[MUD-Dev] MUDs - An environment, not a game

[Adam Wiggins]

[Raz:]
> [Adam:]
> > [...] none of these can give me what a mud can - a completely
> > functional environment which is continuous and consistant, where (many)
> > other people in the world live and function without even knowing that I
> > exist (whether they are NPCs or PCs), but which I can interject my own
> > actions into and see a real effect propagate through the world in a way
> > that is consistant with my own world, yet the world itself is entirely
> > different and much more fantastic.  There's nothing wrong with resource
> > management, tactical combat, storylines, or puzzle-solving.  I like
> > all these too, and you can certainly have them.  But that's not where
> > the real deal lies, as far as I am concerned.
> 
> Thanks for the answer, Adam; and apologies for my delay in replying =3D)
> The reason for asking was that, as I said, I'm probably in the same camp =
> as
> you, albeit much further back along the development road.  I'd been
> worrying recently about the possibility of *all* games requiring some =
> kind
> of objective, and since most of the stuff you've talked about sounds like
> the kind if thing I want to do I thought it'd be interesting to hear what
> your outlook was.  I wasn't disappointed - thanks again.

Yes, I can say that it does work, at least on a small scale.  We'll see
when we go public whether it can really exist on a large scale, but as
I've said, I think muds already do this, so what we're doing is only
taking that a bit further.

One good comparison I can point to are all the 'toy' single-player PC games
that were the rage a few years back.  The most notable were SimCity and
Populous; others included Warmonger, Magic Carpet, all the Sim* games,
recently Afterlife and if Bullfrog ever finishes it, Dungeon Keeper.
Some of these games tried to give you 'goals' in order to give the thing
some semblance of being a traditional game, but even so, the real 'fun' of
the game was just seeing all the stuff you could do.  Basically, they hand
you the tools, and you just have at it however you like.  Not really
very passive entertainment, since you have to figure out how to make things
fun for yourself, but that's fine with me.