[MUD-Dev] RP=MUSH/PG=MUD

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <9706211752.85pi at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA>, on 06/22/97 
   at 11:10 AM, cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA (Chris Gray) said:

>Well, OK. Has anyone got any ideas for making MUDs accessible to more
>people, other than by using a GUI interface? 

Its something I've put thought into, and not arrived at a decent idea
for.

>If we investigate that
>area, we have to be very careful to not get into the trap of talking
>about graphical MUDs, that many traditional mudders seem to abhore
>the very idea of. Personally, I think a good GUI on a traditional
>text MUD is definitely the way to go. 

I presume you are writing of the model where there is a stnadard (and
pretty well consistant with the current telnet-style) text window
around which are assoicated graphical gee-gaws, such as an image of
the character's body to and from which may be dragged iconic
representations of EQ to implement the "wear" and "take off"
semantics, or images of the various containters (sack,s bags, chests,
pouches etc), from which objects may be similarly addded or removed? 
Other simple extensions would have animated images of objects which
could be explored graphically with the results displayed in the text
window and/or on the object itself.  Next up is the ubiquitous sound
-- something I think is a generically All Round Bad Idea for MUDs,

Full graphical rendering of the MUD world loses an incredible set of
values from the flat text version.  I'm not sure if I know how to
avoid that.  A key problem is that an increasing percentage of players
are both unable and actively unwilling to read or type (not always
poor education -- think foreigners as well).  Whether we actually want
to encourage such to play our games is another question.

>Personally I hate most GUI's...

Agreed-ish.  OS/2's WPS with its runtime OO extentions and behaviours
(it tried, more or less compleatly, to make the entire interface
logically OO) has come the closest of anything I've seen yet to
actually being usable _as_ a GUI, and not as a forged graphical fakery
of a text mode API.  

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...