>I think you over-estimate the power (and misjudge the
>motivations) of the current OOC knowledge market. I can think
>of one major "secret"-type thing (like Shadow) still in the
>game that still seems to be a pretty well-kept secret.

If it's what I think it is...Meh, it's still a secret of sorts, but it's not really anything I'd care about if I knew anyway, unlike the Shadow cabal.

>Personally, I hate the fact that OOC information sharing is so
>stigmatized. I feel like the underlying assumption you're
>making when you say things like "today's CF" is that most OOC
>circles are bad eggs trying to undermine the game, and this
>simply doesn't jive with my experience. We as human beings are
>social animals. We enjoy the game more when we are sharing it
>with our friends. And while it's true I don't have an
>administrator's perspective on this, my experience is that the
>vast majority of the other players I talk to outside of the
>game aren't interested in power-combos and perma-gangs.
>They're looking for role advice, or stats on certain items,
>regear advice, or just someone to share their triumphs and
>failures with.

I have no problem with people sharing the game with their friends (the bolded section above), where I see things go awry is when you're sharing the game with your friends outside of the game. That's not actually sharing, that's just dumping information on them. It is why I think some place like Silent Tower won't survive the way the author originally envisioned it.

>Long story short, I think you need (and the staff in general
>needs) to reconsider what you think "today's CFer" enjoys and
>wants out of the game before you make these kinds of
>decisions.

I think you need to understand what we enjoy and want out of the game as well. I brought this up a bit with my J.J. Abrahms post. Part of the fun I get from building up areas/quests is seeing people get through them on their own. Follow the clues, kill the baddie, get the loot. When that boils down to a text document on www.gamefaqs.com I lose motivation.

One of the best times I had was running a group of folks through Trothon the first time. I had no idea how the transitions worked, what I was up against, and when I got through it there was a sense of accomplishment. The reason I haven't written an area in a very long time is because it won't be what I want it to be. I strive to build in that sense of accomplishment. I do think the Dragon Lair's do that well (there are tricks you'll figure out to build a group, and how to take on the dragons). You don't need a huge time investment (an hour maybe, instead of 5-10 in Hell), and even if you know everything there is to know going into the fight...it's still going to be a challenge. I fall back to Xoltrindar all the time as one of the more interesting AI projects I did for a mob. I know EXACTLY how he works, I wrote the entire prog, and I STILL die to the bastard (partly because of some of the randomness I threw into the AI).

So long, and thanks for all the fish!