>of the game. If these "cheating" people actually stopped and
>thought about how hard an Immortal worked on an area, or how
>much effort was put into designing a certain system, maybe
>they would realize that taking a couple of hours (sometimes
>less, sometimes more) and exploring a certain place or
>figuring out how a certain system works instead of just being
>spoonfed it, is the least they could do.

I'd like to believe this, I really would. But I don't have enough faith in humanity.

Some people figure "games are supposed to be fun, so I shouldn't have to put effort into it if that's not fun for me" They believe that they have a right to enjoy cf however they choose, and that it doesn't matter if anyone else is hurt by their actions, because they were wrong to take a game seriously. "Relax, it's just a game" is a favorite excuse of these sorts.

Then there are other people who specifically take enjoyment out of knowing that they're screwing other people over. And the more they're aware of the amount of effort they're pissing on, the happier they are. Think Nelson, from the Simpsons, script kiddies, and so forth. People who feel a sense of accomplishment at destroying someone else's work.

These are just two examples of people, for whom no increase in their awareness of how much other people (players and imms alike) invest themselves in the game is going to matter.

As for the rest of your suggestions, it seems to me that what you're saying is reasonable to a certain, but you run up against the same problem of what is worth putting time into for the staff. Every faq and howto that goes up is a few people who don't get immteraction, or a few bugs that don't get fixed that day. There's always a tradeoff.

Also, while I see what you're saying about adding information might make people not want to go elsewhere, I disagree that this is how it would work. I think the more you encourage people to be spoon-fed (which even something like "how to gear", which you suggest is to a certain extent), the more they're going to be hungry for that spoon. Independance is a hard virtue to cultivate in people, and the more you feed laziness the more independance starves, to put it more dramatically than is neccesary.