Muddled Times
Issue:Issue 17, August 2002
Section:Articles
Author:Hawumph

Is a Wiz a Player Too?

Coming from both sides of the fence, having wizzed on MUD2.com, then come to MUDII and played mortal again, and eventually made wiz here too, this is an easy question to answer. Of course a wiz is a player - if he/she wants to be.

The real question surely is, is a wiz a "cheating wizmort that kills me by unfair means sort of a player" too???? The answer to which I am afraid to say, no matter how convenient it sounds, is no!

Wizzes are bound by rules - if you want to know exactly what they are its really quite simple - make 7 tasks and 204,800 points and you'll be told. If you add up your points and tasks over a given period spread over three personae you'll probably be amazed to find that you could technically have been one.

So ask yourself this - if I made wiz (which by the calculation previously supplied you actually might have been) would I instantly want to never play mortal again? Well personally speaking no - mortal life is a huge, and prior to the fact of making wiz, under appreciated, fact of mud life. One thing is true - there's no going back. You lose what might be called your innocence.

But it does not mean you are no longer a player. Just because (pick one - Turrican, Azrael, Fruitbat, Reverence or Marmite?) made wiz, does that mean they are now evil pk wizmorts because they can kill you when or if they play sometimes as a mortal - as opposed to when they could do it as a mortal?

For me it was a real blast spending a few months as a mortal on MUDII - the fear if you are attacked because death is final (till the next mage) - the uncertainty of playing a mage with others about especially high ranking ones - the fun of getting over the fear until you get to 200k and you become a wimp again. And if I play mortal - that's exactly what I am - mortal - no extra powers - no Guide to Wizmorting, copyright R. Bartle (for wiz eyes only) tucked in my back pocket.

The only thing expected of wizzes is morality - so the next time you bellow out you swines since when do rats attack when I am in the cellar, or since when does it rain when I am fighting a shark at sea - remember - the game does even worse things to you than the wizzes can!!!!!!


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