I think the current 'secretive' approach is extremely selfish.
There are always tradeoffs - for instance, make knowledge available to everyone and mysteries and secrets go away.
I remember that I spoke with PO Rafael, or perhaps it actually was Rafael, I don't remember; that player was a big fan of keeping magic rare and secretive, and if you look at comments by like PO Zehren, Rafael was roleplayed very well. I think you should keep that in mind too, when you consider other mages (or potential ones; I have no idea what happened to PO Rafael, whether he is playing or not).
There is a TON of work put into the Mages that only a handful of people will ever get to enjoy.
Yes - now you know how it feels if you have characters in an inactive guild and watch how others get the niceties.
By the way, I am not sulking or anything like that. What I mean is that I think the guilds should all be treated equal. I don't mean to give them the same features or strength, but what I mean is that I think it is unfair to pour a lot of work into some guilds, but completely neglect others.
I understand that it is hard because builders also want to expand the options available for the game, and this is why in principle I support the notion of "sharing" - as in making magic more widespread and so forth. There are just things to consider.
I give you another example:
When 'who' was changed, PO Fernao wrote some suggestions on the wiki in regards to what could be done to make communication easier. Among these suggestions was to make communication more widespread too, similar to how the major guildorbs work too. Now those orbs have an IC background story, and magic that is widespread might obsolete communication like that (consider when mages can establish guild-like communication, that would be a major blow against some of the guilds; Rangers are the only major guild with zero unique features; even the Shaolins have something unique, aside from the combat style, and that is that their chi powers are stronger than others in a hardcoded manner).
That's just a waste in a game made of volunteer work.
Ok that is fine but what about other players who could not have a wizard/admin support them in a very broad way? Is their contribution of volunteering work any less?
Don't get me wrong - I am in favour of making magic more useful too, magical shops, expand on magic. It's also ok to have the mages be the uber beings.
What I am saying is:
- Keep the fairness in mind, in general.
- Keep the balance in mind as well.
- Keep the amount of difficulty in mind, for instance, how easy it is to distribute, how affordable something is. how large the monopoly should be.
As I mentioned in another post, most of the Mage stuff could be happening in another game and barely anyone would notice.
My character already saw way too much. Thankfully he forgets so quickly, but OOCly I let it up to others to PvP any mage ....
But there has got to be a balance between Mage uniqueness and the amount of developer time they absorb (which could be spent in other areas where every player benefits).
Yep! I completely agree with you, BUT - the best resource the game has is called
PLAYERS.
At least to me, perhaps for some others as well.
That's also why the change to 'who' would have eliminated me from the game, whereas additions like the trap miracle, while very annoying, would not eliminate me because at worst it is a repetitive auto-loss, but I still have other players to interact with.
I think in general the builders focus too much on features or new areas.
Personally I think the players in general (all players, not any select subgroup) are by far the best asset for a MUD. The more active players you have, the more dynamics you automatically incur.
This can come from the Mage players themselves or - if the admin would want to get more involved - it can be pushed by certain other game elements that involve or require the intervention of Mages (as discussed in other idea threads recently).
There is only one problem here, and I am not against any of that - and this is how the clerics see the mages. I don't really see any real opposition to the mages. They seem to get the best features for no real resistance at all. Is this fair to other guilds that have to roleplay according to a strict set of rules?
My favourite idea would be the split the Order into two new guilds - both very strong. One agnostic of deities but hateful of magic and able to well perform against any mage, including a set of rituals that range from annoying up to permanent crippling (I know I know how mages would hate that; but if the chance is 0.00001% for that then it's more thrill than real threat

). The other more decisively and pro-actively evil, but I guess none of that is realistic without admins wanting to go that route. I just think that without Abharsair, admin may be too shy of PvP as a central theme for some guilds.
So, yes to opening the doors and spreading some of the Mage love (and hate) across the game. We need to stop sitting in the backroom eating the cake before it makes it to the dining hall.
I have nothing against that at all.
I just think that nice red pill should also come with the not so nice blue pill.
Btw that is my OOC opinion as a player, it has not much to do with my character's IC opinion.
In general I support all ideas to get the mages more involved into the game.