[MUD-Dev] The impact of the web on muds

[Marian Griffith]

On Fri 02 Jan, Mike Sellers wrote:
> At 01:59 AM 12/26/97 PST8PDT, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> >On Thu, 25 Dec 1997, ##Make Nylander wrote:

[lots of original postings snipped, sorry]

> The analogy of graphical muds == video while text muds == books is both
> mistaken and more than a little odiously self-congratulatory.  Also, I read
> in your above comments the all-too common and self-defensive insinuation
> that people who do not prefer text muds do not have the same highly
> developed imagination that confirmed text mudders do and/or have too short
> an attention span to really appreciate the subtleties of text games (having
> grown up on Nintendos).  If such narrow-minded and patronizing implications
> were not your intent, I apologize.

I did not read this in the original post. However, because there are less
clues in a bit of text, a text-only game *requires* more imagination from
the player. This actually is both an advantage and a disadvantage.  It is
harder for the players to immerse themselves in the game, if that is what
they want.  On the other side,  it also allows the players to fill in the
missing details.  This means that the image 'works' better  than watching
an image generated by somebody else where there is less room for imagina-
tion.
Images would work better for games  where you need to see a lot of things
at a glance. Fast paced combat games would be suitable candidates. On the
other hand  games with a introspective atmosphere,  or where images would
not work as well (e.g. horror themes), would be better suited for a text-
only design.  A picture of a monster is not half as scary at the gruesome
monster from your imagination.

> >>    In his post, Greg Munt implied that
> >> 	most people play text MUDs because they don't know anything better,

> >I agree with Greg almost unconditionally (there is really no other option
> ><vbg>), but particularly on this - a lot of people prefer text interfaces
> >to gui, and I would wager a slightly larger portion actually prefer gui.

> I'd love to see some numbers on this that are not predicated on a parochial
> view of muds.  Everything I've seen (starting with the success of graphical
> adventure games vs. the old Infocom text ones) tells me that *many* more
> people prefer graphics to text.

Probably. This may be because such games are more intuitive? But of course
the reverse argument can also be true.  Many people prefer graphical games
because they don't know about other possibilities.
Borrowing from another thread some time ago:  Most computer games you find
are graphical and violent, or graphical. If they're familiar with that why
would they look for something else. Popularity does not mean preference :)
This does not mean that you are not most likely right  about what the ave-
rage player prefers.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey