Aurora carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. 

<Lecturer> Trispis says, "Just to let everyone know. I'm waiting a few 
minutes before starting, because I want to maintain the delayed schedule a 
bit." 
<Lecturer> Trispis says, "Okay. It's about time to get started here. So, sit 
back relax etc..." 
<Lecturer> Aurora waits to be let out of her cage... 

Raevnos leans his head on Nymeria's shoulder and prepares to snore. 
Nymeria waits for Raevnos to start snoring before suddenly moving. ;) 
Raevnos says, "Oh, wait! Sorry, this isn't school. I'm awake. Honest!" 
Chili sneezes, "uhhh, uhhhh, uhh chew!!" 
Chris says, "bah." 
Chris says, "wheres the popcorn stands..." 
Chili hehs 

<Lecturer> Trispis says, "Our first presentation today comes from Aurora @ 
eXpanded Reality. The title of her presentation (Twinks: Ban or Boon?) has me
curious. So let's all give a warm welcome to Aurora." 
<Lecturer> Trispis steps away from the podium. 

Chris claps 
<Lecturer> Trispis claps. 
Yoseph claps 

<Lecturer> Aurora steps forward, up to the podium. She carries a handful of 
notecards, which she drops into the trash as she rests on the podium. 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Greetings, all, and thank you for attending my 
little presentation." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I hope that in this short amount of time that are 
alloted, I can hand down a nugget or two of insight." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I realise that this has an interesting title, and 
many are predisposed and prejudices against a 'twink'." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I'd like to begin by examining what I perceive as 
the popular definition of a 'twink'." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Most often, I see 'twinks' mislabeled as a 
'destructive influence' on a game, else a 'hindrance' to RP." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "While both of those may be accurate descriptions for
some, neither is assuredly true for all." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Let me bounce my definition off of you, and let's 
see how it goes: I believe that more often than not, a 'twink' is simply 
someone who chooses to look for 'non-mainstream' avenues to getting enjoyment
out of a mush." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Why?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "In my opinion...they are bored." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I've yet to see anyone who is entertained feel the 
need to try and subvert a 
mush/computer/code/telephone booth/doghouse/anything." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "So, instead of 'destructive' or 'malicious', perhaps
'twinks' are merely misguided?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "It has been my personal experience that a lot of 
twinks are quite gifted, whether it be code-related, else simply on being 
better than a lot of the more 'mundane' players on whatever grid they happen 
to be playing on." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Now...this is where things get tricky...what to do 
with them?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Many mush-admin simply choose to get them out of 
their sight, be it a @nuke, or a siteban, or whatever." 

<Lecturer> Aurora smiles, "But closing the bathroom door doesn't fix the 
leaky latrine." 

Vexon snickers at the analogy 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Granted, there are some out there who serve no 
purpose than to mess things up for others. I know a few." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "However, perhaps addressing the root of the problem 
might be an option. For example - if you have a player who constantly 'beats 
up' on other players' characters...could there be a flaw in the coded-combat 
system? Are they finding bugs, or simply exploiting legal, Ic-rules that 
admin hadn't thought about?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "If they are subverting bugs, not reporting them, and
generally trying to damage the mush - then by all means, vape them off your 
game." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Let's pretend, however, that they are not 
destructive - merely bored and beating up other players, else stealing their 
wallets, walking on the grass ICly, despite the sign- whatever, the specifics
don't really matter.

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "This could prompt you, as an admin, to begin to 
wonder WHY this is happening. Is there not enough RP to keep them busy? Do 
they shun RP for a more mud-esque style of play?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Let's say they don't get enough RP...so they decide 
to use the coded combat system to beat up people and steal their lunch 
money." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Sadly, the most common solution is to put them in 
OOC jail, ban them from the game, or nuke thier character and make them start
over. It solves nothing." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "What would happen, if instead of doing that - you 
struck them ICly? They find someone bigger and meaner than them? Not to kill 
them, just give them a dose of their own medicine. If they are like most 
twinks - they'll see whoever just topped them as their 'white whale'." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Leaving other players in peace, perhaps recruiting 
them to help them, and getting involved in more RP..." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "There are many problems, and just as many 
solutions." 

<Lecturer> Aurora takes a breath, "I'm probably going to regret this, but 
does anyone have any questions? 

<Lecturer> Aurora looks at the hall, noting a lack of hands. 

Trispis has a question. 

<Lecturer> Aurora looks to Trispis, "Trispis of M*U*S*H. Go ahead, please?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora picks her nose, when she thinks no one is looking. 

Trispis says, "Here on M*U*S*H, we're mostly (99%) a social MUSH. We 
experience a variety of types of 'twinks' here." 

<Lecturer> Aurora nods, listening. 

Trispis says, "There's not really a way to 'be rude' to someone in an eye for
an eye sort of manner." 

<Lecturer> Aurora smiles. 
<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Can you give an example?" 

Trispis says, "How do you feel about structured punishment/reward systems as 
a social solution to this problem?" 
Trispis refrains from giving examples as they might (via the log) embarrass 
some of our populace. 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "That's an interesting one. We did that on a MUSH I 
helped admin on several years ago. It also reminds me of a great system, that
is implemented on LambdaMOO." 

Vexon switches arms as he waits 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "As players were there responsibly for a longer 
period of time, they earned more responsibility, and the privs that go with 
it. The longer a player is there, and shows they can be trusted to act 
responsibly, the more they are allowed to take part in policy and procedure 
for the MUSH as a whole. It finally got to a point where items of that 
'nature' were almost exclusively handled by players." 

Trispis nods. 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "The 'admin' were only required to intervene in the 
most extreme (such as game-damaging) circumstances. I believe, that if laid 
out properly, that such a system can be quite effective." 

Trispis has no other question. 
Chili hehs,. "one other?" 
Trispis says, "no." 

<Lecturer> Aurora chuckles, reminescing, "We had a certain area that only 
'non-bad' players could enter on the old mush. If you had 'citations' for 
misbehaving, and couldn't play well with others - you weren't allowed to play
with others. 
<Lecturer> Aurora nods to Chili, "Yes?" 

Chili ops, "Sorry, i spoke up." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "No, please. Go on." 
<Lecturer> Aurora talks to a couple Large Men(tm) pointing at Chili subtly a 
couple times. They leave out the back. She looks back to Chili and smiles, 
awaiting the question. 

Chili was commenting Trispis questions, "But anyhow, what would you say for 
someone that in codewise is a twink. Someone that dev's some code that alot 
of people like & he lets out in shared libraries." 
Chili says, "but he leaves in backdoors, other than not using the code. of 
course we can do that. but how should a person like that be treated?" 

Vexon switches arms yet again 

Chili says, "but he still constantly finds other hacks to implement into a 
game." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "That's an interesting aspect of 'twinkism' - which 
relates to the code-twinks mentioned earlier." 

Chili doesn't personally do that, "But i know quite a few games that use his 
code & don't listen to me of not using the code." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "If the backdoors can be discovered, I feel they 
should be able to be closed, firstly. Make sure you have good coders working 
for you." 

Raevnos says, "If the source is available, just remove the backdoors and 
provide a safe version if the license allows that." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "If someone feels they have to 'hack' a game, then I 
feel they should be sitebanned. There is /no/ excuse for trying to subvert 
the machine, or the codebase." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I'd recommend sitebanning, if he is intent on 
subverting your security. If all else fails, contact the authorities - he 
/is/ breaking the law." 

Chili nods, "thats all i really wanted to ask" 

<Lecturer> Aurora nods, "Thank you for the question. Anyone else have a 
question, comment, or rude remark?" 

<Lecturer> Aurora smirks. 

Vexon still has his damn hand up :) 
Chili snickerz in the corner 
Vexon . o O (Kidding, of course.) 

<Lecturer> Aurora chuckles, "Vexon." 
<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I suppose since nobody else has anything, I /have/ 
to take your question now." 

<Lecturer> Trispis thinks . o O ( Doh! I forgot how to used this darned hand 
system. ) 

Vexon grins as he stands. 
Vexon says, "Thank you.." 

Chili just figured it out, "But that was a test" 

Vexon says, "What is your opinion of posted 'Accetable Use Policies' such as 
the one on eXpanded Reality, which was, in fact, based on M*U*S*H's" 
Vexon adds a ? 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "You mean the policy that I violated several times?" 
<Lecturer> Aurora smirks. 

Vexon grins even more widely, "Yes.. _That_ one." 

<Lecturer> Aurora coughs, loosening her collar. 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Well, I think that the policy is an excellent idea, 
and a great measure to prevent a lot of the problems mentioned before from 
happenening." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "If more MUSHes had those implemented, and enforced 
(except for my violations, of course) - then a lot of the problems wouldn't 
be happening." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Remember before, I stated that a /lot/ of problems 
with 'twinks' come from people who are following the rules to the letter, and
not breaking them." 

<Lecturer> Aurora says, "XR's AUP policy can prevent a lot of that from 
happening, as it is specific in nature, and addresses a lot of problems that 
mush "rules" do not." 

<Lecturer> Aurora quirks a brow, "Was that what you were asking, or did I 
misunderstand you?" 
Vexon nods and quietly slips to the service exit, giving a "sorry.. duty 
calls" look to the speaker. 

Vexon says, "No.. you got it perfectly." 

<Lecturer> Aurora nods. 
<Lecturer> Aurora says, "Well, it seems my time has run out, and I'm chewing
into someone else's lecture time." 
<Lecturer> Aurora says, "I'd like to thank you all for showing up, and I'm 
availible on eXpanded Reality, or by email if anyone has any 
thoughts/questions/opinions." 

<Lecturer> Trispis steps up to the podium, "How about a big hand for Aurora." 

<Lecturer> Trispis claps. 
Nymeria takes a big hand out of her pocket and hands it over. ;) 
<Lecturer> Aurora nods to Trispis, "Thanks, Trispis." 
<Lecturer> Aurora hops down. 
<Lecturer> Aurora goes down the few steps to the seating area. 
Aurora comes down the few steps from the stage. 
Nymeria hums, time to check the schedule. 
<Lecturer> Trispis says, "Thank you Aurora."