An awkward situation with someone wanting to help...
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Hmm. I've had an interesting experience.
Today a person emailed me in the request to build for Chrysalis. In the past I have had such contacts, and they have gone through simple chats to interest to getting to know one another and working together.
This person was different. He was very short-spoken, never more than a sentence or two in either expression or answer. Talking to him felt as though I was pulling 'it' out of him. The conversation did not feel natural, but what are 'vibes' in a purely text-based medium? He said he's only played on one MU* and not had any experience in WoD or even modern MU*s and only built fantasy.
I started thinking. It's perfectly viable he answered a call on MudConnect, however.. offering to help right away without any ties to the theme and claiming to 'love' my ideas seemed... strange to me. Especially when he asked me for the MU*'s address but it was right there in both the post and the website (Which points at him possibly not even reading those?) Hmm I wonder if perhaps the vibe had been biased, or if I had cause. Some brains work differently, but for someone who crafts places with words to be... well, so different? Perhaps he came from an actual combat Mud?
Either way.. when I had asked him that very question, of why is he interested in this place having been fired/and/forgotten by his other place... he shows interest here, with his answer being "Just want a place to build is all." and then disconnecting...
What does this mean!?
The coders and builders -I- know are very.. approachable, easy, open. They may be extremely into coding or even speak C++ but they are also full of expression. IRL of course I have met geniuses who lack social graces.. but in a word-based medium, I wonder if my call had been right in finding this weird? And how to deal with this in the future, and what signs to look for if in fact that may have been a brilliant builder with .. different communication skills?
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In building a game, don't accept any help from anyone that hasn't at least questioned you about your theme, vision and goals of the game. Who hasn't asked you style preference questions, grid size, and so on.
In short, it's your game. If someone doesn't come off as 'Right' for the job/position, then don't hire them, period. You can't read it here, since the old forum was the repo of Amazing Stories, but it was rife with bad staff hires by people who just wanted to get shit done.
On the standard game, you have to give builders and coders wizbits, which gives them destructive powers over your database. Be very, very mindful of that. I have seen one game hire descers to @create objects, @desc them and drop them in the rooms. Trusted staffers came along and proofread and the used that desc on the room if it was acceptable. You don't /have/ to give them power. True creators will be happy to envision in objects, and won't bitch if you don't wizbit them.
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Best question: would I want to work with this person in real life?
If the answer is "no," then it's a good bet that you shouldn't bring them on. It's been said to death: this hobby is collaborative.
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I've met plenty of coders who are kind of blocks of wood, so I don't think it's a red flag in and of itself. I still personally wouldn't work with him, but I don't accept that kind of help from people I don't know even if they seem likeable. They can play and I can get to know them and if things work out we can do something together.
