)

[Matt Chatterley]

On Mon, 1 Sep 1997, Adam Wiggins wrote:

> [Ola:]
> > I keep getting confused by how people use terms differently.  I notice
> > that some take "MUD" to mean anything remotely like DnD on a computer,
> > but nothing else. To me (and by most other definitions I've seen) MUD
> > is defined as any type of collaborative recreational virtual world,
> > that may of course be because the researchers aren't all that interested
> > in the game component.  Wouldn't it be nice if one said MURPG when one
> > focus on game component?  That would make my life a lot easier... :)
> 
> We had this conversation already.  The general consensus was that a
> mud (lowercase) is a general term for any virtual, on-line computer world
> which is both persistant and supports many (limited mostly by hardware)
> users simutaneously.  Actually, I should say more acurately that there
> were two conclusions - the one I just mentioned, and the one of 'Yeah,
> whatever.  I gotta get back to work.'

Yup. Given that these are the two sides of the coin, the edge is that
Acronyms are the root of all evil (at least, in this context). I don't
want to go into the 'mud' vs 'MOO, MUCK, MUSH, MURPE, MUD, MUG..' debate
again, but suffice to say that if we all made up an acronym for our games
(which probably dont fit into any of the strict definitions of the
current ones), we would be buried upto our ears in them.

We'd have to flame ourselves on usenet out of general principle, too. ;)

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"Speak softly and carry a big stick." -Theodore Roosevelt