[DGD]Hello, think you could answer a few questiosn for me? :)

[Stephen Schmidt]

On Sun, 23 Apr 2000 BladeDarkmour at aol.com wrote:
>     Now for my main question..  What are the main advantages and 
> disadvantages of the MudOS vs. DGD drivers?  

Perhaps a prior question is, what are the main differences?
The question asks only about drivers, but it's probably worth
considering the mudlibs available for each driver as well.
I've never worked on any driver, and have written one mudlib
for each (well, only part of one for MudOS) and hope I can
be considered unbiased as far as that goes :)

The main difference, as I see it, is that MudOS and its mudlibs are
older, much more developed, more complex, and intended, generally,
to work with a fantasy adventure type of game. That last point is
more true of the mudlibs than of the driver itself, but I think it
holds true in both cases. Other types of games can be made to
work with the MudOS system, and have been - sci-fi adventures,
for instance - but it takes work, and the more you diverge 
from that framework, the harder it gets. For example, the
MudOS setup assumes that environment() is a nearly sufficient
way to describe all location relationships between objects.
If you want a grid system, or other more complex relationships,
it's harder under MudOS - not impossible, but harder. DGD and
its mudlibs, by constrast, are more recent, less developed, and
presuppose less about what your game looks like and plays like. 
On the other hand, they offers fewer pre-existing features, and
require more core-level work by the mudlib programmer.

Thus, my answer tends to be: If you want to do a fantasy
adventure mud, or something real similar, then MudOS is the
better choice, because that's pretty much what it and its
extant mudlibs are meant to do. (Disclaimer - I haven't
worked with MudOS mudlibs since 1995, at which time TMI-2
and Nightmare were the main libs for it, with one more
major lib in development. Something new and different
may have come out since then.) You could use DGD and the
2.4.5 lib, but I think you'd usually be better off with
MudOS if that's your goal.

On the other hand, if you want to do a wargame, or detective
mystery type thing, or something very different from the
customary fantasy adventure, then you'll have less to undo
under DGD, and in that case I'd recommend it.

The point is less true if you're willing to start with a
minimal MudOS mudlib (Basis was the one that was standard
in 1995) but still essentially correct, IMO. It's probably
easier to tweak DGD with a minimal mudlib in substantial
ways than to tweak MudOS and a minimal mudlib, just because
you have more under your control if you use DGD. (Assuming
you're not willing to hack the driver code to ribbons.)


Stephen Schmidt

It is vain to expect a well-balanced government without a
well-balanced society.
			-- Gideon Welles



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