[MUD-Dev] Re: PC 99 standard Re: In game bulletin boards vs. Web based.

[Richard Woolcock]

Jo Dillon wrote:
> 
> Mike Sellers (mike at bignetwork.com) spake thusly:
> 
> > I know, the university "market" tends to lag behind in some areas.  Still,
> > if you're wondering "what do people have on their desktops?" -- for the
> > vast majority of people it isn't a dumb terminal, and it probably isn't
> > even a 486 anymore.
> 
>   Well, I've got a 486, and I'm a student programmer - admittedly I'm
> upgrading soon. But I suspect that a lot of students - particularly
> in places outside of the US (please remember that not all of us live
> in the most technically-advanced country on earth!) - will still be
> on dumb terminals or 486s and suchlike which they won't be able to install
> serious software on.

For British Universities, I agree, but most people I know have pentiums at
home.  We're not THAT far behind ;)  Some Universities are actually pretty
good, but many are still really poorly equipped.  Student mudders still 
make up a very large chuck of most playerbases though, which makes your
points very valid.

> Any hobbyist mud that requires a local client
> is going to lose lots of people; any mud that requires a java applet
> is still going to lose a fair number of people. My own view is that there

Definately, but it will also attract a number of players who wouldn't be
interested in 'some silly text game'.

> should still be a telnet interface on any hobbyist mud. It's not so
> bad for commercial muds, because they rely less on the hardcore student
> mudding audience and because they have prettier, commercial game
> interfaces which make it easier to justify spending money on phone charges
> (for that majority of us outside the US who have to pay by the minute
> for our local phone calls).

I've heard unconfirmed rumours that this may be changing (at least, for
local calls).  While paying for local calls may suck, it does at least
save us from the huge over-usage problems that have been occurring in 
the states (or so I hear).

Out of interest, who else on this list is based in England?  I'm in
Cheltenham, if anyone wants to drop by for a pint or ten some time...

KaVir.