[MUD-Dev] Re: Bruce Sterling on Virtual Community goals

[Darrin Hyrup]

Over the last couple days, several people wrote:

>> The other possible lesson that we as a list should be collaborating
>> on code rather than reinventing wheels by the truckload.
>>
>> I get the impression that many people on the list are writing their
>> own servers, often from scratch.  (I am.)  Would anyone be interested
>> in collaborating on a base server for experimentation?  There's got
>> to be a certain amount of drudgery that we can save each other.

Hmm, I recall suggesting an OpenMUD project in my reply to Raph last
week... glad to see that others have the same idea! :)  This is the Mud
Development list after all.  I think it might also be nice to document our
progress, such that new mud developers could look over the steps taken in
the project as a tutorial, and catch them up to where the list is,
development wise.

In any case, I am up for that.  I prefer working in a team environment than
on my own anyway... its just hard to find people who are interested in
doing this sort of thing for free. ;)

>> At this point I'm envisioning a collection of modules, so that features
>> that aren't interesting in a particular context can be ignored.  The
>> whole could be under something like the X license or even explicit public
>> domain, so that it would be useful for those considering commercial uses
>> as well.

I think making it explicitly public domain would best serve the members of
the list.  That way nobody needs to be concerned about what happens with
the code.

>> Would anyone use such a thing?  Would there be any benefit over starting
>> with something like a Diku base (which I understand some have done).

I've looked at a lot of mud bases out there... the best I've seen (for my
particular needs) is Cold/Genesis, but it is not exactly what I want, which
is why I have been doing my own.  There is also something to be said about
doing the work involved to create a mud environment, and I think such a
group project would be beneficial to the list.  And perhaps the Cold crew
might be interested in contributing... after all, its not like we're in
competition with each other.

>Well as far as I am concerned I would be highly interested in helping
>build an advanced engine under a license that would allow commercial use.

As would I. :)

Best,

Darrin