[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is suppo

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On Friday, September 19, 1997 4:56 AM, Chris Gray 
[SMTP:cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA] wrote:
> [Caliban:]
>
> :Graphic interfaces
> :are inherently limiting in expression, which I think we all agree is Bad 
on
> :MUDs.
>
> Limiting expression is bad. That does not imply that graphics is bad. It
> only implies that a limited graphics-only input system is bad.

That's what I said: limiting expression is bad. Since a graphic interface 
inherently limits expressiveness, you must therefore offer additional input 
mechanisms.

> :> Even mainframes have abandoned such archaic interfaces.
> :> Telnet really does suck and turns off thousands of potential users.
>
> :Then let them go to Quake servers and join Ultima Online. Graphic MUDs 
are
> :another topic entirely.
>
> Why? I can be just as lazy as them. I read lots. Likely not as much as
> you, but I've got thousands of books. I still prefer the simplistic
> graphical output that my system has over straight text. It's *easier*.

I don't actually care what the output is, I care how the user is expected 
to tell the game what he's doing. That's my point. The client he uses is 
irrelevant. The server behind it is irrelevant. Even the feedback he 
receives is irrelevant. I am trying to keep the issue focused on one 
specific area, since when I proposed more general solutions everyone told 
me I was an idiot. (I don't know why. The approaches I present are grounded 
in exactly the same concepts as distributed computing, the component object 
model, remote procedure calling, and what user interface experts have 
championed as the 'right' way to build software for years. One of us -- 
either me or the group -- is looking the wrong direction.)

> There are lots of amusing stories around about Elvis being
> a space alien, being a strange person hiding out somewhere, so why not
> back in Babylon. Someone other than Elvis that looks like him is just a
> big anachronism (dark glasses???) and very out of place.

I'd find the presentation of Elvis *as* Elvis in an ancient world to be 
much more disconcerting than someone who just looks like him. Or consider 
this, which would just crack me up, and wouldn't make someone who didn't 
get it feel at all stupid:

	You enter the shop.
	Spark the Shopkeeper is here, gazing at you impassively.
	>l spark
	Spark the Shopkeeper is a tall elven warrior, clad in a
	tight-fitting light blue tunic decorated with gold leaf and
	brocade. His eyebrows knit together as he gazes at you with
	a calm and calculating stare.
	>appraise sword
	Spark examines the sword.
	Spark says "Fascinating."
	Spark considers the sword worthless.
	>sell sword
	You offer the sword to Spark.
	Spark says "It would be highly illogical to purchase such a worthless 
item."
	Spark refuses the sword.
	>laugh

(Okay, so it's REALLY hard to find someone who wouldn't get that these 
days, but all the same.)