[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[coder at ibm.net]

On 28/08/97 at 11:01 PM, cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA (Chris
Gray) said: >[Travis C:]

>:I can't think of *any* SF or fantasy world that doesn't mostly 
>:resemble RL, and I think there's a good reason for that.  Quite
>:simply, if you came up with a world that was different from RL even
>:down to the basics, there would be no frame of reference for readers
>:or players to understand things -- the only real possibility would be
>:to start things off with a long lecture about what the basic rules of
>:this world are.  Even then, most people probably wouldn't be able to
>:"wrap their heads around it."

>Perhaps that just means we have to try harder. I agree that it would
>be quite difficult to play such a game, but it might be fun to try.
>Consider what is available in some of the MUD servers we have talked
>about here: persistent language, free user programming, perhaps some
>good multimedia effects, etc. Ok, so do away with any attempt to have
>English-like input, and just use the system's programming language.
>Players would have to add routines to customize things to make it
>easier to use - fine, they would each do it a bit different, and
>perhaps even drastically differenty. How do you interact with others?
>Well, you can send multimedia effects (sounds, mathematical drawings
>and animations, etc.) at them. You can run programs that do things
>over time to and near them. Perhaps you can modify the environment
>they see (in terms of the program code they can see, the stored
>values they see, etc.). What would be the point? Who knows - it would
>have to be tried, before we could readily guess what the point might
>be, or what might or might not be fun. Combat could literally be
>programming, as could socializing -
>offer some of your fun stuff to others in exchange for some of
>theirs; exchange tips on things that have worked. The kind of
>interface in that CACM article we talked about a month ago might be
>useful here.

A hoorendously long quote to merely add a "Me too!", but that is
precisely my point, and is probably a key factor in why my approach
has wandered so far from the mainstream (and perhaps why it so
resembles the above???).  

<bow>

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...