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

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <01BCC450.6D97E470.caliban at darklock.com>, on 09/18/97 
   at 07:10 PM, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> said:

>On Wednesday, September 17, 1997 7:33 PM, Jon A. Lambert 
>[SMTP:jlsysinc at ix.netcom.com] wrote:

...deletia...

>> Different DOES entail turning off hundreds of Diku-expectant players.

>So your goal, if I hear this properly, is to make a game that a
>certain  type of people will DISlike? Does this strike anyone else as
>a perverse,  cynical, and ludicrous goal?

No, you are reading sloppily.  Another possible reading:  The goal
will by implication "turn off" a certain set of people.  This is
acknowledged and accepted as a side-effect of the goal definition.  It
is not defined as part of the goal.

>I have a vast number of things to add to this, but they are almost
>all  off-topic. Suffice to say that in many places graphic interfaces
>are not  actually appropriate, and MUDs are one of those places.
>Graphic interfaces  are inherently limiting in expression, which I
>think we all agree is Bad on  MUDs.

Disagreed.  I would assert that the austerity of the current MUD
interface is one of its huge strengths.  

You may also want to distinguish between a GUI interface, and a GUI
representation of the game-world.  They are two different things.

>> 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.

Writing as List Owner for the following sentence only:

  And yet are on-topic here.

>> I see no need for player
>> documentation to be printable or downloadable.

>If I can't download the documentation and look at it while I'm not on
>your  game, it's harder for me to learn my way around. If I can't
>print it, it's  harder for me to find information on commands.
>Hardcopy and local copies  are important. But as the game's designer,
>or as one of its primary  founding players, you won't understand
>it... it's easy, see, not that much  at all.

No.  While I'll acknowledge that some players like this sort of thing
and find them useful (which set appears to closely map to certain game
types), many (more?) don't.  This suggests that the question is one of
target market rather than generic usefulness.

Consider:

  How many DIKU/LP/etc players have you seen complaining about lacking
documentation for players?

--
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...