I've been quarreling on Usenet with an ex-friend, Gary Farber, who has spent a lot of time trying to be helpful in promoting ElderMOO amongst science fiction fans as a good place to meet, rather than on IRC. This has been a hero effort on his part, though all unasked. Why have I quarreled with him? Because he cannot stop worrying and fussing and asking are we sure we've thought of everything. And this is his modus operandi, to fuss. It masks his general incompetence at life, it allows him to appear busy and useful, and it drives everyone crazy which garners him attention. I lost my temper over his latest attempts to be helpful, and snapped at him on the newsgroup. Predictably, comments about being unfriendly and hostile to newbies were raised. Far from it, my friends.
For being snappish and out of temper with that person, I take responsibility. It's my choice, and my response to him specifically, and that's life. But I wonder if people know what a wizard does on a MOO, what the role is? Let me explain my own conception of it. A wizard is not the best programmer, the most popular player, or a special individual upon whom wizardry is bestowed. A wizard is someone who wants to build and maintain a complex virtual reality, and enjoys the many aspects of programming, creating, and interacting with players. A wizard is someone who asked to be a wizard, and works hard at keeping the vr as seamless as possible while allowing as much scope as possible for the people who spend time in it.
Player interaction is very important. Real life never goes away completely, and so a wizard is ideally someone who knows when listen and when to take action. Last night, on a different MOO where I am a wizard, a player left a long suicide note for her many friends including the wizards. We took action, notifiying a crisis clinic and the police in her area. It may be too late; she's in a coma in a hospital right now. But we tried. We didn't say oh, it's just someone we've never met, it's not our place, we're only administrators. So being a wizard is more than just keeping the vr real. We care a lot about who comes round to play with our toys.
And so we spend a great deal of time trying to make it easy to get started. We want people to have fun, to feel comfortable. We set up all kinds of easy help at the entry points, and add anything the players think would be helpful, such as lists, and signs, and pointers. I have never, ever, in two years of MOOing, been unwilling to help a newbie. As a wizard, but also as a player myself, I believe in sharing information. It's not a secret club. It's an open party.
That's how I see working (as opposed to only playing) on MOOs is supposed to work. I get kind of prickly when people pretend to be in awe of my wizard powers or make out that those powers (which are merely having permission to poke around anywhere at all in the database the MOO runs on) are special. They're not. I just started this particular MOO with a friend. So we're the wizards. We keep a lot of secrets. We have access to some sensitive information. Aside from that, we're players also. So if I lose my temper or snap at someone, don't give me crap about my responsibilities. My responsibilities as a wizard are not in question at that point; my personal behavior is. And that's all.