What the Hell Were you thinking?

A point needs to be made that I’m not sure everyone understands completely.
It’s possible that I am simply the only one in the dark about this point,
but I’ll assume that others haven’t put this level of thought into
overarching themes that dictate the governance of our little MUD we like to
call home.

Satisfaction does not equate to attendance.

Let me break that down. People can be dissatisfied with the MUD and still
log on everyday. That is to say, people being happy on RoD does not equate
to them logging on to RoD. The inverse is probably true, that when people
are dissatisfied they log on more often.

We can see it in other areas of life. Sitcom writers reserve happy endings
for the end of the show, when it is being cancelled. They give you
cliffhanger season finales with questions unanswered, so you’ll want to come
back for more. We hate the Omarosa’s on TV, but we keep watching them. And
so network execs will continue to hire angry black women to go on their
reality TV shows. We as a society look down on Reality TV, but we keep
watching it to see just what the hell they’ll do next.

So the question now comes to Realms. It is quite possible that it is not in
the interests of the immortals to make this game easier for us. It’s quite
possible that it is in their interests to make this game worse for us. There
is a fine balance, of course. Don’t screw us over so much as to make us hate
the game, but screw us over enough so that we complain. Because complaining
equals engagement.

You can see it in other relationships besides the Immortal-Mortal one. Go on
an insult a girl. You’ll do more talking with a girl you are arguing with
than you would with a girl you have nothing to say to except “I love you”.
It’s why good relationships go sour, it’s why nice guys finish last, it’s
why bad guys get the girls.

So, when you ask for improvements, and when you ask for things to get
better, things to get done, my response is “What the hell were you
thinking?”

It’s quite possible that the human condition that makes us want to watch
train wrecks keeps our asses glued to Realms of Despair. Am I advocating a
mass exodus off the MUD? Hardly. I just think it’s important to realize that
being satisfied isn’t what RoD is about, and it never will be. There is no
big boss at the end, there is no end. Enjoy.