Now to change to a topic only the insane would consider: making your own MUD. First, if you're /really/ thinking about this . . . take a deep breath. Outside in the sunshine, preferably, because if you go through with it, you won't be in fresh air and natural light for a very long time.
OK. You still want to. Well, I sought out the advice of a veteran, five years in the trenches as god of two different, self-designed MUXes. (Note: all names, both of gamers and games, will be withheld to protect the innocent.) His wisdom? Know code forwards backwards and sideways. Start by checking out the MUD Resource Collection.
Why does code matter? After all, there are psychocoders for hire to deal with all that. Let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, there was a MUX (actually, four) that hired a coder in exchange for a staffbit. The coder also played there . . . and developed into that horrible beast known as a problem player. Things got nasty. The staffbit was nuked. The coder left, taking most of the database code with him and leaving behind booby traps that caused MUX crashes for weeks on end.
A god's nightmare. If you do hire coders, make sure your MUD has a policy that states that any contributions become the sole property of the game itself.
Next, find staff that you trust - people you have played with for a long while, hopefully a few that you know in real life. Make sure they swear by the Wizard's Ethical Code, also available at the MRC. Be consistent about your policies, and find a mentor who runs another MUX so that you have someone who understands why a stack of @mail drives you to a nervous breakdown.
So, you've mastered code. You and your staff can recite ethics, policies and game plan in your sleep. You've gotten a host site- right? If not, check out here and here. Yes, you might have to cough up the money for a site, but these places offer niceties like precoded servers. Worth a look.
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