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-- So, you want to be a wizard?  Please read the following.

There are often misconceptions about what it means to become a wizard.

What does it really entail and what is a sponsor looking for?  

* Hard work.  If you love coding, you might enjoy it, but there's definitely
  going to be some grind.  This is something to keep in mind when thinking
  about promotions, too.  Often new wizards come along and expend a lot of
  energy chasing (and begging for) a promotion or three.  It's great if you
  have a lot of energy to spend, but you should keep in mind that promotion
  gives you greater access to do more work, and a greater responsibility to 
  keep the MUD's complex systems running smoothly.  And the tough job of 
  applying principles of natural justice and good judgement to situations 
  where players or wizards do something wrong.  See 'willingness to cop a 
  bit of stick' below!

* A commitment to holding yourself to a higher standard than players.  That
  means not seeking to cheat, but also trying to rise above pettiness such as
  nerfing classes that kill your players.  There is a fine line to this 
  though; often class imbalances only become obvious through player vs player 
  interaction.  

* A commitment to getting along.  Whether currently active or not, the admin
  of Tsunami comprises a bunch of people with real lives, time pressures and
  a lot of other things they could be doing that are probably more fun.  They
  have all without fail put a vast amount of time into Tsunami as it is now.  
  The last thing they have time for is baby-sitting.  If you can't get along 
  with players and/or wizards or simply can't be mature long enough to get any
  work done, don't expect to last long, even if you do get sponsored.  As a
  sponsoree, remember that your sponsor has elected to take on your workload
  in addition to the projects they're working on.  Try to be helpful.

* A commitment to TESTING.  Having code work is only the first part of making
  a successful change or improvement.

* A willingness to cop a bit of stick.  Players love their game, and they
  will let you know if they hate something you've done.  That doesn't mean
  it's necessarily a the wrong decision.  Your job is to take the objective 
  view and consider what is best for the game.  

What is becoming and being a wizard *not* about?

* Rewards.  It is not a reward to make someone a wizard, nor will becoming a
  wizard give you opportunities to obtain anything more than what you got as
  a player.  If you want to be a wizard to get a +10 character, then expect
  to spend a lot of time grinding xp as well as coding.  Note that the admin
  no longer provide hero levels as rewards for coding quests and in fact,
  most of the hero levels provided through that system have been removed.

* Who you were or what you did as a player.  It's not unusual for people to
  complain about this or that person who was promoted to wizardhood, because
  they once cheated, or was an active player killer, or said nasty things
  on the chat channel.  These are reasonable complaints, but the admin are
  very capable of managing such things.  If a new wizard spends all their
  time trying to find ways to abuse code, or abusing players, they won't
  last long.  Lower level wizards are watched closely.  Admin will choose,
  at their discretion, to make someone a wizard on the basis of whether they
  can do the above.  If they can't, then they will be removed.

* Making unilateral decisions.  What many don't realise is there is a lot
  of debate and discussion about code changes.  This is healthy.  Don't
  expect to get promoted to a level where you can reconfigure the MUD or its
  balance to whatever you prefer.  That's not how it works.  As a wizard,
  you will be expected to work with your peers to improve the MUD.  

* Being a code slave.  With all the above said, we all recognise that it's
  important for wizards to have fun.  And it actually can be very fun and
  rewarding to implement projects that make the game fundamentally more
  exciting and interesting for players.  But wizards also get to play the
  game again once they've reached a certain level.

-- If you've read this, and you still think you're the one for the job, talk 
   to a wizard of level 100 or higher. 

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