[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway?

[##Make Nylander]

[Original message sent by Maddy]
  > I wrote:
| > 	I personally do not believe a MUD, as a game, should be
| > 	"realistic". If I want to buy bread, going through
| > 
| > 	> buy bread
| > 	Your hands are full.
| > 	> sheathe sword
| > 	You sheathe your sword, freeing your right hand..
| > 	> buy bread
| > 	You are holding no money.

	[ad nauseam]
| 
| Most of the above example could be shortened if the implementor had thought
| about it.

	You're missing my point. Of course it could've been shortened,
	and you rarely see stupid crap like that. My point is that
	some implementors, in their search of "realism", _force_
	players to go through the ridiculous drill I described.
| 
|     >buy bread
|     You take some coins out of your purse and give them to the baker.
|     The baker hands you some bread, since your hands are full, you put it in
|     your backpack.
| 
| See - that was far simplier wasn't it?

	Yes, and that's the way I _want_ to see it implemented.

	[snip - you were missing my point]

| > 	on screen). If the system underestimates the player's imagination
| > 	by force-feeding unnecessary details or requires the
| > 	player to concentrate on encoding input/decoding output by
| > 	having too complex an user interface, no amount of
| > 	technical sophistication can produce a good MUD.
| 
| I think some details need to be stated.  If it just said
| 
|     >get bread
|     You pick up the bread.
| 
| Isn't the player then going to wonder later where he put the bread, and have
| to hunt through his belongs until he finds it?

	I said _unnecessary details_, like "You pick up the bread
	with your left hand". A really good system would have a
	configurable option that would set your default container,
	i.e. "You pick up the bread and put it into your backpack."
	I think you completely missed my points which were:
	- A MUD user interface should be highly configurable. Bells
	  and whistles and intricate detail is okay, if you can
	  select the amount of detail presented AND the system
	  accommodates to the selected level of detail by automatically
	  ("behind the scenes") performing actions for the player
	  if necessary. Also, the system should not penalize 
	  the player for choosing automated actions.
	- A MUD user interface should take into account limited
	  capabilities of typical input/output devices (character
	  terminals, network lag).
	- Technical sophistication _only_ a playable MUD makes not. 
	  As an implementor, you will have to be able to wrap your
	  code in a consistent, user-friendly and intuitive package.

		Newt

--
I never regret my failures, but I regret every missed opportunity.