In a previous post, I mentioned that I would be talking about our Staff Promise to you. Basically, the Staff Promise is a high level statement of our conduct as staff and the minimum standards that we set for ourselves. In many respects, it is the foundational statement for the MUD.
Below is the text of the Staff Promise (which can also be found here):
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We promise that the game will be freely available to all, insofar as reasonably possible. We will never charge to access to the game, pay for perks, or ask for donations. It is our privilege to make LabMUD available to you and you do not owe us anything for participating.
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We promise that we will not discriminate as to who may access the game, participate in the forums or contribute to the community, except in cases of gross misconduct such as harassment, threats, or extremely disruptive behaviour. If we must remove somebody’s access for any reason, we will ensure that it is fair, even-handed, transparent and in line with community eexpectations
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We promise that we will make a reasonable effort to remove barriers to participation for individuals. For example, we will make a reasonable effort to consider the needs of vision impaired players using a screen reader. While we will use an application review process, we will also ensure that our focus in reviewing the applications is to correct errors and get the person into the game rather than forcing them to reapply.
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We promise that we will maintain an immersive and internally consistent environment for play. While some suspension of disbelief will always be necessary for the introduction of new engine features or the discovery of bugs, we will make every effort to downplay the impact of these and maintain a serious roleplaying environment.
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We promise that as far as is humanly possible, we will show no bias towards players despite their status, history or attitude. We will actively endeavour to spread our time evenly amongst all the playerbase, and we shall not make exceptions to the rules or create admin-initiated plots that directly benefit or harm individuals.
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We promise that we will not play characters in LabMUD. You never have to worry about another PC being a staff PC because there are none.
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We promise that we will accept criticism of the engine, the setting, the rules, our words or our actions with an open mind and a fair approach. You will not be punished for speaking your mind.
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We promise that if you can do it in code, you are allowed to do it. As long as their is in-character justification for your actions, you should be able to use your character’s coded capabilities without fear of being labeled a “twink” or “cheater”.