5.0 ADMINISTERING A MUCK

Putting a MUCK online, creating a world that will attract players, and dealing with the minor and major crises that will inevitably crop up over time is an inherently demanding and time-consuming task. For most, though, it is a labor of love, and the burdens can be shared among staff members. Administering a MUCK involves both technical and non-technical issues. Both can be quite insistent and pressing during a MUCK's early, formative stages: there are innumerable technical details to attend to, and the small population creates an artificially incestuous atmosphere in which non-technical issues — especially personality conflicts — easily get blown out of proportion. As the world develops and attracts players, things stabilize, but both issues will remain. On the technical side, problems of dbase management and backward compatibility will replace the tasks of getting everything working right. On the non-technical side, player relations and changing levels of commitment from staff members will come to the fore. Both sets of issues are discussed in this section of the Manual.