[MUD-Dev] Clients

[Jon A. Lambert]

On 11 Feb 98 at 19:29, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
> At 06:20 PM 2/11/98 +0000, coder at ibm.net wrote:
> >
> >A good and well worded point.  Define by need, not feature.  Its a base
> >rule of design, and is a common problem I face as a contractor with client
> >requirements.
> 
> Another point which I'm facing right now in a project:
> 
> We have a series of requirements for an application. These requirements
> dictate the functions that need to be performed. These functions map
> excellently to an existing concept which our main target audience
> understands, and which serves as a fantastically easy metaphor -- "It works
> just like X." In our target market, everyone knows that program, everyone
> uses that program, and everyone is comfortable with that program. The
> problem is that we are expanding the target audience, and we expect other
> people -- who have never seen this program and probably know jack squat
> about it -- to use the new application, as well. The program this system
> resembles is difficult to learn and use. In attempting to document the
> interface for these new users, we have come to the conclusion that the
> interface would map much better to a new concept which will provide
> enhanced functionality and be easier for the new user to learn and use. 
>
> Needless to say, this idea is meeting resistance from the existing
> audience, who feels that there will be an immense amount of time saved in
> training if we just go ahead and use the cryptic and difficult interface
> they're used to.

You must be working on the same project as I am!  ;)  You are right on 
target here, as I've faced this countless times.  The training issue 
"defense" almost always pops up.

There are several ways I have attempted to subvert this defense.  First,
the cost of training newbies on the old system can be claimed to 
be much higher than on the proposed system.  Retraining current users
will be recouped later down the line with the lesser cost of new personnel, 
especially in an expanding business.  Second, a lot of resistance can be 
traced to the corporate culture where extremely knowledgeable users of the 
current system wield power and fear that they will lose their status and 
usefulness in a new environment.  The task is to find out who these people
are and bring them aboard by any means possible, which might include a 
bit of slavish wining and dining (not whining).  Failing that, cut their 
brake-lines or as a last resort, arrange for an SAP presentation.  The 
latter will terrify the end-users enough into buying in to any project. 
The former is, urrm, still illegal in my state. 

[snip]
 
> Anyone have thoughts on this?

Yes, one or two. 

By continuing to build muds with conventional text Telnet interfaces, it
is certain that the hobbyist mud audience will not grow.  In fact it 
will likely shrink.  The only reason it has grown is that by sheer numbers
who have gain access to the internet.  Some have tried to compare this
with the text adventure game phenomenon.  I don't agree.  It's not a
text vs. graphics popularity contest.  It's largely an obscure-kludgy-unix-
command-line-babble interface vs. something more windows/lisa/x-like.
It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  We'll do the interface like its
always been done and complain about the IQ of the rest of the I-net.
I know, most everybody has their servers running on *nix, yet the majority
of the mud playerbase use a GUI environment.  What's handy and familiar 
for the server-author, is an utterly alien turn-off for the average user. 

Warning: Don't get the idea that I really "care" about the above.  I'm 
not a crusader...just a quiet observer. <splurgh>  

> It seems to relate rather well to the
> graphics/text argument, as well: why text? Well, we've always done it that
> way. Graphic MUDs? 

Is there really LESS text in a Graphical mud?  
Isn't this an unwarranted assumption? 
Are Doom and Diablo responsible for this?

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