                          Empire : Role of the Deity

 In order to keep the game running smoothly, the game needs a person  to  look
after  it.   This person is needed to clean up the log files, to fix any prob-
lems that might crop up in terms of country names and the like,  and  to  keep
the game running on an even keel.

However, a Deity also has a great deal of power, which  is  terribly  easy  to
misuse.   It  is  a trivial thing for a Deity to wreck a game for a particular
player or group of players simply by revealing  information  to  one  side  or
another.

There are several things a deity should take into account.

 1)  Bug policy.  Empire is not bug-free -- it never will be.  There  are  two
     types of bugs; bugs that get reported and bugs that don't.  Bugs that are
     reported generally take things away from players.  Bugs  that  don't  get
     reported generally convey some kind of advantage to the finder.

                          Empire : Role of the Deity

     When a player says that a bug bit him, how should the Deity 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  fashion),
     I'd  give  him  some  kind  of reward.  The reward was generally material
     enough to encourage them to report bugs, but not too much  so  the  other
     players  complained.   If through use of this bug the player manufactured
     too many goodies for himself, I acted to redress the balance immediately.

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

                          Empire : Role of the Deity

 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.

                          Empire : Role of the Deity

Remember, as Deity your job is to make the  game  fair.   Don't  hose  players
(unless  they  cheat  --  and you catch them!) and don't give out information.
Information 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.

                          Empire : Role of the Deity

See also : none

