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

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <01BCC8E6.B713C250.caliban at darklock.com>, on 09/24/97 
   at 09:59 AM, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> said:

>On Wednesday, September 24, 1997 4:29 AM, clawrenc at cup.hp.com 
>[SMTP:clawrenc at cup.hp.com] wrote:

>I'm very concerned with such issues, myself, because I tend to do a
>lot of  things at once. When I first log onto a new game, I usually
>have at least  two other worlds open, as well as a program I'm
>working on, some graphics  I'm designing, a web page or three, my
>mailer, generally a CD player or  MIDI sequencer to provide
>background, and innumerable notes plastered all  over the screen on
>text editors. (Needless to say, if my machine crashes,  it ruins my
>whole day.) 

Much like me then.  I tend to run at least half a dozen virtual
desktops, each packed with various processes.  I task switch like
crazy.

>When I log onto a game, there are three categories  I can
>place it in:

>	1. It's a game I know well enough to play without thinking too much
>about  it (Most TinyMUSH servers, several PennMUSH servers, the SMAUG
>codebase)
>	2. It's a game I don't know very well, but which I can play easily
>enough. (Most MUXes, some PennMUSH servers, most Dikus and Mercs, anything based  on AD&D or WoD)
>	3. It's a game I don't know very well, and is time consuming and 
>distracting (Almost any Cold or LP server, some heavily hardcode-hacked MUSHesand  MUXes)

First impression based on the above and below paragraphs only:

  Old time MUD player.  Seriously jaded.  Looking for something very
much like what he has done before so that he can largely operate on
auto-pilot, but with enough new material to keep some interest alive.

Aside: For me, any game which does not require my careful attention
during play I consider a failed game.  As such a game which encourages
rote play (ie which responds profitably to automation) is a failed
game.  

#1 above I would thus consider an utterly failed game purely due to
the fact that I con't have to think about it  It has become habit,
automatic reaction, automation.  Boring.  #2 is most likely a failed
game in that it has started become an ingrained habit, and is tending
towards #1.  #2 can still remain highly playable if there are other
aspects of it which are attractive, and which retain my interest and
intrigue me.  As such it tends to be the steady trickle of newness or
"Ahh ha!" which keeps me.  #3 is either a game I know nothing about
(unfamiliarity) or is a potentially good game which i know a lot
about, but is sufficiently good to command my attention.

>Category 3, unfortunately, is where most of my recent experiences
>fall.  Which means I stagnate on the same old places and the same old
>genres, and  there's little to no change. 

Which statement most encourages the above impression.

>I just can't drop
>everything and play a single  game to the exclusion of everything
>else, so it's a long and arduous  process for me to shift a level 3
>game up to level 2. 

What prevents you from spending not doing anything else than playing
the game?  Is there a point where you decide that a game has
sufficient potential to warrant the effort expenditure to migrate from
#3?

As mentioned above I multi-task heavily.  The main result for MUDding
is that I'll play for 15 - 20  minutes, th3 compile or whatever in the
background will finish, I'll quickly get my character into a semi-safe
position or logoff, fix the bugs (or whatever) and launch a new
process, and play again till the next time.

>Sometimes I'll run into a player on
>some game or other and go 'You  know, maybe it's a GOOD idea to have
>an interface only the truly  intelligent and/or dedicated can
>comprehend'...

My first BBS had a leading comment which ran something to the effect
of:

  This BBS is an intelligence test.  If you have any questions 
  about the function or operation of this BBS which you are 
  unable to answer, then you have failed the test.  In this 
  case, please hang up immediately.

Shortly after this a friend's BBS put up the FTSC comment of "Press
Alt-H for IQ test...", and noticed that he got many more very short
connects than he did before....

--
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...