Me

[Raz]

Ack, what a self-indulgent Subject header...

Hi all, I'm Raz.

I thought it best that I do an introduction.  I've actually been on Chris
L's ressurected list since around the time it started, thanks to being on
the memberlist of Wout's list.  I'd been *there* since about August '96,
when Chris kindly invited me after I'd been involved in a few design
discussions mainly on rec.games.mud.admin.

Soon after being originally subscribed, I had to relocate and lost the =
net
for some time - when I got back, Wout's list had gone.  Soon after Chris
sorted me out for *this* list, my new job (Webmaster/Tech Support for a =
UK
games company) actually started requiring me to work, and this together =
with
other projects meant I started letting the mail pile up.  Now, with a
grateful nod to Chris for refraining from unsubbing my ungrateful hide, =
I'm
back - and hope to remain so.

I'll spare you the details of my initial MUD involvements and cut to the
chase.  I've admin'd a couple of Muds, both based on intranets and =
running
for a reasonably small bunch of players.  The most relevant here started =
off
life as a stock Merc MUD, which through my design and a friends coding
became a 'PointBreak MUD' - one of the millions of "heavily modified,
honest" systems.  Over the years, I too saw that the existing systems =
just
aren't good enough for supporting what I've come to think of as a 'real'
MUD; all the things that get discussed on this list prove that ably.

Just prior to my first list invitation, I'd started work on designing a =
new
system which would go some way towards allowing a 'real' world to be =
created
and managed.  My work to date is at pretty much the same stage it was =
before
my relocation, that is, about 50-60K of text files listing some ideas and
some file structures.

As most of my experience comes from the DIKU derives systems, I've gone =
that
way in my own design.  I would have builders create Area files consisting=
 of
'rooms' (I prefer 'spaces' now, and a lot of my interest was/is in
developing that notion), objects, and 'mobiles' (I prefer 'Beings' as I
treat that notion more flexibly, I hope).  Most of my work has =
concentrated
on taking these initial concepts and developing new and more flexible =
ways
of making 'templates' for all these entities.  I'd be interest to hear =
your
opinions on the 'Area file' system of handling MUD data.

I believe I may be unique (or one of a few) on the list in that I'm not
essentially a programmer.  I do have a Computer Science degree, a fair
knowledge of programming principles, and experience in various high level
languages, but I have no delusions that I could code my MUD system.
However, I'm working with two friends who I believe can.  As I've said, =
I'm
more into dreami^H^H^H^H^Hesigning a system than coding it.

Well, I think that's about everything of relevance, and some that isn't.
I've already burbled longer than I intended.  This is me =3D)

Raz