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

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On Thursday, September 25, 1997 9:46 PM, Miroslav Silovic 
[SMTP:silovic at mare.zesoi.fer.hr] wrote:
>
> I think, however, that the very underused consequence of this is
> creating MUSH families - it's VERY helpful character trait to start
> with a PC brother/sister/cousin/parents already created on a MUSH.
> Knowing some players can help it a lot.

Yes, but there's sort of an odd problem there. People usually want to be 
individuals and stand out on their own merits on most MUSHes I play; while 
on most MUDs (argh, there's that division again!) being part of a family 
entails little more than tacking on a surname and being able to access 
special privileges of one sort or another. Sort of a no-brainer, eh? On a 
MUSH, I think a lot of people could gain from being part of a family, but 
why should they? What will they get? What real benefit can we show them up 
front?

The obvious answer is background. A family has certain specific traits and 
things they're known for, q.v. the Bouvilles on CN, and this can provide a 
certain series of stat bonuses and penalties. You therefore gain a few 
points, with the associated drawback that those points have been assigned 
for you. In most cases this will manifest itself as money, as large 
well-established families tend to have considerable means, but it can also 
manifest itself in things like a knack for mechanics (doesn't everybody 
know some family down the street where EVERY member of the family, even 
mom, can strip down and rebuild an engine?) or just a common skill like 
acting (look at the Barrymore family). You can likewise add some flaws, 
like the family curse, or something odd like my own RL family's tendency to 
attract more attention than anyone else. (You may not like us, but you'll 
NEVER forget us.) Any other thoughts on this?

> Hmm, I'm rather surprised we never met on Cajun Nights. I didn't even
> think to +finger Caliban before. :)

*SLAP* Quit being fresh, guy... I barely know you. Hell, we haven't even 
been on our first date yet and you're trying to +finger me. Pervert. ;)

> > Unfortunately, people who have the experience of being in some social
> > context or other on first login (university students are rather large
> > offenders in this arena) often assume that others have the same social
> > context. Sort of like the way people with T-1 lines out of their houses
> > tend to do web sites that take an outrageous amount of time to DL over 
a
> > modem, and people with really big screens will do interfaces that don't
> > fit on most other people's monitors. Natural human narcissism, which I
> > could probably write several more pages on...
>
> Actually, it's not a good comparison. While taking a T1 to my home
> would cost insane ammount of money (for most people, and especially
> non-US folks), social contacts can be obtained simply by playing the
> MUSH long enough.

Well, all monetary considerations aside, my point was that you get used to 
the convenience and benefits of what you have, and it becomes easy to 
forget that some people don't have those benefits. As another example, I 
recall a BBS-based game which had a green and red bar at the bottom 
indicating health -- green meaning health you have, red meaning health 
you've lost. Not a bad idea at all, right? Hey, let's do that on MUDs! It 
would be great!

Well, yes, except that red/green color blindness is far, far more common 
than you think. And I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of the 
list never even thought of it... unless they have a close friend or family 
member with the condition. It's easily rectified by changing the colors, 
and of course the more annoying people here would likely argue that anyone 
with such an infirmity needs to handle it on their own end and can't expect 
the server to take everything into account, but all the same -- if you can 
distinguish red and green, or for that matter if you can see at all, you 
tend not to think about the people that can't. We take a lot of things for 
granted, and given a long enough period of time with the benefit of a tool 
or service we will begin to view it as the norm. This can be seen with 
almost any professional or rabid hobbyist; it's hard for me to adjust to 
the idea that someone who has a computer would not necessarily have a large 
disk, a lot of RAM, or a reliable tape backup system. I can barely imagine 
working on a system with low disk space, tight RAM, and no backups! What 
are you, INSANE? How can you do anything on that? Well, one explanation is 
that you don't know any better; the other explanation is that I'm spoiled. 
I think you'd have to be pretty stupid not to realise that a bigger disk, 
more RAM, and a current backup are Good Things... so that only leaves one 
option ;)

How many people on this group have been left completely speechless when 
asking someone for their e-mail address... and being told they don't have 
one?

> On the other hand, social contacts are extremely important for MUSHes
> (and far less for hack&slash MUDs). While hack&slashes (and even most
> roleplaying MUDs) concentrate around personal game mechanics, MUSHes
> (and other social/roleplaying games, by Amberyl's classification)
> absolutely depend on large group dynamics.

Completely agreed, although I'd like to see cross-pollination on this 
matter -- in both directions.

> PS. This is my first reply to one of your posts, and I'll use this
> chance to apologize for the overraction in my last reply.

We all go a little mad sometimes... seriously, a lot of the issues that 
arise on this list are religious in nature, and I expect overreaction. I 
don't hold it against anyone unless and until I find that they 
*consistently* overreact, although frequent overreaction is certainly not a 
bad thing. Hell, I'm guilty of that myself. :)

> I refuse to use .sig

I don't...

=+[caliban at darklock.com]=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=[http://www.darklock.com/]+=
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