help > sponsor
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------