[MUD-Dev] Re: The great crusade....

[Jon A. Lambert]

On 15 Jun 98, Koster, Raph wrote:
> > 
> I noted that in one of his other articles he highly recommends Medievia.
> Hurm...

<gnashing of teeth> Hmm... No comment.
 
> >  I wanted a
> > MUD which not only stressed role-playing (as many do), but rather
> > enforced it. [snip] I wanted
> > a MUD where you were required to be in character every moment you were
> > logged on, whether you were in a private channel with one other
> > person,
> > 
> Ooh, this strikes me as a mistake. IMHO, since social bonds between
> players inevitably migrate OOC, a mud which enforces no OOC contact
> whatsoever is actually be self-limiting. Its community will not develop
> precisely because it restricts itself to IC activity, which tends not to
> be as emotionally and socially engaging as OOC contact.
>

I agree.  OOC must exist.  The game world CAN have this extreme 
enforcement while in-game and IC, but to do away with all forms of 
OOC is a tough call.  I favor a strong physical separation of the 
two communications.   Players have there own names and "areas"; 
characters have their own names and "areas".  I don't see 
multiplaying as a problem, more as a solution, however this mud 
apparently does. 

> > At the end, it all came down to one thing. It seemed that in finding a
> > true role-playing MUD, you also found a place where much freedom was
> > given up. 
> > 
> And of course, this means that it will probably never move beyond a
> niche. :( For even though I myself would prefer an environment where I
> were totally immersed (that happens to be my style of play--IC all the
> way, never to break it except in OOC areas if any), there's really DAMN
> few people who actually like that.
> 

Me too.  But the lack of any OOC support is very problematic.  I 
doubt I could be engaged in such a world for long, unless the player 
density was high enough to permit a significant or convenient amount 
of IC interaction.  On a low player density mud (large world), I 
would believe it would be nigh impossible.  I do wish he would have 
given the mud name though. <sigh>

mud-dev: Feeding the world.

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