WAS has a vertical chain of command, with the god of the MU* — usually the creator — having total authority and the final say-so in all areas of the game. Some games then have a chief of staff in charge of hiring and firing, and a relations wiz to settle IC/OOC disputes.
The wizards are in charge of separate spheres, with distinctions based on supernatural races, or areas such as law and entertainment. Each wiz hires one or more admins to handle the day-to-day business like character approvals, plot developments, XP expenditures . . . . A player, therefore, has different levels to deal with in order to have a request handled or question answered.
This leads to one of the disadvantages of choosing this structure: staff egos clash in the sometimes murky boundaries between spheres, or the needed staffer slacks off and can¹t keep up with MU* business, leaving the request to languish for weeks. All too often, the god or chief of staff has to step in and dictate how conflicts between staff will be settled.
Also, spheres tend to concentrate on their own players, and not develop roleplay for outsiders. When the spheres are based on supers, for example, the mortal characters get left out of new plots.
Finally, wizzes come and wizzes go. With each new sphere wiz comes a new interpretation of the rules, leading to endless bulletin board posts and confusion on the part of the players and older staff as to how to apply the new rules. What to do?
TaeisMUSH, and now Sanguinis Nobilis, thinks the answer lies in the horizontal nature of the Architect style. There are two Theme Archs, one who writes the game background and the other to oversee implementation of the gaming system and rules. The Regional Archs, one for each segment, coordinate building, enforce the theme and approve characters. Technical Archs are the psychocoders, and Arbiters mediate IC and OOC disputes that the players can¹t resolve.
The key to this style is that all Architects are equal in terms of power. Conflicts among staff are settled within the relevant class of Architects, which can select and remove staffers by majority vote. This removes many of the problems seen with WAS administration, and the games using this style swear that they will never return to the old ways.
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