Volume 1
Well, it has been more than a month since that last semi-occasional issue of the Chronicle. There is a good reason for this; there is not much of any importance to report. In any event, here is another issue of the Chronicle.
WEBSITE
AugMUD now has a website. It can be found at the URL http://marcello.augustana.ab.ca/~mud/ It is under heavy construction at the moment (and this state of affairs will probably continue for some time) so you can expect significant changes at unexpected moments. Feel free to drop by, however, and leave comments behind since it is your comments that allow us to improve the site.
ON CODING
On the coding side of things, nothing has occurred. It seems that as soon as I have five minutes to spare, something else comes up requiring my undivided attention. The plans for a publishing house and ridable horses are still in the works, however. Please bear with me on this; I am doing my best at the moment.
ON BUILDING
We have some new zones in the works, although they may be some time before they arrive. Should anyone be interesting in builing, please talk to DragonLady about it. It is in the plans that we will eventually "rewrite" the land of AugMUD, although that is still in the distant future. The main implication of this fact is that we do have a need for GOOD zones to include in the new geographical layout.
ON POLITICS
Recently, there has been a rash of idiocy from certain players. I would like to take this time to point out that even though Augustana is the site at which AugMUD is running, it can still be banned from logging in. That is, should it be deemed necessary, I will ban Augustana from logging into AugMUD. The same goes for any other site.
What are grounds for a siteban, you are probably asking. Well, it is very subjective, however, if a character continues to misbehave after being warned and/or deleted or multiple characters are misbehaving, that is normally grounds for a siteban. Initially, a siteban will last for a few days, but should repeated bans become necessary, the length of the ban will be longer each time.
Why such a harsh treatment? Well, it is my experience that peer pressure is the greatest motivator for a person to change. In the event that a site has other people who wish to play AugMUD, they will tend to pressure the idiot that deprived them of the right to play. I realize that this does not work in all cases, but there is no bullet-proof policy that never fails.
ON PLAYING
Remeber that the objective of AugMUD is to provide a social environment in which people can enjoy themselves. It also has the combat aspect for those people who need to work out their aggressions. The climate is one of friendliness and comradeship. Anyone who feels that they are not required to adhere to this policy should refer to the section ON POLITICS above.
I must remind everyone, however, that this is NOT a democracy. AugMUD exists because DragonLady and I take the time to keep it going. Do not for one single solitary instant assume that AugMUD is there for the players and that you collectively have ultimate power. Granted, we do listen to complaints, and take them seriously. However, you should not assume that because everyone thinks something is wrong that it will be changed. I do not say this to stop the complaints from coming in; they often provide insight into why some things don't work or even bring bugs to our attention.
So remember, should it cease to be enjoyable (on the whole) to run AugMUD, I will abdicate. I expect that DragonLady is of the same opinion, however I have not asked her about that. Should we both abdicate, there will be no AugMUD about which to complain.
Now that I have gotten the storm cloud out of the way, do feel free to have fun and enjoy yourselves immensely. That is, after all, the purpose of a game, is it not?
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Should anyone have any article or whatever that they would like included in the next Chronicle, please submit it by regular email to mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca and it will be considered for inclusion in the next Chronicle. Should enough material arrive at any time for inclusion in the Chronicle, an issue will be published. Remember, it is a semi- occasional production, and as such, is not set to a fixed publication schedule.
Until next time, have fun!
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, here is another issue of the AugMUD Chronicle. There is little to report at this time.
On the implementation side of things, we are working on various aspects of the game. Unfortunately, these are "behind the scenes" tasks which will not appear to make any difference in the play of the game.
It should also be noted that we have had quite a number of new players recently, although t appears the none of them have been staying. I hope this is due to the fact that we have very few players who log in at the same time as anyone else. In any event, try to make AugMUD as friendly as possible.
That is all for this issue of the Chronicle.
Oh, if you have any submissions, please send them to Lost via mudmail. Thank you.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, this issue of the Chronicle will be rather thin. There is not much going on over the summer.
The important points to be covered in this issue are as follows: Anyone wishing to have an article included in the chronicle are welcome to submit it by regular email to mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca and it will be considered for inclusion in the chronicle. Mudmail will be accepted if absolutely necessary, however, it is much easier with regular email at the moment.
Most production work has stopped for the summer since most people have very little time to dedicate to production. We do log in occasionally, although it is usually on a borrowed internet connection with limited time.
Even with the low summer playerbase, we still will not relax on the multi- playing policy. Remember, only one player character is allowed at one time without special permission from an Implementor.
Well, that's about all that can be said for this issue except that there probably will not be another for several months.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it is time for another issue of the AugMUD Chronicle. There is actually some news to report this time.
Newby Zone
Within two weeks, a new newby zone will be in place. New players will start in the newby zone until they reach level 4 or they exit the gate at the other end of it. Noone above level 3 will be allowed in the newby zone.
This newby zone will have some useful instructions for getting started. It should help reduce the number of difficulties that newbies have with first time playing.
Quinn has been Dismissed
Quinn has now gone down into the AugMUD history books as the shortest lived imortal ever on AugMUD. After less than one month, he has managed to create enough trouble to warrant his dismissal.
"frodo.pgfn.bc.ca"
The above-quoted site has been banned from AugMUD. It has been banned due to several players generally being offensive in public. Such behaviour is not permitted on AugMUD and is punishable by siteban. If you do not wish to have your site banned, you should exert peer pressure on those who use your site to behave. If you do discover that your site has been banned, you should send an email message to "mud(at)marcello.augustana.ab.ca" explaining why your site should be unbanned.
Skills/Spells/New Class Shadowspawn is working, with the blessing of the administration, on a new distribution of skills and spells to make them fit the 100 level system. Also, he is working on a new class called "Ranger". Hopefully this will be in place in the foreseeable future.
Submissions
If you have any submissions which you would like to have included in the next AugMUD Chroncile, please send them to the above-mentioned email address and they will be considered.
That's all until the next semi-occasional edition of the AugMUD Chronicle.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, just to let you all know that the Editor in Chief of the Chronicle has not forgotten about its existence, here is another issue.
There have been a few changes since the last issue (almost 2 months ago). A couple of new zones have gone into the game, as many of you already know. The gods have also been working on a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that, when finished, will appear to show up overnight.
Aside from that, there is not much exciting happening.
It should be noted here that all complaints are duely listened to and considered. We do listen. If you have a complaint, do feel free to bring it to our attention. Oftentimes, the complaint will lead either to the action being reversed, or to a much better implementation of that action.
Also, in the event that the complaint brings a bug to our attention, that helps us fix problems with AugMUD in general and is good for all involved. If you have any material you feel should be included in the Chronicle, be it articles, dissertations, or whatever, do email them to mud@marcello.augustana.ab.ca or mudmail them to Lost, although the first method is preferred.
Well, that's all for this issue.
Lost
Editor in Chief.
Well, due to the public outcry, I have decided that I would make some time to put up another issue of the Chronicle. You may have noticed that it has been rather a long time since an issue was published.
The major reason for the delay is that I have been busy IRL and that I have been working on a major overhaul for the AugMUD code. The new code, although it will require a player-wipe to implement it, will prevent any future player wipes from being necessary, meaning it will be possible to implement sweeping reforms to the game without serious disruptions to the status quo.
Of course, you are wondering what exactly these modifications will entail. Unfortunately, the modifications will be mostly unnoticeable to the average player, although it will be possible to make other visible changes more rapidly. The changes will affect skills/spells, player loading/saving, eq loading/saving (it may even save where you were wearing it), and eventually, building. It is planned that eventually on-line creation (OLC) will be available for builders and that possibly non-immortals will be able to publish books (for a price, of course). These behind the scenes changes will help make all that possible. In the past months, there have been a few changes to the immortal staff, not to mention our new Bard (Cotu) acting as an intermediary between the mortals and immortals. Also, there has been a fairly large flurry of building done by the immortal staff.
In the event that you have not heard the rumours, we are looking for someone who would undertake the duties of "editor in chief" of the Chronicle and keep it reasonably up-to-date. Details on how this will come to pass will be posted in conspicuous places as they become available. You might start thinking what you could bring to the Chronicle if you were to become the Editor in Chief and what you really want out of the Chronicle if you don't plan to run for the job. I can honestly say that all input on the matter will be considered.
As always, any contributions to the Chronicle can be sent by regular email to "mud@marcello.augustana.ab.ca" in plain text.
That's all for this issue of the Chronicle.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, it is time to write another edition of the Chronicle just to keep everyone somewhat up-to-date on the goings-on behind the scenes.
There is work in progress to rebuild the "skill/spell" system to be more flexible, although this won't affect game play much except for the fact it will necessitate the p-wipe when the coding is finished.
Since a p-wipe is going to be necessary for the skills/spells, another thing which would require a p-wipe is also underway. We are trying to institute some sort of balance into the game. That is, there will be a sort of "standard", loosely speaking, for mobs of a given level. Also, the experience system will be redone. As it stands currently, the numbers will appear quite daunting, however, when you see them, they won't be as bad as they look. I won't bore everyone with the details of how the numbers were obtained.
In any event, the above rambling is just to state that it should become a little harder to "breeze" through levels 60 through 100.
One notable change that will occur will be that the spells will not start losing power after a certain point. They will be recoded to make them somewhat more sane. Similarly, the skills will be recoded to make them somewhat more sane as well.
Of course, it will be some time before such changes are actually completed as some of the number crunching is still underway. The current target for completing the numbers is mid-January. Should that target be met, that would peg the code changes as being complete between mid-February and mid-March. This will, of course, place the p-wipe between mid-March and mid-April. That should probably be reasonably bearable. I wouldn't use the above information as gospel, however, as many factors can impact how quickly the changes are completed. (The most notable being the time constraints that "real life" puts on working on such things.)
As always, should anyone have something they would like included in the Chronicle, email it to mud@marcello.augustana.ab.ca. Also, should anyone wish to take over as Editor in Chief of the Chronicle, send an email to mud@marcello.augustana.ab.ca.
I would like to wish everyone out there a Happy New Year. Welcome to 1998.
Lost
Editor In Chief
Well, it's time for a basic update on administrivia.
There have been couple of changes in the "admin" staff of AugMUD. Both Greizl and Shadowspawn have been promoted to the status of Lesser Implementor, a newly created position, due to their immense contributions to AugMUD.
Also, we have a target date for the player-wipe that everyone has been dreading since August. We are currently targetting April 30. Barring any personal or other catastrophes befalling me or Greizl, this date is firm. Should there be any changes, they will be posted.
That is all the important information for the moment.
As always, if you wish to have something included in the Chronicle, send an email to mud@berio.augustana.ab.ca.
Lost
Editor in Chief
Well, this is the first Chronicle since the "dreaded player wipe". Those of you who didn't know about the player wipe (i.e. new players), the wipe introduced massive (and I mean massive on the scale of 8 months of coding) updates to the code which were designed to make it easier to add new skills and spells and various other modifications without requiring player-wipes. That is, this was the player-wipe to end all player-wipes.
As always, there are a few broken features, most of which we know about, but there are those which we haven't found yet. If you do discover something that doesn't work as expected, let us know as we cannot fix a problem we do not know about. Also, if AugMUD crashes, please make a note of anything you did and let us know about it. (We do not need session logs, or a detailed transcript of everything you did for the past three years, just what you were doing immediately before the crash).
Some of the new features which most of you probably noticed are as follows:
Equipment saves exactly where it was when you quit (with the exception that the order may be reversed). That is if it was equipped, it will return exactly where it was equipped. If it was in a container, it will be in that inventory list and containes may be reversed but all your equipment will be there.
There are several new skills/spells.
Immortals should see all skills/spells on the "practice" lists. Also, if you are not able to practice a spell/skill, "cast" will tell you that you don't even know about such a skill/spell.
All classes have the ability to have an arbitrary number of skills.
A few knifty features like autoloot have been added.
There were numerous minor fixes to various bugs in the game.
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We are still looking for a new editor for the Chronicle, if anyone is interested. If you wish to be editor for the Chronicle, send an email to mud@berio.augustana.ab.ca explaining why.
We also welcome contributions to the Chronicle. If you have an article to contribute, please EMAIL it to mud@berio.augustana.ab.ca.
Lost
Editor in Chief
