The set of things creatable by a builder is a vector space spanned by a finite set (the OLC tools). This set can be very large, even infinite, but still linearly dependant upon the available tools.

The set of things a coder can create is, by comparison, almost infinite and if you were to enumerate a set of tools that spans it, it would be a mind boggling huge set of tools. Also, the coder can add new tools to the spanning set of what builders are cabable of. Builders cannot.

Of course a building guru is a much bigger asset than a mediocre coder.

To illustrate the idea of linear dependance, if all the builders in the world collaborated for 1000 years on a DIKU mud, it would still be beyond their power to create a graphical MUD. But 1 coder could do this in several months to a couple years.

Is securing the future of your mud against the possibility that a builder goes nuts and decides to pull all their work from it, using copyright as leverage 'preying' on the work of others?

Is this 'preying', if he's preventing a situation where large portions of his world could disappear due to a disagreement between staff?

You say that builders get a lousy deal in all muds, which they do. The reason for this is skill based.

Good building requires good english skills and imagination. Roughly 30% of all mud players have this at the level of which I'd hire them, if it were up to me.

Good coding requires good coding knowledge, english skills, imagination, and experience. Good coding knowledge is something which is worth a lot of money in the real world, especially combined with experience.

Builders do provide a vital contribution to muds, but unless the mud involved is just another crappy stock dikurivative a coders work is more important as it underlies what a builder does.

I won't provide an analogy for this, as it'll probably be ultimately flawed and used as a counter argument for the rest of this thread. To not recognise that coding labor requires higher skill than building IMO, is really quite stupid.

Molly, in this world there exist shades of grey.  Not everything is yes, or no. By saying that coders are more valuable than builders, he is not saying that builders are worthless.  Welcome to Logic 101.

Matt never stated that 'the work of Builders isn't worth a tenth of the work of Coders.' Don't put words in his mouth. The only negative public statement about Achaea's staff that I have seen has been made by you.

Of course he doesn't. The fact of it is this:

If a doctor had the very highest levels of merits and qualities, and a streetsweeper had the same, the doctor would be worth a great deal more.

Why?

Because the doctors skills are worth a #### of a lot more.  He put in years of work educating himself in how to do his job, he just didn't pick up a broom and start sweeping.

Why are his skills worth more?

Because they're rarer, they're wanted by more people, and they took a #### lot more effort to develop.

You mustn't be reading the same thing I did.  Why did his players react with revulsion when they were told who he was if Matt didn't tell them?

Molly, I'm seeing a worrying trend where you see what you want to see on this thread and spout garbage from your assumptions in an unseemly attempt to defame people.

Well, I am a programmer, I work as a programmer and I thing my work is worth quite a lot of money. And I think my work cannot be done by everyone. You need training, an a certain kind of mental abilities. But training will help quite a lot, even making you a good programmer if you give it time enough. Almost everybody can be a programmer if interested and dedicated enough.

I value builders just because I wouldn't be able to do their work, as I lack the skills. Nobody can be a builder only by training. As we're talking about text muds, is very important the way the builder describes each room, and is a big work. You can learn to make programs, you won't learn to write well unless you're somehow a bit gifted in this aspect.

So, if you think a zone by someone will be great for your mud, act as if it were a work of art and buy it at the right prize the builder wants to sell it. But paying only $20 per zone will only attract the kind of people who would do it for free, and who probably will never do anything with the zone besides giving it to you. So... the copyright thing is giving it too much importance than it has.

Care to elaborate that a bit? You mean the copyright thing is not important?

Well since we are running a commercial business it is important, in fact it is critical for us to be able to run the game without having to remove things or getting into unecessary arguments with builders.

And we pay $30 now. Will probably increase in the near future too.

Heph, I think he means that the earliest posts in this thread (The ones demanding 'How dare you buy the copyright!!' ) were a tad over the top

-Leigh

Thanks Hard, it was meant to say "is geting".

Akward how this thread ended up in the legal issues.

It is a thread for attaining staff.