[MUD-Dev] Re: Motivations (was something else...)

[Richard Woolcock]

I seem to have either missed or accidently deleted the original post,
however I will try and patch this together as best I can...

On Mon, 4 May 1998, Koster, Raph wrote:
> I'd be curious to hear what the motivations of those on the list are.

My dad taught me BBC BASIC, and I loved it; by the age of 12 I had
started writing text-based computer games (as well as hacking up
graphical games in order to create my own 'highly modified' games ;).
I wrote 3 text-based games in total, the last two of which eventually 
ran out of RAM, resulting in me giving up on them.  I then moved on to my
own ZX Spectrum, where I tried writing a graphical multiplayer game called
"IT" - unfortunately, if one player was moving, nobody else could...
I later moved on to an Amiga, where I wrote a line-draw overhead view
game (and gave up when it became really slow).  I also tried a street-
fighter style game, but it was a complete disaster.  I studied computing
at school, then college, finally graduating in Software Engineering at
University and joining Smiths Industries as a Software Engineer in November
1996.

While at University, a friend told me about muds, and I decided to give them
a try.  After much playing, I eventually became joint implementor of a mud
called Eternal Conflict, coded by a friend of mine.  Suffice to say that I 
wanted to learn C, as well as help write the mud, so I downloaded a Merc2.1
and began 'playing' with it.  A few weeks later, a friend offered to put the
first version of God Wars on his site for us to 'play around' on.  Thus, my
motivation was to teach myself C (originally).  My motivation now is to create
my perfect mud.  It is not based on anything I have ever heard of (except for
the theme), or seen before, but I am quite proud of the progress it is making.

> Or as a broader topic: what do people see as motives for people
> crafting muds?

Generally speaking?  Power, or to create their 'ideal' mud.

> One of the primary motivations I have seen in the past
> is, "to make a game like the one I used to play until they changed it
> on me."  How much of the stagnation of mud development do you think is
> attributable to this motive?

Quite a lot, unfortunately.  Most people think only in terms of 'what is',
rather than 'what could be'.

KaVir.

--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.