A newbie look at Armageddon

After spending a couple months here and in game, for some active online people like in every online platform-subject (politic, guns, hiking, sports, whatever..) I feel Armageddon MuD is not the main hobby, but RL drama and gossip around its really -aging- playerbase is.

When it came out, I understood and like this forum's general idea, being a free of moderation and all. While internet was changing, communication of the game was not. I kind of felt this forum was natural result of it (how long has it been? 11 years?). Freedom of speech has chance to create intellectual and creative conversations (and I read and enjoyed some very smart posts here), but sometimes when the main subject (RPI MUDs in this case) attracts less people then people leaving, discussions are taken over the negative mood. Writing usually are not done by people whom like sharing their ideas but with their own words people with almost obsessive with it (possitive or mostly negative). Funny enough it reminds me a facebook group about my childhood neighbourhood.

Doublepalli's posts were one of the worst kind of discussions I have seen in the net. There is an adult who is going though and living with(self claimed and obvious to observe) some very serious problems. He is just trying to have a bit of fresh air with online games(For good or bad). We all know what is the gentle and kind way of dealing with such people. We do every day; Leaving him a bit of space, saying a few kind words, maybe giving some gentle suggestions, or simply like we most do; leaving them alone. But some posts were simply wrong, and maybe even dangerous. I don't believe world is of grey, sometimes there are rights and wrong. Trying to win arguments against an adult in that mental condition...

Say in such condition what if something serious happens? What that would say about this Forum and this group? Whose responsibility would it be? Moderators? I am not really sure what I personally would feel. Would it my resposibility? I really thought about those posts many times last a few days. Because he really seemed to care them a lot. I felt, I shouldn't write anything positive about my experience with that person's PC. A simple positive sentence.. I thought maybe that flamed the discussion. I don't want to be responsible of one person's single tear of pain if they shed.

Returning back, as I understand and see Armageddon Mud is the last RPI MUD alive with a bit of playerbase. Maybe because game world is that good, maybe past and current staff are better or more obsessive about the game then others Muds' , maybe power-game aspect of Diku is attractive, maybe just luck, I don't know. Whatever is the truth, this is the last bastion for a casual RPI MUD player. When it dies (of course it will one day), this hobby will die with it. And with it, this forum.

PS. I really think this game is many times more fun and seems healthy when you don't know any other player IRL. I hope you all have some friends you can speak while sharing a beer then seeking virtual people to gossip with.

That struck me as classic victim card play, sorry. I'm not interested in being questioned on my ethics for one of the oldest ruses on the internet.

Of course the game "seems healthy" when you don't know anyone playing it. Because in that situation, you can play in complete ignorance of the fact that you will always be a pawn in the eyes of the players who have friends on staff, constantly score sponsored roles, and form cliques to predetermine which PCs are going to be in their trusted inner circle.

That is the main challenge RPIs struggle with when it comes to player retention. Everyone says they want newbies. Nobody actually trusts newbies. Every other new account on Armageddon gets a staff-only note saying something along the lines of "This is probably a former player. Please watch closely." The newbies don't have access to the cliques, so they will always be seen as lesser, if not potential traitors thanks to the game's setting.

So when the vets in these cliques say "just play the game and ignore the community" what they're really saying is they need more pawns to manipulate into risking their PCs and their accounts. If they actually gave a shit about the newbie experience, they would make a friendlier and more welcoming community. The fact that they don't speaks volumes about their true intentions.

I think the fact that varietal scrabs (some are easy, some are not at all) and scorpions right outside the gates of the starter city and the fact that there are more or less instant death areas in the starter city is enough evidence that Arm has zero newbie experience in mind. In fact, players who try to help newbies with anything other than barking instructions at them on OOC are actively discouraged from doing so by their 'peers'.

That and as stated above, the good old boys and their quest to bring a gritty experience to the youngsters that have the audacity of getting on their lawn. Oh and Hestia, but she is pretty much exactly the same.

When I played there would be people that led death stacks of spiders or the black beetles just outside the gates of Allanak to give people an introduction to the Armageddon experience. It was always disappointing to meet a newbie then find them dead to one of these stacks. Imagine someone that's been playing Arm for decades at this point whipping up stacks of spiders so they can get a random PK without attracting any heat from staff. These people exist and play Arm.

UM SIR THE WORLD SI HARSH YOU SEE