101 lines
3.6 KiB
Perl
101 lines
3.6 KiB
Perl
.TH Server "How to be a good God"
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.NA God "Tips on being God"
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.LV Expert
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.s1
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The following commands act differently or require different
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parameters when used as deity:
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wire, read, des, zdone, nav, march, transport, move, build, country.
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.s1
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Comments from Dave Pare
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.s1
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I've been deity of seven or eight games,
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and each time I learn something new about how far I should go,
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and how active a role I should take.
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.s1
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There are several things a deity should take into account.
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.in +\w'00)\0\0'u
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.s1
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.L 1)
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Bug policy.
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When a player says that a bug bit him, how do you handle it?
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Since I used to hack on the game at the same time players would play,
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I used to have a \*Qnasty\*U bug policy.
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That is, if a bug bites a player, he loses.
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It is very difficult to verify if a player
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\*Qreally did lose those 1000 gold bars\*U from that bank
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because of a bug.
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Also, whenever a player had something bad happen to him,
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he'd yell \*QBUG\*U.
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All too often, the player just did something stupid.
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.s1
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If a player ever found a \*Qgood\*U bug
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(and reported it in a timely fashion),
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I'd give him some kind of reward.
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The reward was generally material enough
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to encourage them to report bugs,
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but not too much so the other players complained.
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If through use of this bug the player manufactured
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\*Qtoo many\*U goodies for himself,
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I acted to redress the balance immediately.
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.s1
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This whole case is only interesting
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when the Deity knows the Empire code,
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and can identify bugs as such.
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.s1
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.L 2)
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Unskilled players.
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It's tough watching your friends lose in an Empire game.
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Helping \*Qjust a little\*U by giving information,
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or by giving a teensy bit of assistance is BAD.
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Empire is NOT a game of socialist care for the needy;
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it's more like survival of the fittest.
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Players should sink or swim on their own.
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If you help a novice, you're deliberately hurting his opponent.
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Some players will lose,
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and as Deity you'll have to stand by and watch this happen.
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.s1
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.L 3)
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Answering random prayers.
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If you DO help someone, help them in relatively minor ways.
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Do things like fill in some ocean, etc.
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Don't give away commodities -- except perhaps food.
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Whatever you do, don't give tech, military hardware,
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civilians, military, or any information at all!
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The game is very stingy with information, and you should be too.
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.s1
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.L 4)
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Security.
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Make SURE that nobody else has access to the data directories.
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There are always players who will do anything to win.
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If you help them control themselves
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by making the data completely unavailable --
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watch those dump tapes too --
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you'll be doing their moral fiber and everyone else a favor.
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.in
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.s1
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Remember, as Deity your job is to make the game fair.
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Don't hose players
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(unless they cheat -- and you catch them!)
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and don't give out information.
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Information is very important in Empire,
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and as Deity you've got access to all of it.
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Be careful in what you say,
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and how you leave your terminal at night!
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.s1
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Unless you've got nothing else to do,
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a Deity should keep player communications to a minimum.
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Handling special player requests gets tedious after a while;
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make players pay for Deity assistance.
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One game I suggested that the only way players could get the Deity
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to fill in ocean sectors, zap plague, etc,
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was to offer a real-life sacrifice to the deity --
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a few bottles of good beer, for example!
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I got perhaps a dozen bottles,
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and managed to greatly curtail player requests at the same time!
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.s1
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In summary, an Empire game should be between players.
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Any time the Deity helps anyone,
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Deity intervention starts becoming a factor in the game.
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As a Deity, you absolutely can't go wrong
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if you do nothing at all except routine game maintenance.
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.SA "Deity, Server"
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