((----*))l Fountain room. An unmistakable sense of magic pervades this small room. In one corner is a marvellous fountain, sprinkling sparkling water six feet into the air. To the north is an opening to a larger room, but there are no other exits. The fountain glows blue with its magical power. Transcribed below it are the words: "Enter me and know.".  In the midst of a swirling, ethereal haze, you can make out the powerful presence of ((Azrael the demonic wizard)). ((----*))reset Time-stamp: 22:08:00 on 4-SEP-2001. This is reset 2220, using slot 0. An auto-reset will be initiated in approximately 101 minutes. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "The Fountain room, very appropriate ...". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I love this room". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "this is of course where you made wiz, why here?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "to be honest I lack imagination.. I wanted to make wiz in a significant way, so I aped Droo's method of going over in the fountain of wisdom/wizdom/whatever the context dictates". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "At what point did you decide this is how you intend to make wiz?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I think it just came to me in my wizrun reset". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "prior to that I wasn't particularly concerned about how I got there, just that I got there". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "you'd had many goes too ...". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "what happened, why do you think you lost so many mages?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) nods. Beating its enormous wings above you is an immense, fire-breathing dragon!  (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Azrael the demonic wizard) exclaims "it's his fault!". The dragon violently disintegrates. The dragon has just passed on. (Karya the dreamy witch) coughs, her! (Azrael the demonic wizard) asks "his name is Barry, does that sound like a girl's name to you?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) types is dragon female, oh look at that it's not! [----*]is dragon male No. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "type is dragon male ...". [----*](Azrael the demonic wizard) says "ok, it needs an androgynous name then". (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Barri?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "Anyway ... so the dragon got you a fair few times ...". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "but why? Why were you so inclined to loot her island as a mage?". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Even after she had toasted you?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) exclaims "risk vs reward, there's a lot of stuff there!". [----*]qw (Karya the dreamy witch) (Azrael the demonic wizard) (Torment the swordsman) Ribbit the sorceress Pipns the guest Codfillet the surrealist guest (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "but at some point you decided the risk wasn't worth the reward?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) to this day has never lost a mage or Sir to the TS though, against all odds. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "No, I still paid regular visits to the isle as this persona, I just wasn't so unlucky (and perhaps was a little more cautious in doing so)". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "although I did manage to glow myself out of magic when I was on 130k or so". [----*](Azrael the demonic wizard) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "(from full magic)". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "What happened to your first mage>?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "it peaked at about 102,499 I think, then it fled lower and lower into warlock, and eventually died when it lost connection and died to Foz and Joey". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "can't remember what levels they were at the time". In the distance, you hear a wolf baying AAAOOOOOOHHHH. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I was a bit out of my league at that point.. but no-one expects their first mage to last long". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "How long had you been playing for at that point?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "Four months". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "although admittedly I was playing a lot in those four months". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "When did you first start playing MUD2?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "August 99". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "How did you discover MUD2?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I was using Wireplay for Quake 2 at the time, when suddenly I had a bout of nostalgia for old text based games.. so I noticed mud2 on the list and gave it a go". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "..and within a week or two I'd stopped playing Quake 2 completely". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "You'd heard of MUD2? You knew it was a text-based game?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "yes, I'd read about MUDs in general in PC Gamer a while back, not specifically MUD2 though". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Your first persona name on here was Firefarter, wasn't it?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) nods. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "why?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "It was just a name that I'd been using on Quake 2, being based on Prodigy track Firestarter, and it stuck". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "although in retrospect it must have been very hard to take me seriously with a name like that :)". (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "How did you find playing mud to start with?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "It's difficult to describe, it had this really great mystique at the time and, although very difficult to get anywhere, I was compelled to keep coming back - probably because of that mystique". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "I remember when you first started playing you were quite ... cheeky, especially to one wiz in particular". (Azrael the demonic wizard) saw that coming. (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. [----*](Azrael the demonic wizard) exclaims "Cat started it!". (Karya the dreamy witch) laughs. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "What did he do?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "basically I'd come from a gaming background in which swearing wasn't a problem, and Cat disapproved - but (correct me if I'm wrong) he just fodded straight away for it repeatedly, instead of explaining that it was a rule". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "so instead of seeing him as part of the management who's enforcing the game's rules, I just thought he was a high-level player with bastardish tendencies". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "but anyway, after we'd resolved that problem we got along fine". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Which persona name came next?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "Dclxvi was the next notable one, although there may have been a few one-offs". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "for the numerically inept, it means 666 in Roman numerals.. I wasn't playing a particularly devilish style at the time, just another name I'd used in other games". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "but by this time you had a harder edge to your playing? You were no longer a newbie?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "not a newbie, no, but I wasn't quite at wizrunning ability either". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "also I wasn't a PK at the time". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I was capable of getting points reasonably quickly, but didn't have many tricks up my sleeves, and therefore often died to wizmorts - particularly because of my strategy of low-stam fleeing". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Did you have any particularly memorable experiences as a newbie (apart from the Cat fodding incidents)?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "as an outright newbie, nothing springs to mind - but there was one memorable incident which happened when I'd been playing about two months and was still incapable of getting to necro via most means". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "as a hero, Reverence the warlock (!) decided it would be a good idea to summon and attack me, but due to a miscalculation on his part I ended up on 25k..". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "..so that was my first necro, and then a couple of sets later I went for Fruitbat the warlock when he'd just entered, and somehow I killed him to and got 23k, for my first warlock". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "How long did that warlock last?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "not long, it got up to about 56k though, which I was quite proud of at the time because I was fleeing a lot and barely capable of getting 3-4k sets at that point". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "How did you lose that warlock?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "A certain wizmort hero decided he fancied his chances, and as I was incapable of vis foe at the time, I didn't stand much of a chance". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I was hanging in there on 22 stam, unaware that he had the longsword and could quite happily finish me off from that". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Why did you decide to turn PK?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I'm not entirely sure, I guess it was mainly for the points - a mage kill will more than double even a very good reset score - but I also felt it would be a good challenge". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Did you have any inspiration, any players who you looked up to at the time?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "notably Reverence and Fruitbat, who were both inspired by Turrican, who in turn, I believe, was inspired by Kyric". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "Turrican was a direct influence too, although I didn't know it at the time". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "You mentioned the mystique in the game was what kept you hooked, was that always the case?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "No, the mystique kind of fades away after a while, but by then you're hooked anyway and your mind's fixed on certain challenges you set yourself". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "also, the players keep you coming back". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Apart from Turrican et al, were there any other players who influenced you in any majoyr way, during your mortal time?". [----*]qw (Karya the dreamy witch) (Azrael the demonic wizard) Ribbit the sorceress Calliss the necromancess Apeomancer the surrealist superheroine Sabretooth the mage Mik the guest Heiachi the guest Codfillet the surrealist guest (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I wouldn't say they influenced me, but I made a lot of good friends here who certainly did good things for the game - and there were others, Lexley for example, who I never really spoke to but had a very positive effect on the game". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "what effect was that?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) asks "Lexley's effect, or the others?". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "the Lexley effect". (Karya the dreamy witch) chuckles. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I could tell from the articles on her site that she had a lot of ideas for/about the game, and she really tried hard, and - although irrelevant here - she was shot down in flames for these ideas". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Were/Are there any ideas of your own that you'd like to see implimented or at least worked on?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I had loads, of course your creativity completely disappears when you have the potential to make a difference". (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "How about any game mechanics ideas, rather than quest type things?". [----*]qw (Karya the dreamy witch) (Azrael the demonic wizard) Sabrepoof the warrior Nightmare the yeoman Crazylady the necromancess Ribbit the sorceress Calliss the necromancess Codfillet the surrealist guest Mik the guest Heiachi the guest (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "game mechanics, I've always hated the way the game handles disconnections in fights, which is currently four times the amount lost in a superflee". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "it's supposed to dissuade people from doing it deliberately when they'd die, but that's never the case". Ribbit the sorceress roars "for miek". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Have you any alternative?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "at least for necro downwards, it should be the same as superflee - and maybe it could check your inventory to see if you've got wafers coming out of your arse, because if you're loaded with kit chances are you wouldn't disconnect like that deliberately". Ribbit the sorceress hollers "yaaaaahoooooooooo-oooo". (Azrael the demonic wizard) asks "but that idea has the problem of - what constitutes good kit?". (Karya the dreamy witch) nods. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "and then there's the cases when people are fighting the dragon ...". (Azrael the demonic wizard) nods, let them die then, I know I did repeatedly. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "I've witnessed quite a few people who have deliberately dropped connection. then come back claiming it was a drop". [----*](Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I suppose an alternative would just be to have no game-imposed penalty, but if people are witnessed doing it deliberately then they can be fodded". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Is there anything else that annoyed/annoys you about the game?". [----*]qw (Karya the dreamy witch) (Azrael the demonic wizard) Sabrepoof the warrior Crazylady the necromancess Ribbit the sorceress Calliss the necromancess Alig the guest Codfillet the surrealist guest Mik the guest You shout "Were's my nightmare?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I think there are quite a few fundamental flaws that could never be worked around, but despite them it's the most addictive game I've played (hence the article on the subject)". (Karya the dreamy witch) nods. Crazylady the necromancess shouts "im here". You shout "You're not my nightmare". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "flaws such as the way it's so easy for people to give game secrets to players when outside the game, nothing can be done about that". (Karya the dreamy witch) nods. Ribbit the sorceress shouts "no shes just generally a nightmare". Crazylady the necromancess shouts "am too". Calliss the necromancess shouts "we could be muhahahaha". Ribbit the sorceress shouts "im not". Ribbit the sorceress shouts "im just cross dressed". Crazylady the necromancess shouts "he is, sorry she". Calliss the necromancess shouts "plinkety the nobbity slonger for me quick". (Azrael the demonic wizard) asks "so from that, you can think - well why bother punishing people for discussing these things in the game, as they'd only do it externally anyway?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "unfortunately, there will always be a disgruntled ex-wiz or highlife who wants to write a certain mudbook". (Karya the dreamy witch) nods. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Has the game changed drastically for you since you made wiz?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "yes, making wiz is a very big change - you no longer need to bother about getting points or dying, so you can just be much more relaxed". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "also you've got a whole world of information thrown at you". Calliss the necromancess cheers. Fiz the protector shouts "thank you for your kind cheer". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "why did you chose to make wiz under the name of Azrael?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I'd been going for some sinister pk names at the time (well two, Death and Azrael).. I guess I just liked the name". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "in mythology he was either a demon or a renegade angel, I was never sure which, he was definitely a demon in Dogma though". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "hence the prefix". (Karya the dreamy witch) nods. (Azrael the demonic wizard) asks "very abstract, eh?". (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "For a while now there's been a huge mortal-wiz gulf, now you're on the other side, how does it feel?". Ribbit the sorceress roars "rah". Calliss the necromancess shouts "ya welcome was ya sleepin?". Calliss the necromancess shouts "help the slipety flicker is gonna kanooze me". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I was never anti-wiz (except when my only experience of wizzes was with Cat as a newbie), I just disliked (and still dislike) excessive wizmorting". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "which has been dying down recently anyway". (Azrael the demonic wizard) doesn't know how much he can get away with commenting on this. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "try ... it if goes too far, I'll edit it". Calliss the necromancess shouts "ribbit on all fours in hut,,,quick!". Ribbit the sorcerer shouts "lol". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "basically, from the minute Reverence made wiz he played mortal solidly, and therefore dominated most resets and left everyone else with little to do.. I felt that destroyed the purpose of being a wiz". Ribbit the sorcerer screams. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "and then there were Joey's morts, who did different things but to the same effect - leaving the rest of the reset stale". (Azrael the demonic wizard) was largely guilty for that kind of thing as a mortal too. (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "you say that now, did you realise it at the time?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "yes, which was part of the reason I wanted to just hurry up and get there". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "MUD is a great game but it's very open to being adversely affected by players". Calliss the necromancess shouts "nite mongers if u invis". (Azrael the demonic wizard) wonders, if that 'mongers' comment was to us. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "probably". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "that's the kind of thing I meant, offensive terms like that directed at wizzes, how do you feel now being on the receiving end of it? And it happens all the time now". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I always had a reasonable idea of what we'd have to deal with from mortals". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Do you feel that mudmeets add to the community spirit, or are a nice addition to mud events?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "Yes, definitely, I've certainly enjoyed the ones I've been to anyway". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "it makes things more personal, rather than just talking to a faceless character". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Were you suprised once you actually met the faces behind the personae?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I wouldn't say I was surprised, no, you're not expecting people to come in there dressed as their mud characters or whatever". (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "me in my coracle". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "I'd been playing for quite a while before I had either looked at web photos or went to a meet so I had built up ideas of what people would be like ...". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "and quite a few people didn't match my preconceived ideas.". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "but I'm not saying that it is either good or bad". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "yes, even having met them, I don't while playing always put the faces I've met to the personae". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "Actually when I first saw you there was something that struck me ...". (Azrael the demonic wizard) asks "the fact that I was hideously drunk and talking bollocks?". (Karya the dreamy witch) laughs. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "in my opinion you bear a striking resemblance to Mathias, a younger Mathias". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I never met/saw a picture of Mathias". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "There's one on Lexley's site, in the article I did on two of the mudmeets, but I've probably got more, and of course having met him helps". (Karya the dreamy witch) grins. (Karya the dreamy witch) says "I found it very uncanny". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I looked at that recently, obviously didn't pay much attention though". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "must give it another look". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Before you made wiz, did you have any ideas of what "kind" of wiz you'd like to be, e.g. a quest creator, a newbie-helper, a Cat-esque fodder ... ?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "this is going to sound hopelessly sycophantic, but I always admired you as a wiz". (Karya the dreamy witch) blushes. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "specifically, the way you organised a lot of events and they invariably worked really well". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "and in general you made things as fun as possible for mortals". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Now you know what being a wiz is all about, where do you want to go, wiz-wise?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "it's hard to say.. it would be nice if there were as many mortals as there used to be on Wireplay, although it's constantly picking up". (Karya the dreamy witch) nods. Auto-reset initiated, you have 120 seconds to finish up. No further warnings will be issued! (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "the lack of a large number of people on at a given time makes things like sorc wars, scavenger hunts, quizzes etc less .. for want of a better word, good". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "In a way this is an exciting time to be a wiz (mortal too I guess) - seeing the game grow and mature (again).". (Azrael the demonic wizard) nods. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "although it's always nice to be able to create a pointless mobile or two and put them in the presence of mortals". (Karya the dreamy witch) exclaims "although some mortals seem to object to things like that!". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "They just don't have any sense of humour or imagination, do they?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) remembers his Death mobile, Sabretooth didn't like that even though it was completely passive. (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "I like my sailor and farmer though, which have both made a fair few appearances". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Do you have any quests in the pipe-line?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "There were a couple, but as well as not being accomplished enough in the creation of these things I also haven't given much thought as to how they'd be structured, what there'd be to do besides walking around". (Karya the dreamy witch) asks "Well, I think that just about rounds it up, is there anything you'd like to say, point out?". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "Off the top of my head, no". (Karya the dreamy witch) says "Ok, thank you for letting me interview you.". (Azrael the demonic wizard) says "My pleasure :)". [----*]Something magical is happening.