[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface and who the hell is supposed to be playing, anyway? (Was: PK Again)

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <199709200952.CAA12884 at user2.inficad.com>, on 09/20/97 
   at 03:11 AM, Adam Wiggins <nightfall at user2.inficad.com> said:

>> All of us are PROGRAMMERS.

>Most of the messages are written by programmers, but not all.  In the
>lurking readership I believe there are quite a few non-programmer
>types.

Membership is well over 50 last I checked/recall.  Active membership
(ie posting) is a lot lower.  I'll let other comment on the
demographics, programmer status, and playing characteristics of the
non-posting membership.

>And that's fine, but I still find vague discussions pretty unhelpful
>as far as deciding how I want to actually implement things.  It's
>perfectly possible to discuss abstract, high-level concepts through
>simple, concrete examples (Bubba and crew).  This makes it both
>easier to understand and more fun to talk about, and you achieve the
>same result in the end.  As long as you don't take the examples too
>literally but instead realize they are just expressions of larger
>concepts.

Precisely!  Thus the use of scenarios as test cases and metaphores int
he design discussions here.  They are perhaps the apocryphal case.

--
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...