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

[Brandon Cline]

On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Chris Gray wrote:

> [Marian:]
> :		      The infamous green dragon  appeared in this thread
> :when  I needed an example  to explain how text can evoke emotions  more
> :easily than graphics.	It is easier to say that a dragon is terrifying,
> :and be believable,  than it is to show a terrifying dragon.
> 

Not sure but I think it should have been said "conveys" emotion not evokes
emotion.  In that writing a description of a terrifying dragon, duck,
whatever will convey to the reader that this creature is supposed to be
terrifying.  Whereas "drawing" something that actually will convey
"terrifying" is alot harder to do.
  On the other side of the coin, writing something to startle a reader
is probably very hard (impossible?) to do, whereas with graphics you can
do it a little bit easier (if at all?).


> You've said this before, and I've just let it go by, but not this time.
> 
> >From my experience, the complete opposite is true. I have never
> experienced much in the way of emotion from reading a book (other than
> sympathetic sadness from books like "Lassie"). I can't imagine how a
> book could startle me, for example. If you are a very empathic person,
> perhaps you relate to the characters in a book much more strongly than
> I do. For me, a book is entertainment. A really good book can be so
> engrossing that I'll keep reading until my eyes glaze over, but about
> the only emotion that comes out of it is satisfaction and contentment.
> 

Yes, and a really good mud can/should also be as engrossing.

> I've certainly experienced emotions from movies and TV shows, however.
> The key here is that the emotions are my emotions, and not those of
> the characters in the story.
> 
> Books can't startle me, but computer games certainly can. I can clearly
> remember two such incidents (so I expect there are more). The first was
> in the game "Drakkhen" on my Amiga, the first time I walked into one of
> the crosses on the road, and the big demon-dog appeared, howling loudly.
> The second, sillily enough, was in my own AmigaMUD, when, having forgotten
> I'd added the sounds, and running with speakers cranked up, a wild dog
> snarled at me.
> 
> So, since I don't appear to ever empathize with characters in a story,
> I'm unlikely to do so with a MUD character, so telling me that I see a
> terrifying dragon will just annoy me. Showing a dragon swoop down out
> of the sky at me, roaring loudly, is much more likely to bring out an
> emotional response in me. If it is moving quickly enough, not all that
> much detail is needed in the dragon - there won't be time for my eye
> to register much other than big, green, teeth and flames.
> 

  Yes, but the characters in books experience emotions, they see
"terrifying" dragons, etc, etc.  That is how books are, it's not you the
character in the book, it's a story about a character in the book.  Muds
are a little different than books and graphic games and TV and alot of
other things, they are basically in a class of their own.  And of course
graphic multiplayer games are another class, but the affects they have on
people are rather different than plain text muds.  The "analogy" is the
difference between TV and books is like the difference between graphics
mudlike games and text muds and I guess you could equate graphically
enhanced muds as akin to comic books?  All are valid mediums and have
different affects on people depending on that medium.  I sure as hell
don't get startled by scary pictures in a comic book either....   


Brandon L. Cline      |      Imagination is more important than knowledge.
brandon at sedona.net    |                                -- Albert Einstein