                        Server : How to be a good God

NAME
   God - Tips on being God

Level: Expert

The  following  commands  act differently or require different parameters when
used as deity: wire, read, des, zdone, nav,  march,  transport,  move,  build,
country.

Comments from Dave Pare

I've  been  deity of seven or eight games, and each time I learn something new
about how far I should go, and how active a role I should take.

There are several things a deity should take into account.

 1)  Bug policy.  When a player says that a bug bit him, how do you handle it?
     Since I used to hack on the game at the same time players would  play,  I
     used  to have a "nasty" bug policy.  That is, if a bug bites a player, he
     loses.  It is very difficult to verify if a player "really did lose those
     1000 gold bars" from that bank because of a bug.  Also, whenever a player
     had something bad happen to him, he'd yell "BUG".   All  too  often,  the
     player just did something stupid.

     If  a  player  ever found a "good" bug (and reported it in a timely fash-
     ion), I'd give him some kind of reward.  The reward was generally  mater-
     ial  enough  to  encourage  them  to report bugs, but not too much so the
     other players complained.  If through use of this bug the player manufac-
     tured "too many" goodies for himself, I acted to redress the balance  im-
     mediately.

     This whole case is only interesting when the Deity knows the Empire code,
     and can identify bugs as such.

 2)  Unskilled  players.   It's  tough watching your friends lose in an Empire
     game.  Helping "just a little" by giving  information,  or  by  giving  a
     teensy  bit of assistance is BAD.  Empire is NOT a game of socialist care
     for the needy; it's more like survival of the  fittest.   Players  should
     sink  or  swim  on  their own.  If you help a novice, you're deliberately
     hurting his opponent.  Some players will lose, and as Deity  you'll  have
     to stand by and watch this happen.

 3)  Answering  random  prayers.   If  you DO help someone, help them in rela-
     tively minor ways.  Do things like fill in some ocean, etc.   Don't  give
     away  commodities  --  except  perhaps food.  Whatever you do, don't give
     tech, military hardware, civilians, military, or any information at  all!
     The game is very stingy with information, and you should be too.

 4)  Security.  Make SURE that nobody else has access to the data directories.
     There  are  always players who will do anything to win.  If you help them
     control themselves by making the data  completely  unavailable  --  watch
     those  dump  tapes  too -- you'll be doing their moral fiber and everyone
     else a favor.

Remember, as Deity your job is to make the game fair.  Don't hose players (un-
less they cheat -- and you catch them!)  and don't give out information.   In-
formation  is  very important in Empire, and as Deity you've got access to all
of it.  Be careful in what you say, and how you leave your terminal at night!

Unless you've got nothing else to do, a Deity should  keep  player  communica-
tions  to  a  minimum.   Handling special player requests gets tedious after a
while; make players pay for Deity assistance.  One game I suggested  that  the
only  way  players  could  get the Deity to fill in ocean sectors, zap plague,
etc, was to offer a real-life sacrifice to the deity -- a few bottles of  good
beer, for example!  I got perhaps a dozen bottles, and managed to greatly cur-
tail player requests at the same time!

In  summary,  an  Empire  game  should be between players.  Any time the Deity
helps anyone, Deity intervention starts becoming a factor in the game.   As  a
Deity,  you  absolutely can't go wrong if you do nothing at all except routine
game maintenance.

SEE ALSO
   Deity, Server

