-= MajorMUD NEWS =-



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Moderated by:                                       Published by:
Shannon Stewart & Jeff Hinds                       METROPOLIS Inc.
mailto:[email protected]                          www.majormud.com

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August 21, 2001                                         Issue # VII
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Recommend a friend & be entered to WIN $10,000 and a Sony DVD Player!
http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=855441
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= C O N T E N T S =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=The Real Realm
	-=Seattle MUD Meet
	-=Internet Taxes
 

-=Latest Version Updates
	-=Mod 9 Update


-=Metropolis News
	-=Metro Launches New Site
	-=Gameport Offers More


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= S U R V E Y =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
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-------------------------- SPONSOR MESSAGE ---------------------------
 
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	-MegaMUD has new advanced commands.

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Can't stay awake at the keys?
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Seattle Mud Meet =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


"Seattle MUD Meet with Shannon & Izak" 
Saturday Sept 1st 6PM
Coco Joe's Pasta House
305 1st Ave
Algona Wash Near the Supermall
(253) 939-2838
Pool, Darts, Games
Karaoke begins at 9:30
Great Food Menu!
Pasta House will be giving us discounted prices for a large group.

IZaK and I (Shannon) will be in town attending this GT if any of you 
all would like to come out to meet us. For Metro customers attending, 
this is the yearly 2 for 1 GT where you can double your purchases for 
time on any Metropolis server. You must be there in person to take 
advantage of this special.

Southbound 167
Take Algona/Pacific Exit and turn left onto Ellingson. Go to the stop 
light and turn left. Go to the stop sign and turn left. The Pasta 
House is on the right after you've gone about a block

Northbound 167
Take Algona/Pacific Exit and turn right and go to the stop light and 
turn left.. Go to the stop sign and turn left .The Pasta House is 
on the left after you've gone about a block.

 


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Internet Taxes  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 

To Tax or Not to Tax

40 state governors are pushing Congress to reject a ban on Internet taxes.
The governors have sent a letter to every member of congress allowing them
to tax online sales by asking Congress not to extend the current ban on 
taxes  and e-commerce. 

The Washington Post quoted a draft of the governor's letter as saying:
"If you care about a level playing field for main street retail businesses, 
and local control of state's governments and schools, extend the moratorium 
on taxing Internet access only with authorization for the states to 
streamline and simplify the existing sales tax."

The 1998 moratorium on Internet taxes including access fees, expires 
Oct. 21, 2001.  Recently a U.S. House of Representatives panel voted  to bar 
states from taxing Internet access and extend for five years a ban on other 
Internet-specific taxes. The full committee is expected to vote on the bill 
in early September.

In a 1992 ruling by The U.S. Supreme Court, states cannot force companies to 
collect Internet sales taxes if their businesses are not in the state where 
the sales occur, unless approved by Congress. 

Contact Congress
http://cw2k.capweb.net/voteweb/
 



-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= MOD 9 Update  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 

We have some exciting news for everyone about the progress of Mod 9. First
of all, we are making progress with the current coding issues and are
continuing to move forward on the release of Mod 9. Although we don't have a
release date YET, some of the major issues that have kept us from releasing
the Mod (lags, security, etc.) have been pinpointed and are currently being
FIXED right this MINUTE!  I feel good about how it's coming along at this
point.

Second, a few people have expressed concerns lately that we are secretly not
working on MajorMUD and are planning on dropping the product.  That is just
not true at all: We've had some issues that came up that made it clear that
we needed to put together a team of programmers instead of just having one
person work on MajorMUD. We have a lot of future plans for the game, and we
just couldn't do it all with one person. 

We hired a great guy, Craig Maddux, and put him in a team with our veteran 
programmer, Dion Spangaard. We absolutely intend to keep moving forward with 
MajorMUD and putting out updates and modules, hopefully at a faster rate 
than we have been able to this year.  We are excited about MajorMUD and 
all its possibilities. Dion and Craig are just getting started with their
duties (they started last week on MajorMUD), but already they have their
eyes on meeting deadlines, exceeding expectations and making MajorMUD a fun
game for players and a profitable game for Sysops. We'll introduce these
programmers to you in the next issue of this newsletter.

Third, both module 10 and module 11 have been roughed out on paper, and we
have a rough idea for module 12 as well. We also have plans for various
updates and extensions to existing modules that you may already have
purchased.  We also have several coding pieces on the table as well - many
of which have been mentioned in this forum. One of these updates will
include a way to allow sysops or mudops to run in town tourneys (the ever
illusive tourney pack) like the Orc Invasion that has been talked 
about in the past.
 
At any rate, I hope this quells the fears some of you have been having about
the future of MajorMUD, because Metro definitely has plans for
it, and those plans don't include selling it off or dropping it.

Shannon



-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= What in the Realm? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=Here's what you can look forward to in Mod 9 Prophecy of Plague.

Over 20 new bosses all ready to slay you and friends alike
Several new spells for Priest, Druid and Mage
Many limited weapons of all types
Class specific side quests
Over 100 new monsters living and dead, ready to devour you
Powerful weapons to aid your cause upon completion of your 5th alignment
quest
A vast library to learn of the old days of the Realm
Riddles to test your wit, some bringing pain and suffering to reward wrong
answers
Clues that show the plan of the Dark Mage, and his final chapter in Mod 10
Some interesting additions to older area's
Last but not least, watch out for the zombies!


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-Laserball Frenzy will keep you crawling back 
 for more abuse time and time again. 
 
Are you a worthy opponent? Click to find out. 
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= METROPOLIS NEWS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
Metro Launches New Site for Game Developers
 
Gamepad provides software developers with a convenient method of selling 
products online through the retail gaming sales site, Gameport. 
If you are a programmer who loves expressing yourself in a game that you've 
become addicted to creating, then you can realize your dream of launching 
your own professional development career with the help of Gamepad! 

Register with Gamepad right now, so we can get your products online at 
Gameport as soon as possible! 

http://www.gamepad.com
 

-=Gameport Offers More

Gameport's new redesign shines as the portal for fun and games.
Gameport hosts a wide variety of unique games and software that you 
can't find anywhere else. Everything from console games like Sega, 
Dreamcast and Nintendo to the hard to get PC games and BBS software. 

Gameport was developed in early 1998 and has met the needs of gamers, game 
developers, and BBS sysops where many of the fun community building ideas on 
the web originated. 

http://www.gameport.com/



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