[MUD-Dev] Re: Fun vs Realism [ Was: OT: Sid Meier ]

[Chris Gray]

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock:]

 >What I'm getting at here is, an RPG is in your head. We all had some sort
 >of action figures when we were kids, whether they were little green army
 >men or flat yellow Roman soldiers or Star Wars figures or Micronauts or
 >what have you, and they didn't come with instructions. We *knew* what to do
 >with them. When we didn't have Greedo to go and argue with Han Solo, we
 >grabbed someone else that was green. (In my case, GI Joe was often pressed
 >into Greedo duty.) When we didn't feel the movie was good enough, we wrote
 >our own scenes and our own dialogue, and almost always ended up in
 >situations where Darth Vader and Boba Fett did unspeakable things we were
 >supposed to be too young to understand to Princess Leia.
...
 >You can go whisper about what a weirdo I am now.

Ewww! You played with dolls?!?! :-)

I wonder if there is a connection here. Someone aught to do a
psychological study of folks who write and play MUDs!

I'm from the generation before "action figures" came out. I spent my
time playing with Meccano and Kenner building sets, and doing things like
damming the streams running down the back alley. In general, I played by
building things. That seems to have carried right on down to my involvment
with MUDs - I like building things, and I like exploring. I don't do
a whole lot of just playing, and I don't know the first thing about
trying to role-play.

Perhaps it all comes down to our toys!

--
Chris Gray     cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA