[MUD-Dev] Re: PK and my "Mobless MUD" idea

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 10:13 PM 4/28/98 -0700, I personally witnessed John Bertoglio jumping up
to say:
>
>>I know, I
>>know, I'm very room-oriented and many people here prefer
>>coordinate-oriented systems, but call me a dinosaur.
>
>I believe the best system is a combination of both. 

I'd tend to agree on that. I don't think either approach is perfect. ;)

>I have considered building an input parser for mud area files but have been
>warned off because these "stock area" are considered low value. Any
>opinions here?

I find that the stock areas give a sense of familiarity to the environment,
myself, which can be a good or a bad thing. If you want to change the way
people think about your game, it's probably bad, since they'll see
someplace and go 'I remember this' and slip right back into old habits. If
you want to ease the transition to your server, it can be very good.
There's a nostalgia aspect to stock areas that I think most developers are
undervaluing; I mean, I still pull out Advent and Zork and have a blast
playing with them. I know them like the back of my hand, but I still have
fun playing them because they're simple reminders of where I've been and
how far I've come. Stock areas can serve that same purpose for MUD players;
a nice, comfortable place where they know everything and can wander around
doing exactly the right things, and think about when they were freshmen in
college and didn't know much about the net or MUDs and would wander around
lost in this same area for hours with all the experts sitting around
laughing at them. What a long, strange trip it's been. 


--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.