Wrapping up MUD History Month: Admin Interviews
I spoke with Kam (Chris Johanson) of “Reflections of the Wheel,” one of the most popular Wheel of Time-themed games on the ‘net. “Reflections” had its initial public release in early 2000, but the coding began in July of 1999. In the period between 7/99 and 1/01, “Reflections” had an alpha and beta stage, to fully test the code before public release. Kam is the proprietor of his own software business, so creating “Reflections” was second nature to him.
Though there have been many developers working on “Reflections” through the years, Kam remains the sole coder. Like many other admin I have spoken with through the years, he has found it difficult to train others to code on “Reflections,” and he finds it comfortable to tinker “behind the scenes” on his own.
The success of “Reflections” hasn’t been a total bed of roses for Kam. The MU** world is competitive by nature, but when you’re working in a very specific sub-genre, such as games based on WoT, that competition intensifies. As “Reflections” grew in popularity, Kam found himself increasingly unwelcome on other established WoT games, and eventually banned from most. Kam puts this down to his advances in the code that is the very foundation of “Reflections,” inspiring a blend of jealousy & mistrust in other admin.
Kam has had a clear vision for “Reflections” since he first started on the project. Thus the course for development has been clear for the “Reflections” team. No major transitional changes are expected for “Reflections” in the future, but keep an ear to the ground for potential revisions for the Open Source d20 and WoT Wizards of the Coast release.
You can reach “Reflections of the Wheel” at their web site here, or by telnet here.
I also spoke with Thoric (Derek Snider) of the always-hopping “Realms of Despair.” The development of “RoD” began in July of 1994. Currently, “RoD” is running in SMAUG v1.4.
At present, an average of no less than 40 people work on the team that keeps “RoD” up and running. That’s larger than most small businesses! But, despite there being no lack of volunteers and helping hands, Thoric has had unpleasant run-ins with high level imms on “RoD” in the past. Unfortunately sometimes you just can’t tell who’s really trustworthy & who’s not; I’ve learned this lesson the hard way in my own game development experiences. Thoric has in the past had to demote some troublemakers, but all in all it seems that “RoD” is blessed with a large, strong group of dedicated individuals on its development team.
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