Date: Sun Apr 3 16:06:52 1994 EDT From: Blackbriar (#110) To: Tyagi (#3504) and *Wizard-List (#141) Subject: Re: Questionaire for Nongame Mu* Administrators I'm sending a copy of my answers to *Wizard-List because I find the questionnaire interesting. I'd like to encourage Opal and Whazzat to answer if they have the opportunity. > 1. What is your name? My VR name is Blackbriar. My RL name is Seth. I've used other names on the M*s throughout time, but Blackbriar's always been the stable name I use at least as an alias. > 2. With what Mu* are you involved? (If you are involved with > more than one Mu*, please separate each set of responses) I am actively involved on OpalMOO and LambdaMOO. I am marginally involved on JaysHouseMOO and MediaMOO. I maintain an eensy presence on DhalgrenMOO and TinyCWRU. > 3. How long have you been involved with this Mu*? I've been involved in OpalMOO since its birth approximately a year and a half ago. I've been involved in LambdaMOO for perhaps three years. JaysHouseMOO and MediaMOO involvement... maybe a year apiece? And TinyCWRU would be... maybe four years. > 4. Do you have experience with other Mu*s? Yeah, but I listed them all above. I've never been active on any other M*s, although I have, on occasion, visited other places. > 5. What is your current role in the Mu*? On OpalMOO, I am the ArchWizard. On LambdaMOO, I'm a programmer and a member of the Architecture Review Board. Everywhere else, I'm just a peon programmer/builder. > 6. How has this changed over time? I didn't start out on the Architecture Review Board (on LambdaMOO). Actually, I've always done what I wanted to do: hack. I love programming. > 7. What are some of the most important things you've learned while > being involved with this Mu*? Not to underestimate people. By giving them a supportive environment, I've watched some fantastic things happen, both on OpalMOO and elsewhere. I've also learned that I really ought to let other people do stuff, even if I have my own thoughts on how it should be done. > 8. What does the name of the Mu* signify to you? > 9. Do you know where the name came from? If so, where? I'll answer for OpalMOO: OpalMOO was created for and named after Opal (who is Opal on all the systems I am on). > 10. How did this Mu* get started? OpalMOO was started in the wee hours of November 9, 1992. It was a quiet place for me and Opal, and we built a small apartment for ourselves. It was all nice and mushy. Then we invited a few friends, and word started to spread, so we went public. > 11. If possible, describe the formal structure of the Mu*. > I.e. if I wanted to know what the Mu* looked like, how > would you describe its layout to me? The physical structure of the MOO? OpalMOO is a small city, although its street layout is kind of snakelike. It's a grungy city, though. > 12. Who/what were the major influences upon the development of its > social structure and operation? There were no influences, really. We set up a set of relatively few rules, and let society form itself. We only made new rules when we needed them. > 13. How would you describe this social structure? It's very loose. People are encouraged to work problems out themselves, and if they can't, one of the wizards steps in. > 14. How has this changed over time? When we were small, everyone knew and was friendly with everyone else. Now we have more strangers, more random net surfers who don't consider OpalMOO a place to call home. > 15. How are important decisions made within the Mu*? Consensus, really. Asking for opinions, and then moving on. Pressing technical decisions are often made by fiat, by whoever needs to do so at the time. > 16. What do you think is the purpose of the Mu*? We have three purposes, here listed in no particular order: (1) To support our VR Interface project, which is a set of VR interfaces to Internet services; (2) To support innovative and experimental programming projects, as well as encouraging new programmers; and (3) To provide a harassment-free social outlet for people to enjoy themselves. > 17. What role does the 'player' have in the Mu*, if any? Any non-administrative (non-wizard) role they want to have. If they want to hack, they are welcome to. If they want to build, they are welcome to. They're given as much resources as the quality of their work demands. > 18. What part does the Mu* play in society at large, if any? Erp. I dunno what you mean, here. > 19. What have been the greatest obstacles for the Mu* community > since your involvement? Technical resource limitations. Easily. Our social problems have been few and far between, but our (external) technical limitations have just killed us. > 20. What changes have been made to handle these? We're up only at night now, and we're slightly more restrictive with giving builder and programmer privileges (these policies are published and available). > 21. What are the goals of this Mu*? Our goals are much like our purposes. We want to have fun and get some serious work done at the same time. > 22. What is your favorite vision of what the Mu* will become? I want the rest of the world to see that M*s aren't absurd sexual stupid places, as the media portrays them. (Then again, the media makes every technological thing they report on either sound like the best thing in the world or the most inane thing in the world, because they just can't understand it.) I want to do research and see whether VR interfaces make people more likely to do research, more likely to -use- computers. I'm interested in whether a VR environment supports women learning to use computers. Blackbriar -------------------------- END OF QUESTIONAIRE