I wanted to ask this question--it might have been better for Ask Estarra, but it's something I was always curious about and it's probably something they want to answer for themselves.

Do coding gods get to have fun like regular gods? I know for most of the volunteers they get to roleplay a persona as more or less their "reward" for volunteering for free, as they are usually players who have to sever all their ties to characters and even OOC relationships. But I wonder about Sior, Iosai, and even Roark.

For them, is the coding alone fun?

Or do they participate in other ways (I'm thinking denzien control or the like).

I imagine they could if they really wanted to, but I always thought they were 'coding gods' because they didn't want to take an active RP role.

I recall that Sior started out as Charune, but he eventually gave up that role. I believe because he wasn't very active in being Charune which he thought was unfair to the players. I think that's what they said...

Some of them are also mortals, the way builders are mortals, too.

I took an OOC role because I didn't feel comfortable taking an in-character persona, although Estarra did very generously offer that option. I much prefer the raw code to the creative and spontaneous demands of being an Elder. I won't pretend that there haven't been times I have thought about taking an IC role, but I doubt I would ever get as much enjoyment out of it as Eventru, Morgfyre, or any of the other members of the admin team. If this ended up being true, I inevitably would not be very good at providing an interesting focal point for players to build roleplay around and I would eventually burn out or become less active.

As for your question about how we get to have fun, as far as I'm concerned you hit the nail on the head. I derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from implementing new systems, fixing bugs, and generally trying to improve the experience players have without them necessarily noticing that improvements are being made.

Lendren did also touch on the fact that Lusternia has a few very dedicated mortal coders, who have done a great deal of work on the game and rarely (if ever) get the praise they deserve. They get to continue to play their regular characters, as well as helping behind the scenes with bugs and new features.

Let me take the time now to sincerely thank said mortal coders. Only now that I am behind-the-scenes of Lusternia can I see how much they have done. :)

Phred:

For them, is the coding alone fun?

For some of us 'normal' gods, the most fun parts are really things players never 'see', too. For me, I'm like Iosai, and love coding interesting and/or tricky things.

I knew about Mortal Coders, but they don't "give up their lives" as much as the Immortal ones when you go full godhood.

As a programmer (web developer) myself, I might enjoy coding--but I sort of do this to get away from that. And since I think most players become gods, since Estarra's always talked about how hard it is to be a god, I just was wondering how you blew off steam since coding is likely more work than adventuring or rp-ing. I was hoping you got out of the cage to do things like RP the Gnafia or whatever other big bads (or goods) that happen during events.

As long as you're happy. :)

Coding Divine should totally have Orders too! :tentacles:

All admin volunteers have to code at one point or another (not necessarily on the same level as Iosai, Sior, or Roark), and some of us (myself, for instance) enjoy the coding of areas and mobs more than any other part of the creation process.

To expound somewhat on Shikari - all gods learn to 'prog' as ephemerals. It's a very basic, easily understood boolean language.

Then there's Rapture, which is what Sior, Roark, Iosai, Est, Raezon, myself, Morgfyre and mortal coders work in. It's what your skills operate out of.

Really, to the topic at hand, everyone enjoys different things - likely my order will tell you I'm not the most interactive god anymore.

Frankly, designing, building and participating in "The Vision" is where my enjoyment comes from! (And giving my order bragging rights. Because, you know, our realm is bigger than yours. We could teach you, but we'd have to charge.)

Of course coding gods get to have fun. What's more fun than coding?

Watching the code and seeing that it works as it should?

I will gleefully claim that chocolate chip cookies are better than coding.

Chocolate chip cookies while coding though... not too great. Sticky keyboard and crumbs beneath the keys :(

Ssaliss:

Chocolate chip cookies while coding though... not too great. Sticky keyboard and crumbs beneath the keys :(

This is why I use a cheap wireless keyboard for my laptop. It's durable as hell, easy to clean, and easy to replace.

Eventru:


This is why I use a cheap wireless keyboard for my laptop. It's durable as hell, easy to clean, and easy to replace.

I want one of those rollup keyboards for mine. Just to lay out overtop the normal keyboard.