I haven't posted a serious news post in quite sometime. Recent events however
have truly begged serious attention though, and I shall make this one
exception and share
my thoughts with you all. As far as the recent tunes go, I believe the true
stat tune was very refreshing, and makes it fun to collect stat EQ now. The
level 91-100 tune of course isn't great for highbies but then again, sometimes
the doctor's medicine doesn't taste all too good. The power hour tune is
essentially good, and it needs to be tweaked. I beg for the whines to stop,
while it is being tweaked.

I think it's the fact that these major tunes were added so quickly that many
people are confused, or shocked, or unsettled and entered a state of panic
when an Arch admits there is an "end" to BatMUD for some people (referring to
Duke's explanation in a recent post). All of a sudden BatMUD is in crisis, I
think? (That's sarcasm)

There are a few things that must be considered when playing BatMUD however. I
state these things mostly to remind some people, or to make things clear to
those who are so uneasily disturbed by tunes that they threaten to quite
playing publicly.

1. BatMUD is an online game, not a console game you beat in a week. There are
a few stipulations which come with this format. If an online game doesn't grow
and change, it will die. Welcome new tunes, welcome mostly all of them. If
they prove to be a problem, it can be remedied as fast as it was installed.
Show faith in the decisions of the coders which made the game. Roll with the
punches.



2. If you find yourself disheartened by a tune, if you find yourself seriously
insulted or threatened by one I suggest you re-evaluate the reasons you play.
Maybe you'll find BatMUD has become more of a part time job then a game and
you think it owes you something. If that is the case, maybe it is time for a
rebirth, or in an extreme case, retirement.

As far as the new player base goes (referring to Malicat's post) it would be
interesting to see those figures from the online voting pole thing. I
personally think more focus should be given to the newer players then the old,
old players now have rebirths and exp to make (91-100) to keep them busy.
Newbies are at the heart of the game, and will always be the most important
player group to play this game. Pleasantville was a great way to ease players
into BatMUD and the "newbie channel take over" (when it became strictly for
helping newbies and not everyone's question channel) was just what the doctor
ordered. Tunes/improvements like those are what BatMUD really needs. Getting
new players to log on isn't the hard part, getting them to become part of the
family is the trick.

- blackstar -