[MUD-Dev] Alright... IF your gonan do DESIESE...

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

Adam Wiggins wrote:
> 
> I still think it's possible to get the social interaction of a role-player
> combined with the detailed game world of a roll-player.  Call me a dreamer..
> but I really don't think it's that difficult.

I think it might be important to realise that social interaction *also*
needs a detailed game world... probably MORE detailed than a roll-player
would need. While the roll-player might be satisfied with 

	Cave
	You are in a deep dark cave.
	There is a goblin here.

The role-player would prefer something like

	Deep beneath Caer Crannag
	You have penetrated nearly a mile below the surface. The sound
	of dripping water comes from indeterminate direction, and the
	walls are slick with a thin wetness. The walls stretch over you
	like orange and yellow curtains, the rock hanging in thick folds 
	from the ceiling. 
	A small greenish creature clad in mail peers at you with suspicion.

The interesting thing is that the roll-player generally gets good
descriptions like this on a MUD, but doesn't usually care. The
roll-player will walk into either of the rooms above and type 'kill
goblin'. The role-player will react to the first room either not at all,
or with some stupid comment like 'Gee, it's dark'. The second room,
however, will usually spur a role-player to do something like lean
against the wall and recoil at the wetness, glancing to the ceiling with
annoyance as he tries to figure out where the water is coming from. If a
world is logically inconsistent, the pure roll-player doesn't really
care. He just wants to find where things are and kill them.