[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev's DevMUD: a word of caution

[Chris Gray]

[Greg Munt:]

[Lots of stuff about project goals, overall formal design, etc.]

My short response is this:

    I disagree.

However, I'll give more detail.

This last couple of weeks has shown a high level of technical flow on
the MUD-Dev list. True. In my opinion, that balances out a few months
of very low levels of technical stuff. My interests (clearly!) have
always been more in the technical aspects than the social aspects,
and I have sat through those months saying very little, and not even
reading all of the posts. Fine - I've been slowly absorbing ideas and
concepts, I hope. For this flurry of technical stuff, the non-technical
folks should be able to do something equivalent. They can bemoan the
lack of response to non-technical discussions, but I'm sure it will
eventually pass.

I'm working on the assumption that the folks contributing the most to
this DevMUD discussion are technically qualified to do so (their posts
certainly suggest that!). So, the fact that a lot of higher-level stuff
is ignored is fine - these people have built MUD servers, and so know
what they do and what all they need to have in them. No need to get
into that. What is being discussed are variations on the models.

DevMUD isn't really a MUD. DevCore might be a better name. What is
being discussed has virtually nothing to do with the higher level
game-related issues of a MUD. Hence, any discussion of that sort of
stuff in relation to DevMUD is irrelevant, in my opinion. That sort
of discussion is relevant to some modules (authentication, character
control, presence/absence of combat, type of socials, etc.), but we
haven't been discussing those things. We all know that those things
are needed, but they are just not relevant to this discussion.

As for formal architecting and planning, etc. I can only give my
personal opinions here. Such things are work. I read and contribute
to MUD-Dev as a recreational activity (if I learn something that is
relevant to my job, that is a bonus). I do so because it is interesting
and fun. Any process of formal planning, etc. is, to me, neither very
interesting nor any fun. As such, I doubt I would participate in it.
I'm guessing that the same is true for some of the other active
participants. Hence, that sort of thing is unlikely to happen.

In the past, it has been said that the intent is that whatever is
produced from this DevMUD project should be pretty well freely available
for anyone to do anything with. Because of that, I'm assuming that
no-one would be really hurt if any of the dire fates that Greg talks
of actually happens. We're here because *we* think this project could
be of value to ourselves, and possibly to others to. Good enough for me!

 >As an endnote: I've been given unpaid leave to go to the Bahamas (where my
 >fiancee lives) to see if I have any chance of finding employment there.
 >I'll be married with children before you know it.. (Hmm, is that good? :-o)

Hmm. Suburbia in the Bahamas. Now that I might be able to get into! Good
luck on your job hunt there.

--
Don't design inefficiency in - it'll happen in the implementation. - me

Chris Gray     cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA