[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) AD: [custom graphical] whitestar Crossfire MUD

[Dr. Cat]

> whitestar.pyrsonal.com is the new public server for the realtime, multiuser
> networked game "crossfire".
> Playing is 100% free.
> 
> Previously, you had to have a unix machine connected to the net to play. But 
> now, there is a java client, so most people out there can now join in.

I heard about Crossfire a long time ago - it was one of the first graphic 
muds on the Internet, along with Regenesis and some other things.  
(Graphic muds not on the Internet started in the 1970s, but that's 
another story).

I'm really wondering, though - why are they requiring you to download the 
Java and run it locally, instead of making it an applet that runs from 
the web page?  "Most people" can browse to a web page that runs some java 
program or other.  While "most people" could also, conceivably, download 
a Java run-time environment, install it, download Crossfire, and then run 
it...  I can pretty much guarantee that "most people" won't go to that 
much trouble.  Java's benefit of wider availability through 
cross-platform compatibility is only actually realized if people can run 
the applet by just clicking on a link on the web to start it.

Any word on whether the authors intend to set the app up to run that way?
Is there some benefit to doing it the way they did, like better execution 
speed?

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   Dr. Cat / Dragon's Eye Productions       ||       Free alpha test:
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  Furcadia - a new graphic mud for PCs!     ||  Let your imagination soar!
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