Rumour  36  Manni        (Sun Sep 18)  "Progress"

Hello friends,
 
I have not been active as a player for roughly three years,
though I was an active coder for almost two years after I
stopped playing.  Most of you probably know me so I won't
waste space with my resume on the MUD, past saying I've
been here nearly ten years and over 200 days of character age.
I was always a power player by all standards though never a
dedicated PvPer, despite being part of Durmanhoth for much of
my time here.  I liked to take advantage of quirks in the system
and distribute the benefits between my friends and myself.  There
was a place for a single player to make a difference without
resorting to killing other players.
 
During my years in Valinor, where I became an Overlord for a time,
I became increasingly concerned that the evil race integration
would be a disaster for the majority of the social, casual, role
playing, and solo player bases.  This is one of the many factors
that led to my departure from Valinor and subsequently the MUD.
I felt the process of the ER policy was dominated by one or two
people who had misguided visions and were entirely unresponsive
to constructive feedback.  And then they changed the High Council
voting weights such that they got five times the vote value that
Overlords receive.  
 
What resulted, I did not stick around to find out.  The only 
thing I observed was that I checked my mail in Lothlorien, I
logged off, I logged back on a day or two later and couldn't
check my mail there anymore.  Yes, this seems minor, but it's
not what this game has ever been about.  And yes it is not easy
to make changes nor to adjust to them.  There were a lot of
polls of the player base regarding where we wanted to go, and
most of those polls indicated that we wanted increased role
playing, much to my chagrin (not important here).  The crux of
the problem is that this desire for increased RP was interpreted
by the Powers to mean everyone wanted "lifelike" wartime conditions
to be a part of everyday play.  Lifelike war conditions are not
fun and enjoyable, they are frustrating and they stifle the play
of everyone.  This game was not constructed for the army mentality
and neither are the vast majority of its players. 
 
It is incredibly difficult as someone who coded a great deal of
Tul-Tarzhayan and helped with other areas in Harad, to look back
at the failure of such an elaborate, intricate system and zone
that so many people poured so many hours and ideas into.  If it's
not working, it can be fixed.  Treating evil and good races as
the same by stores, law systems, etc and eliminating battle
points and all this excess hassle would stop the bleeding.
I know it doesn't fall in line with what life is really like, but
I come here when I don't want to deal with life and it's hassles.
While people say they want role playing, there is a great deal
of suspended disbelief that they are willing to concede in order
to have fun.  
 
Good luck.
Manni.