The Truth ?

[mermaideyes]

Guest-Someone said:

It is also because of quest lists that many creators have little motivation to code new quests. In the old AM, there were many, many quests to do. After the first quest list came out, creators lost a lot of motivation for coding new quests.

I have to disagree with this. With the new areas plenty of quests have continued to enter the game and there seems to be a similar density of quests entering within the new areas as there were in the old areas.

[mermaideyes]

Idaho said:

One thing I have noticed, and would be keen to know if anyone else has had this problem, is in simply asking for aid. Some (read most) just don't want to be bothered with helping out. A while back Abbey was called a fat sleeper, and the Cre's on at that time, did not even reply to her complaint, and where most likely squeezing each others flabby baps!

While I'm certainly not attempting to brown nose, nonetheless, I've never had anything but positive experiences from the creators/liasons of the Disc. (Accept of course from Terano, but he's an all around ass.) But besides from him I've had help from quite a range of cres for a variety of problems and have never had a problem.

I've heard stories about the more interesting side of cre politics but like most things I don't put a lot of belief into heresay.

[Lokjin]

mermaideyes said:

While I'm certainly not attempting to brown nose, nonetheless, I've never had anything but positive experiences from the creators/liasons of the Disc. (Accept of course from Terano, but he's an all around ass.) But besides from him I've had help from quite a range of cres for a variety of problems and have never had a problem.

I've heard stories about the more interesting side of cre politics but like most things I don't put a lot of belief into heresay.

I get on with some, most I do not. The one who I can not stand is that procreating sleeper KATia. Seems way OTT but she is awful in my blue eyes. She called me a liar once for no reason! Out of the blue just sent me a tell saying "You are a procreating liar!" and has never explained why she said that. Even asked the fat thingy the other day, no help though.

[Lokjin]

Guest-Beau said:

rOY, how's your mudpitt after that heavy session the other day? Take it easy bro!

LOL!!!!

[Drakkos]

Don't be fooled for an instant - for the Ram villages in particular, the bulk of those quests were coded before the XP reward was removed. For Genua, we only coded quests that we were sure couldn't be listed (or if they could, that there was a sufficient degree of randomness that made it still require effort). This means that there are only tiny fraction of the quests we could have coded. Many creators said to me 'this would be a fun quest', and I agreed, but still said no because it was too easy for people to do it from a list.

I can assure you that sites like this have been directly responsible for many creators simply not coding quests. I'm not attempting to lay a guilt-trip on anyone - after all, the only person you are cheating these days is yourself. I'm just telling you the way it is.

[bingles]

I really liked the new quests in the Ramtops. They were great fun and I appreciate the work that went into coding them.

Being able to share the bits and pieces each of us found and putting them all togehter on a site like this made the quests even more enjoyable.

It must be so frustrating for the creators who wrote those quests to know that players actually appreciate and enjoy their creative efforts.

Removal of quest xp has greatly improved the quality of play on the MUD. It has pretty much eliminated the 3 hour old harrassment alt. I wish quest xp had been eliminated much sooner.

[Lokjin]

Guest-Drakkos said:

Don't be fooled for an instant - for the Ram villages in particular, the bulk of those quests were coded before the XP reward was removed. For Genua, we only coded quests that we were sure couldn't be listed (or if they could, that there was a sufficient degree of randomness that made it still require effort). This means that there are only tiny fraction of the quests we could have coded. Many creators said to me 'this would be a fun quest', and I agreed, but still said no because it was too easy for people to do it from a list.

I can assure you that sites like this have been directly responsible for many creators simply not coding quests. I'm not attempting to lay a guilt-trip on anyone - after all, the only person you are cheating these days is yourself. I'm just telling you the way it is.

Oh boo hoo hoo, go blow your beans up your mom's muff!

[Teller]

Guest-Lokjin said:

Oh boo hoo hoo, go blow your beans up your mom's muff!

Nothing like a well reasoned argument.

And thats nothing like a wel.............

[Not a creator]

Its not only the creators, all of the old players spend all their time telling people to work out everyting themselves. Gits. Lets all just learn lpc and if we want to do something, just code it ourselves! it would problbly be a whole lot easier (not an actuall idea, just sarcasm)

[bingles]

If you had annoying newbie after annoying newbie pestering you for quest hints all day you would tell them to do it themselves, too. Especially when they can just go look it up on a quest list.

[Ovvl]

Drakkos said:

I can assure you that sites like this have been directly responsible for many creators simply not coding quests. I'm not attempting to lay a guilt-trip on anyone - after all, the only person you are cheating these days is yourself. I'm just telling you the way it is.

Ovvl said:

Personally, I think the creators, the newbie helpers, and the ENTIRE wizards guild should be given alot of weed and a big fliping bong. they really need to chill out.

(in our current situation on the disc, anyone that wants to find quests, has to find a site like this, that may or may not have spoilers. unfortunately, and ultimately, it was the attitude of the creators that created this mess. if the creators want someone to blame, look in the bleeping mirror you whining bunch of babies.)

Ok, so we have a bunch of creators that think they are THE BOMB when it comes to coding a quest. but they are particularly anal about it. you can enjoy X this way only.
gee, you can only have sex in the missionary position because it's the right way. (personally I found the Kama Sutra highly educational)

you can't smoke cigarettes, because I think they are disgusting.
you can't drink anything but water because you will interfere with the purity of your body.
you can't eat meat because I'm a vegetarian.
you can't drive because I don't have a licence.
(I'm beginning to think the books have warped your minds, and left you with no sense of humor.)

of all the people I can think of that do not have a sense of humor, you guys place second. homeland security being the first, and my ex wife in third. she really didn't have a sense of humor please note the EX.

so, just because someone is not enjoying things the way the author intended, doesn't mean they aren't being enjoyed. I suppose you'd rather we went backwards on the evolutionary ladder, to giving up our ribs, being ignorant, and running around in a garden with fig leaves covering our genitals.

ahem... so it all boils down to cause and effect. shall I walk you through it? I have already decided that creators need both hands, a map, a flashlight, and a guided tour to understand things. (and to tell the difference between your ___ and a hole in the ground)
(gee I think there is some malice here, I wonder why that could be? maybe because the creators look at players like its something they stepped in on thier lawn?)

so, in the beginning when the disc was new, and the elephants were small, and sticking thier proverbial thumbs out at a passing sea turtle...
the creators brought light, and time, and all things good and... (stupid, ahem... tangent) bad, right and wrong, etc.. and they decided that it was bland. so the creators got together and created quests. simple things like Fetch the stick fido, Good Boy!
time passed and the creators brought new and wonderful things to the disc, and presented them to be shared by all.
more time passed and some of the lesser players started grouping together off the disc, and corroborating their efforts into creating a quest list. (this is the part where eve gives adam the apple.)
instead of accepting it, forgiving and moving on, the creators threw a whining fit, and decided that every player on the disc was a liar and a cheat, and did not value their work as they valued it, so none were worthy. (well Duh, player... Creator... Player... Creator... ahem, tangent)
so the creators began denying all requests when it came to quests. "I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service. if you feel you have reached this recording in error, go flip yourself while running up a tree that is falling off a cliff."
so more people started searching for quest lists, and it reached a climax where over 50% of the players on the disc were using quest lists, that had spoilers, that bypassed all the hard work the creators had put into it.
(well maybe if you #$%@$#$% took a different attitude, we wouldn't be here would we?)
(even as I type this I pray when the creators read this they hear a loud POP!. like in jorodins talkers, but in this instance it will be the sound of thier ass clamping shut because they pulled thier head out of it.)

Rewind...
more time passed and some of the lesser players started grouping together off the disc, and corroborating their efforts into creating a quest list. (this is the part where eve gives adam the apple.)

but this time, the creators said, hey, thats a good idea. we should take a sample of the quests, and put them in a questers starter kit. give a quest list in game, where some tell the player where to find the quest, and some just give a general idea. we should create a staff in the game, or perhaps an NPC that the player can ask for a hint when they get really stuck on something.
and more time passed. and the growth of new players to the discworld reached amazing proportions, because they told thier friends there were quests for all skill levels, there's simple Fido fetch the stick quests for people that just have a few minutes to an hour to spend on the mud. theres medium level quests for people that have alot of time to kill, with lots of errands. there's hard quests like the new easy postal delivery quest, where Airk was kind enough to put the wine warehouse on his new map, but didn't LABEL THE d**n thing, or draw out what the building looks like. and unless the player cheats, or has an IQ of 160, they won't figure it out.
then theres really hard quests which are hard to find, and could result in death if worked incorrectly, IE assassins run. and then there's this last quest type. ABSOFingLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE. hell the creators don't even know how to solve it. much less really know where it is. but listen to the NPC's, they give hints, about really impossible quests, mainly because the quests haven't been coded yet, but the NPC's talk about them anyways.

There is ALWAYS ANOTHER PATH. you just have to look for it, look at everything.
Oh yah, another dumb procreating idea, lets take all the XP rewards from all the quests. Lets Hurt the new players, lets make it so its impossible for them to get anywhere when they are just starting out, so we can destroy our reputation of being user friendly, and make our user base drop to less than 20, then we can just say F you buddy, we quit.

I hope terry pratchett sues you for taking such a wonderful fun thing, and making it synonymous with leaves you wanting more, about as fun as a root canal with no anesthetic...

it takes 40 some muscles to frown, but only four for me to extend my middle finger and tell you where to shove it. ,,!,,

[Retrograde]

As someone that's done coding for places over the past decade and a half - some even complex enough (on the players' end) for me to be proud of - I don't really understand the viewpoint of the cres here.

Is it a matter of brag points to have quests that no one has found? Do they feel that these are some sort of arcane intelligence tests? Do they not enjoy watching people clap and laugh as they enjoy descriptions, events and jokes? Do they not want people to seek them out and tell them how great it was?

This sort of 'secret fun' gets to be less and less fun as time goes on. Let's, erm... pretend, for the sake of argument, that I've got oh, say, two or three quests that I can't even mention here because I've never seen _anyone_ else with the title. And let's also say, for the sake of argument, that a couple were pretty simple, and kind of fun for about two minutes each, while one was a real pain in the tuchas, and took forever.

Neither I nor the cres that made them would get any bragging rights over this. I could select one of the titles and change those every so often, but...

I don't know. I understand not detailing out everything, but I don't understand a gag order. The mud's difficult enough to weed out the worst of the idiots, and keep many of the rest from even reaching fifty days. And yet, by and large, our cres don't take this longer view. They allow themselves to be bothered and annoyed by the mass of interim idiots and never seem to notice the higher average with which this mud is populated.