (or even if there is a chance for any kind of
IT career there). My experiences are 15 months work placement with
Mainframe Cobol/DB2, 18 months of hobby C++, and n months of commercial
C++/DB2 on AIX (I was offered a job yesterday) - this may also involve
experience with Oracle, VB, Uniface, Win95 and NT. I may also be assisting in
the development of quality procedures for the company. (Although they do not have any
business reasons to become accredited by any organisation, at this time.)
If you could help, I'd really appreciate it. I may be away for a few
weeks, incidentally, because I'll be going to the Bahamas for a week or
two, before I start my job.
--
Greg Munt, greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk "I'm not bitter - just twisted."
<A HREF="http://www.uni-corn.demon.co.uk/ubiquity/">http://www.uni-corn.demon.co.uk/ubiquity/</A>
</PRE>
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<li><strong><A NAME="00362" HREF="msg00362.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Administrative Responsibilities</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Jon A. Lambert" <jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com></li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00365" HREF="msg00365.html">OT: Following in the footsteps of JCL</A></strong>,
Alex Oren <a href="mailto:alexo#bigfoot,com">alexo#bigfoot,com</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 16:17 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00366" HREF="msg00366.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] OT: Following in the footsteps of JCL</A></strong>,
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 18:11 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00369" HREF="msg00369.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] OT: Following in the footsteps of JCL</A></strong>,
Nathan Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 22:51 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00373" HREF="msg00373.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] OT: Following in the footsteps of JCL</A></strong>,
Marc Eyrignoux <a href="mailto:Marc.Eyrignoux#efrei,fr">Marc.Eyrignoux#efrei,fr</a>, Mon 02 Feb 1998, 18:01 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00359" HREF="msg00359.html">Administrative Responsibilities</A></strong>,
Greg Munt <a href="mailto:greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk">greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk</a>, Sat 31 Jan 1998, 22:39 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00362" HREF="msg00362.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Administrative Responsibilities</A></strong>,
Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 08:49 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00364" HREF="msg00364.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Administrative Responsibilities</A></strong>,
Greg Munt <a href="mailto:greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk">greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 14:19 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00368" HREF="msg00368.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Administrative Responsibilities</A></strong>,
Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 21:42 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00358" HREF="msg00358.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] MetaVoice, MetaFont</A></strong>,
Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Sat 31 Jan 1998, 07:05 GMT
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
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