[MUD-Dev] Re: Laws of Online World Design

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

I think I might have been unfair to Raph and his list of "laws". I'm
somewhat weary of hard thinking about virtual worlds.  Implementation is =
a
"hard" process and do/don't, yes/no, bad/good lists can be reassuring, bu=
t
also a bit seductive.  I view the field of virtual worlds as a diffuse an=
d
foggy field by nature, and believe that the engineering approach will be
less useful to the field than the artist with empathy for the user. I'm n=
ot
saying that engineering can't produce successful MUDs, but I'm not sure h=
ow
beneficial those will be to the users or the advancement of the field.  I
believe I misinterpreted Raph's intentions, which actually seems to be to
generate discussion and give those new to the field something to think ab=
out
rather than to fixate laws.

I also want to apologize for sounding somewhat aggressive at times. One
intent is to provoke a response, but I think there is also an element of
"acting out" (roleplaying like).  This doesn't always lead to a healthy
discussion, and can end up in a pathological communication situation, so
I'll try to keep a more mellow profile in future posts...

Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad wrote:
> This is probably shocking news, but... Quite a few of the laws could be
> dismissed by counterexamples, more of them could be dismissed as a

My intent was to write "This is probably shocking news, but... I'm no big
fan of hard laws!". I was in a sarcastic mood all right, but didn't inten=
d
to be insulting. (Freud would probably have said... :-) Well, one never
knows... If I intended to be insulting then I certainly regret it!!

> I am personally more in favour of slogans than laws. Here are some slog=
ans
> (from memory):

I'm still in favour of slogans though (perhaps because they are not to be
taken as true or false, but as philosophies and visions).

--
Ola, Devils Advocate

Warning:
This person is not speaking English as his native tongue.  He is less
sensitive to the "colours" of the language than a native would be.  Actua=
lly
he is sometimes just happy to find the words which he believes express wh=
at
he wants to say.