[Excerpts from] Handbook for New Gods' by MUME Management Chapter 1 - Preface =================== Welcome to immortality on MUME. We hope you find your experience to be rewarding and fun. What does a god do, you may ask? First of all, as a god you are no longer a player. Instead you are an observer, and should take action only when cheating or abuse by a player is noticed. Giving advice to new players such as pointing out newbie help files is okay, but for most things they should get help from other mortals. Do not do rude prays to mortals nor otherwise spam them. Check Chapter 6 and "Rules Ainur" for more specific information. Some new gods find that this new role does not suit them and decide to return to the mortal world. This is perfectly fine if you feel this way. Just ask an Arata or higher god to return you to mortality with no hard feelings. If however you are interested in the possibilities of godhood, read the other chapters in this book. Chapter 2 - Ainur Hierarchy =========================== There are a number of different ranks of Ainur on MUME. To see a list of the ranks you can use the 'level' command. New immortals who have just been promoted from the Istari ranks begin at the basic rank of Maia. Levels of Vala [Architect] and above are generally considered to be 'management'. The initials in brackets before the name is a short form for that rank, ex. Mc for a Maia [Cartographer]. *** Ainur Hierarchy *** [ M] the Maia [Mc] the Maia [Cartographer] [Mb] the Maia [Builder] [Mw] the Maia [Wright] [Ms] the Maia [Shaper] [ V] the Vala [Architect] [ V] the Vala [Mudller] [ A] the Arata [ I] the Creator of Arda Maiar ===== There are five Maia ranks on the list above. New gods are simply Maia. Each rank has abilities and responsibilities that increase with as you rise up the hierarchy. The Maia's are the people who do most of the building and other odd jobs on MUME. Maia [Cartographer] aka Mc's, are people who have been given a project to work on, commonly the room descriptions of a new zone being built. They have little access or commands not directly related to their project. Maia [Builder]'s have completed the descriptions of a zone. Mb's are working on things like the mobiles, objects and are creating ideas for quests and other special projects for the zone. Mb's are able to load items and mobs in their zones and have access to their project. Maia [Wright]'s have completed at least the Mc and Mb levels and have had their zone opened to the mortals of MUME. They have access to almost all areas on Arda, and can use commands like /switch, /trans, and /snoop. They are trusted to use these abilities properly. Many Mw's continue to build new zones or help others. Maia [Shaper]'s have shown that they are capable of being 'the trusted hands of the Valar'. This means that they are trusted with increased powers beyond that of the Mw's and are able to help the Valar at their work. Promotion to this rank and above is at the need of the Valar and higher ranking Ainur. Valar ===== There are two ranks of Valar, the Vala [Architect] aka Va's, and the Vala [Mudller] aka Vm. These ranks and above are often referred to as V+. Each rank is roughly equal but they have their own duties. Vala [Architect] is the rank of those who supervise (Sv) the building of zones. They coordinate between zones in a project, and give permission to builders to use unusual mobiles, objects, and functions. They approve all mobiles, objects, or mudlle. Vala [Mudller]'s create new mudlle code for mobiles, objects, and quests. They only work on mudlle for a builder if he has had his work approved by the Sv of the project. They also create new things like net fishing or other work based on their own ideas, or the ideas of others. The mudlle language is a programming language specific to MUME. Aratar ====== An Arata is a supervisor of an entire section of MUME in most cases. They supervise Valar that relate to their realm of responsibilities, but they also work on things outside their specialty if they choose. Usually one is in charge of each of the following: Az(zones), Ao(objects), Am(mobiles), Ac(Code). This is not a strict division since one person can work in more than one section. Implementor =========== The Implementors are the Ainur who choose the way that MUME will develop in the future. They decide what groups of zones will be built, and work on the base code of MUME along with the Aratar who help them. Chapter 3 - Building ==================== To rise in rank above Maia [Cartographer] on MUME it is necessary to build a zone first. The rank of Maia [Cartographer] is sometimes given either temporarily or permanently to Ainur who are working on some small project other than a zone. Temporary promotions to Maia [Builder] are very rare. However, in 99.9% of the cases, only building a zone will bring with it the rank of Maia [Wright]. Ainur interested in building should read the books in Valinor's library and the posts on the Builder board (in particular Galen's and Maedhros's). To build a zone you can contact a Vala [Architect], aka Va, and try to see if a zone is available. If there is no zone available ask them to put your name down for future work. Also let the Va know if your english is good enough to spot grammar, spelling and punctuation errors which might allow you to proofread zones. There are a large number of possible ways to contribute to MUME. Below are a few of them: - make new combat messages - make new socials, or make socials different for different races etc. - write better help texts, update old ones, or clarify points in them. - fix typos in existing zones (i.e., you find a zone where typos annoy you and offer to fix them) - write better descriptions for mobs/objects that lack them - write new stories for storytellers - read typo/bug/idea boards and make good summaries of them, or do further checking of the problem if it isn't clear what caused it or other verification is needed - on typo and bug boards all gods can delete messages, so delete obviously bogus ones, etc. Choosing something that you noticed with a mortal character and trying to improve it is a basic part of how a god can help make MUME better. Chapter 4 - Valinor =================== [CUT OUT] Chapter 5 - Commands ==================== [CUT OUT] Chapter 6 - Duties ================== By now you have an idea of some of the things a god is expected to do. Basically, the higher level you are promoted to, the more responsibility you are accepting. But there are some things that no god should ever do no matter what level. The Golden Rule is: Don't interfere with the players unless there is cheating or bug abuse occurring. "Cheating" is violating the rules of MUME, which are posted on the informational board at the common room of the Prancing Pony Inn at Bree (and at other locations in the world as well). If you catch players cheating, tell a higher god or take whatever action you feel is appropriate. But be careful not to punish players just for things you don't like personally. A good example is player killing ("pking" or "PK"), which is legal as long as it is done within the rules of the game. Also it looks very bad if you punish a player who has done something you don't like to one of your other mortal characters. It is also a bad idea to spread knowledge you have gained as a god to mortals, or to pass information about what's going on in the game to mortals (such as telling an orc hunting party where the orcs are hiding so they can kill them more easily, etc.) Keep in mind that you should be more careful of your actions as a god than as a player.