Posted by Stahlhagen on January 16, 2000 at 11:35:26:
As many of you have no doubt noticed, a source of heated debate on this forum (and previous ones) is the flow of information. What kind of information should be shared on the forum? There are obviously a wide range of opinions on this topic, and I want to suggest a few guidelines to the community for debate. (Note: I am not discussing another topic that I think is important: How to present the information. For the guidelines below, I will assume the the posters and readers are mature adults. I plan to write some guidelines on that in a future essay.) 1) The Forum should be the appropriate place to discuss issues that cannot be discussed IC. An example of this is to discuss game balance, new ideas for classes/races/powers/equipment/whatever, and eulogies from the recently departed. 2) Reasonable questions on game mechanics (i.e. Does lash work on flying opponents? Can you tiger claw someone who is sleeping?) should be encouraged. "Reasonable" is obviously the tricky word here. I consider a reasonable question to be about something that probably should appear in a complete helpfile, but doesn't. A common counter-argument to this is "try it in the game". I dislike this line of reasoning because I do not have a hero of every class, waiting in every cabal, ready to confront whatever opponent. I hope no one does. Nor do I wish to invest the time to get a newbie up to mid-ranks just to test that idea. One type of "Unreasonable" question is asking for stuff that is in a helpfile or already exists on this site. That's just lazy. The other, more important type of unreasonable question about game mechanics is to ask about things that would never appear in a helpfile. (Does Quest X do Y? Are arials vulnerable to the power of charmie Y? Does item Z work indoors?) It's a fine line, and one that requires a little thought on behalf of the poster, but I think it's a good way to make a call. 3) "Lists" are a judgement call. Dioxide considers certain items, skill lists, titles, specs, racial attributes, and the like to be public information. I agree with this because it provides a good baseline level of information for new players to help them learn the game. It is no secret that some of the more experienced players would have these lists in any event, and that they would not gather it all personally. IRCheat, ICheatQ, and other OOC means of communication exist, and are impossible to effectively regulate. The best way to beat it is to keep the basic information public, so the playing field is leveled. The question then becomes: Where do you stop? I think of this in terms of "opening doors" vs. "closing doors". Ask yourself: If I had this information, would it make me excited about playing the game, and taking the next step? Or would it just reveal something that I would have enjoyed finding out for myself? A list of basic equipment (with areas) saves me from typing lore/id, but it also encourages me to go out an explore the areas where that gear is from! Knowing the racial attributes or warrior specs might help me create a new, interesting character. Having a list of IMMs and a description of each helps me think up an empowered character's role before I ever log on to scan the identical help files. Seeing logs of great fights lets me analyze tactics, and think about how my character could use or improve them. 4) Publicly known IC events are encouraged. Who the cabal leaders are, logs of public contests, and other big, MUD-wide-advertised events (Bria vs. Justin, etc.) are fine by me. If you were online, and sitting on your ass in the guild at the right time, you would know of these by reading echoes or typing 'who'. Readers should not be punished for not being logged in all the time. Some of them have jobs. 5) The final guideline to use is: "Does this actually spoil something for someone else, or I am hoarding information?" No one curses the Forum because someone revealed the "Secret" that dodge is heavily dex-dependent (this might even be in a helpfile), or that the Rager village has been redecorated, or that you get your major form in the mid-40's or so. Are these things you -could- find out by playing a whole lot? Yep. Does it ruin it for anyone if they are made public? Nope. In closing, I'd encourage people from both extremes to be more thoughtful. The Forum is useless is it is just filled with questions, and no answers. On the other hand, I think we all agree that certain things are best learned in the game. -Stahlhagen
In contrast, step-by-step instructions on how to complete quests, find shrines, and the like just stops me from ding te more fun things in the MUD. It stops me from exploring. It doesn't lead me on to other questions- it just deletes one off the page.
Privately run quests are a separate matter. These are not for everyone, as either IMMs choose the worthy for these, or they are advertised to all and only the clever end up finding out the details. Players "Earn" the right to see these quests, so I'm fine with them not being shared here.