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Interview with Dentin, Creator of Alter Aeon
This interview was done on Oct 17, 2008 by the Alter Aeon player Ouch. It was originally published in Issue 2 of 'The Ralnoth Times', and is reprinted here with permission.This version of the interview has been edited, to fix minor typos and reorder answers so that question and answer are in well-defined blocks. For the original, unedited version of the interview, please see this link.
Ouch: i have about 16 questions - ill spin off 4 more (or more)
from those and how you answer them
Dentin: heh ok
Dentin: no problem
Ouch: the time is 1:37 pm MUD system time on Friday October 17th 2008
Ouch: We have here DENTIN the god creator of Alter Aeon... who
has agreed to a an excusive interview for the Ralnoth Times
Ouch: (and possibly the aa website at his discretion)
Dentin: heh, it seems like it would be inappropriate to put it
there actually, so I think its all yours
Ouch: do you have any opening comments before we proceed with
the questions?
Dentin: nope, fire away
Ouch: What was your hardest moment related to AA?
Dentin: hrm, a specific point in time, or what's been the hardest
aspect of working on it?
Ouch: well if youre up to it - both :)
Dentin: I really dont think I can answer the specific point
in time part of the question, because as I look back
there have really been no catastrophic hard times I've
had to overcome
Dentin: but regarding the hardest aspect of working on it in
general, I think it's always been and continues to be
incentive
Ouch: meaning?
Dentin: it's incredibly hard to stay motivated and positive
all the time, especially when I just did something stupid
or pissed off a bunch of people with a change that noone
likes
Dentin: even beyond that, after 14 years, sometimes I just look
at the code base and the list of 3000 things (seriously)
that need to be done, and I just say 'what the hell,
im going to go play starcraft'
Ouch: and that happens a lot to you?
Dentin: I'd say I get my equivalent of 'hate mail' probably
once a month. Sometimes a player can say one sentence
and basically blow my whole day. I hate it when that
happens, but sometimes it does
Dentin: my state of mind is a pretty delicate thing. Little
stuff affects me greatly, but I try really hard to just
power through it and get something done anyway
Ouch: what race do you like to play in starcraft?
Dentin: heh, I think I like zerg the most, but only because
terran and protoss are clunkier to build and harder
to swarm
Ouch: whats your favorite starcraft single player mission?
Dentin: I dislike the missions where you cant build anything
and you have a group of marines or whatever that you
have to keep alive. Beyond that, I like nearly all
of the missions
Ouch: no one favorite mission in particular?
Ouch: And also has starcraft ever inspired anything in AA ?
Apart form helping the state of mind?
Dentin: starcraft actually has made me think a lot about AA,
and has driven some of the newbie related changes we've
seen recently
Dentin: when you start playing starcraft, it's incredibly intuitive,
with a very easy, simple way of getting you to learn things
Dentin: the mud on the other hand, is not easy. Trying to make
it more user friendly is one of the big things that
I've tried to take away from starcraft
Ouch: do you use cheat codes when you play starcraft?
Dentin: I use them from time to time, but in general its not
my thing. I'll turn on power overwhelming when I get
bored or pissed off. One thing I do wish I had though
is a slower speed setting than 'very slow'. There are
boards where if I could run it slower, I could do a
better job. There's just too much stuff going on at once
Ouch: On to the next aa question....
Ouch: What was your best moment?
Dentin: the best moments are usually when people tell me that
AA has changed their life in a positive way. Second
best moments are when something really crazy happens
and the code just stands up and handles it in an awesome
way I never expected. I love emergent behaviour
Dentin: I guess just knowing that I've succeeded at doing either
something interesting, or something useful to other people
Ouch: would you please illustrate one or more times when the
code handled a problem by itself?
Dentin: ok, so one day a long time ago, I did something weird
Dentin: I loaded a pocket, dropped it in room 1970, then used
the 'at' command to pick it up
Dentin: so now im inside this pocket that I'm carrying
Dentin: I look in the pocket, and there I am, inside it
Dentin: so anyway, I auction the pocket I'm carrying that has
me inside it
Dentin: no problem, right? dentin is sitting inside a pocket
that is being auctioned
Dentin: so naturally, I feel the urge to go 'out'
Dentin: next thing I know, im seamlessly being auctioned off
to the highest bidder
Ouch: ha ha ha h ah aha
Dentin: I dont think that was ever supposed to happen - yet
the mud took care of it as though it wasn't even out
of the ordinary
Ouch: its stuff like that i love about aa :)
Dentin: that's what I mean
Dentin: or the time I found five thousand pieces of wood falling
in a circle of endless falling rooms
Ouch: How have you seen the game improve?
Dentin: heh, when hasnt it improved? Remember, I started from
"int main() {}", so I've seen it at all stages
Dentin: busting it up into stages, you probably get something like
Dentin: 1) making something, anything work. If you don't have
commands, you can't do anything
Dentin: 2) making it work without crashing or corrupting all
the data it touches
Dentin: 3) making it work well enough that other people can use it
Dentin: 4) making it work well enough that other people using
it cant do stupid things. This is aimed primarily at
builders, who used to build completely retarded things
back in the olden days
Dentin: and 5) polishing and updating minor pieces, because
all the infrastructure is done
Dentin: sometimes I feel like we're still on 4 and 5 though,
maybe that's an endless process
Dentin: one of the more significant ways I've seen the game
improve though is in how it takes care of itself
Dentin: we only have a couple of admins - but we only have a
couple of admins because we only -need- a couple of
admins. That's the amazing part
Ouch: speaking of those builders in the old days - i heard you
fired a huge amount of them for trying to build crazy
areas when you were interested in protecting players -
is this true? what happenned?
Dentin: a lot of it was attrition, because I had different views
of where the game should go than they did
Dentin: there were a handful of cases where gods simply did
something so crazy so often that I just couldn't justify
keeping them around
Dentin: but I think most of them simply stopped playing because
the game was no longer what they expected it to be
Dentin: of all of them, I think I'm the only one who really
had an idea of what it would be like and how it needed
to be done to make the game stay viable for more than
a couple of years
Ouch: regarding admins - many players [feel that] there should be
a lot more and the rules should be harsher towards those who
annoy other players - however, your goal is to have a
game where players can handle their own problems and less
supervision. I am correct in this?
Dentin: that's the ideal. Its better to give people the tools
they need to handle problems than to handle problems
for them, I think
Dentin: a good example of that is the site livejournal
Dentin: if you have a problem with someone, you don't call an
admin and complain - you simply ban them and remove
them from your access lists
Ouch: in other muds if a non pk gets killed he gets his exp
back and then the perpetrator is punished - in aa the
perpetrator can be punished but the victim does not get
exp back - is this because the problem does not happen much ??
Dentin: just a minute, sorry for the delay
Ouch: take your time ... my bad
Dentin: sorry about that, work still pays me so I still have
to pay attention to them
[Dentin's note - I was off the clock, they called me]
Ouch: heh :) I really appreciate this exclusive interview
Dentin: yes, I would say its because the problem doesnt happen
that much, and most of the time when it does it's really
questionable anyway
Dentin: and for the record, most of the time we do reimburse
people. We also peg the killer, depending on circumstances
and the like
Dentin: repeat offenders generally dont last real long
Ouch: Well im glad i asked the question and cleared that up for the
readers
Ouch: What do you expect in the next 2 to 5 years to happen?
Dentin: well, I have plans, but I dont know if I can expect
them to happen
Ouch: are they plans you wish to share or not at this time?
Dentin: the plan is for me to be working on the mud exclusively
for the next couple of years. My goal is to be able
to get it (and/or its supporting presence) up to the
point where I can afford to work on it full time
Dentin: what I'd ideally like to do is get a couple of thousand
people playing and bring AA into being a true MMORPG
Dentin: in the shorter term, I've been working on some projects
to try to add mapping and other things to the official
AA client, which is part of a broader plan to get AA
at least somewhat into the world of graphics
Dentin: I realize that some things are going to be impossible
without fundamentally breaking the game, but I hope
we can add enough to make people really appreciate it
without compromising game play
Ouch: in other words - making it easier to understand will bring
in more players?
Dentin: that, and giving them a common reference they already
understand. I think we should be able to clean it up
so that when people log in, they'll be able to say "hey,
I know how this works" and at be able to do something
right off the bat
Ouch: What advice - in general - do you have for people who
undertake a decade enterprise like you did ?
Dentin: know what you're getting yourself into
Dentin: I dont know why, but when I started AA, I just -knew-
it was going to be a multi-year sort of committment.
For some reason, people just dont seem to understand
what that entails
Dentin: if you can't be bothered to spend 1500+ hours per year
on it for several years, you're wasting your time.
Do it right or don't bother
Ouch: What rule of the game do you believe is most important?
Why?
Dentin: rule as in something on the rules page? or a general
rule of design/gameplay mechanics?
Ouch: well once again now that you bring it up - would you please
answer both? :)
Dentin: for the rules on the rules page, probably "Thou shalt
not phish or grossly defraud other players"
Dentin: I think that sums up basically "don't be a jerk". If
you're not a jerk, things will go a lot smoother for
you, and everyone around you
Dentin: as far as rules of thumb for myself as creator, I think
the most important one is basically that everyone has
to abide by the rules at all levels, and that all rules
may be bent slightly if required for the situation
Dentin: people may not believe this, but I -really- don't favor
my mortals, or the mortals of other gods. They might
have more pull when they talk to me, but no more so
than the really old and established players such as
druid and arislan did
Dentin: hell, my highest level mortal is only 100 total :)
Ouch: hey ! thats my total levels ! maybe we can team one day :P
Ouch: do people find ways around rules a lot? or use the rules
to do bad things?
Dentin: no, in general not
Dentin: in general I've found that players dont want to be jerks.
Some have an abusive mentality, but not that many.
I also try to encourage reporting of things that are
broken, so people don't feel like they'll get hammered
just for discovering bugs and problems
Ouch: on to the next question....
Ouch: What is the most common complaint that you get from players?
Dentin: usually that I've done something that will break the
game forever
Ouch: ha ha
Dentin: most of the time, its because I have a longer term view
than they do - after all, few people can say they've
been here as long as I have and have seen the things
I have
Dentin: sometimes they're right though, and for things like
that, we usually back it out pretty quick or make changes
to counter it
Dentin: for the record, I still thing equipment affinity is
freaking awesome. I totally want to do that some day
Ouch: its on the record :)
Ouch: sorry for smiling - how often does this complaint re-occur?
Dentin: when I'm actively coding, probably every two months
Ouch: What do you feel players like the most about the game?
Dentin: well clearly its an interesting game, or they wouldnt
be here. But I think one of the reasons they stay is
because the gods stay out of their face. Hell, players
can ignore all but the highest level gods
Dentin: I've got a lot of good comments about how the admin
isnt a bunch of oppressive jerks here
Ouch: if may make a comment - many muds make gods the high level
players - here its only people who have shown integrity
and have helped develop the game to a high extent - so
i have to commend you for chosing gods in this fashion
- the choice process itself helps eliminate jerks
Dentin: that was a hard lesson to learn. The best players are
often ill suited to be admin staff
Dentin: in a lot of ways, that was the fundamental problem with
a number of the original alaska gods
Ouch: and these gods left?
Dentin: or were fired
Ouch: where is aa based out of now? certainly no longer alaska?
Dentin: the machine is located in texas, and is still being
managed and monitored by Talos. I do the code and other
stuff from where I currently live, in kentucky
Ouch: If you had to give a team player award to the player or
god you fell has been the most team player - who would it be?
Dentin: honestly, I have to give that one to myself, because
that's basically all I think of here
Dentin: excluding me, I think it would be a tossup between void
and draak. They have both beenvery good in terms of
working with other builders, especially on big projects
Ouch: What steps are being taken to encourage people to explore
the game more?
Dentin: right now, most of my emphasis is going to be on maps
and information. In the past, bonuses for unused areas,
and trying to advertize unused areas was tried
Dentin: I've recently cranked up some of the bonuses and created
the 'area exp' list, which is a list of double exp (and
double gold) areas. I dont know how much of an impact
that has though
Ouch: the fame system was established to force players to explore
a bit - yes? yet it has become one of the fun aspects
of the game
Dentin: yeah, fame has been useful in that regard. We need
to spread out the fame levels more though, and/or give
people more to spend fame on
Dentin: I really think the crux of the problem is that people
cant find things easily, and cant see what it looks
like in their head
Ouch: my last series of questions will be a bit more personal...
Dentin: getting maps integrated into the client will I think
improve that greatly
Dentin: heh ok, shoot
Ouch: Who was your favorite super hero growing up and why?
Dentin: I dont think I can answer that. I never had idols in
that regard when I was young
Dentin: recently though, its definitely gotta be goku from dbz
Dentin: goku wields power in the way I always thought superman
should. Superman always seemed like a wimp to me, and
when I first saw dbz, I thought 'damn, this is what
superman should have been'
Ouch: Is AA actually a dream come true for you?
Dentin: nope, AA is just something that happened in my life.
I dont really have dreams in that fashion, they're
always transient things, and are replaced by others
as they become outdated or accomplished
Ouch: wow - on the accomplished part
Ouch: Have you made unforgettable friends thanks to this game?
Dentin: oh yeah... I'd say squeak/talos/void are probably highest
on the list there, at least of the ones I met exclusively
through the mud
Ouch: Have you made unforgettable enemies because of AA?
Dentin: nope
Ouch: Was AA really a masters project in college? Please elaborate.
Dentin: nope. AA was something I was working on that happened
to satisfy my 'senior/graduation project' requirement
as an electrical engineer. Go figure
Dentin: I dont have a masters
Ouch: so did you get an A on it?
Dentin: yeah
Dentin: I had to do more in terms of writing up everything than
actual work on AA
Ouch: for one, thank you for this interview
Dentin: we're done?
Ouch: two, I have something on my chest i want to say
Ouch: i believe that you said some things here all players would
benefit from and its not my place to do so but i encourage
you to post this on the website for that reason
Ouch: last but not least, we are not done until you express
all that you want to say.... and any comments towards
the end here would be greatly apreciated
Dentin: I think we've covered enough topics that I'd have a
hard time coming up with anything else
Dentin: I'm good :)
Ouch: well i appreciate you giving me an hour of your time!
Dentin: no problem. Signing off :)
Ouch: once again this was the god DENTIN of the MUD Alter Aeon
- system time is 2:37 pm and this concludes an exclusive interview
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