[MUD-Dev] Re: PK and my "Mobless MUD" idea

[J C Lawrence]

On Mon, 11 May 1998 17:38:09 -0700 (PDT) 
Adam Wiggins<adam at angel.com> wrote:

> Hrm - that's funny, I've always thought it was the other way around.
> As a matter of fact, I believe it was Caliban (although correct me
> if I'm wrong, it's been a while) that threw a fit about RP codebases
> (MUSH MOO etc) being classified as 'muds', as this was somehow an
> insult.

> I think we finally decided that 'mud', lower case, was a general
> term for any persistent online world wih a (potentially) unlimited
> number of players.  This most defintely includes every text server
> mentioned above.  Furcadia qualifies without question.  The word
> 'mud' only implies a big playground for players to interact with
> each other in; *how* they interact is not particularly relevant for
> purposes of this definition.

> Isn't this bit in the FAQ by now?

<URL:http://www.kanga.nu/~petidomo/lists/mud-dev/index.html#mud>

--<cut>-- 

What is a "MUD" 

As the list owner wrote:

I'm not about to attempt a point by point definition of MUD. I see the
definition of MUD being rather like a blob of black ink, recently
dropped into a bucket of still water. You can definitely see where the
black blob is, but as you move away from there, well, its still inky,
but less so. Just where does the ink stop and the water begin
(especially seeing as the ink is a water suspension)?

Its moot. Its a multi-dimentional sliding scale. The centre is
undoubtedly a MUD.  The definition of where the exact centre is is
questionable. The definition of whether any point not on the centre is
a MUD or not is more or less questionable, and I'm not about to start
arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a virtual pin coded
in LPC/ColdC/etc.

I'm content with: DOOM, Diablo, Duke Nukem etc are not
MUDs. Nightmare, LP, DIKU, MOO, Tiny-*, ColdC etc are MUDs. Between
the two sets there be dragons.

There has also been considerable debate over the use of the terms,
"MUD", "mud", "MUA", "MUG", "MU*", and others, with various valid
arguments forwarded on all sides. Suffice to say that this debate is
defined as off-topic for the list and that any of the above terms or
others may be freely used on the list.

--<cut>--

> Certainly you should never feel like your posts are unwelcome:
> unless JC tells you in that booming "<Writing as list owner>" voice
> of his that you're off topic, you can assume that your contributions
> are apprectiated.

Absolutely.

> I see this list as a chance to explore every posibility.  Once
> you've seen more options than you could use in a dozen dozen games,
> then you can pick and choose those that are best suited for your
> stuff.  I know that people have already implemented ideas of mine
> that I never even considered trying; and I've gotten great ideas
> from the list whose originators probably forgot that they thought it
> up in the first place.  That's what's so great about such an open
> forum.  No one is afraid to mention something because it's "too
> crazy", or because it doesn't directly apply to the exact piece of
> software they happen to be working on.

"Throw it against the wall and see what sticks."

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...

--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.