[MUD-Dev] META: What are you looking for in this list?

[J C Lawrence]

Writing as list owner:

  List traffic and signal quality seems to have suffered a bit
lately.  The subscription count has been growing apace (we're almost
to three hundred) with the posting count a little under half that.
We have over 60 new members for this month alone, but well under a
dozen new posters in the same period.  The number of new posters
that actively post (ie more than a dozen messages a month) in the
last 3 months can be easily counted on a hand that's missing some
fingers.

  In a telephone call today, Raph raised the question of the purpose
of the list: educational or research?  Translation: Is the purpose
of the list to bring the rest of the field up to the current state
of the art, or is it to advance the state of the art?  The two are
of course related, but they are also different.  

It can be awfully exciting and interesting to work on the fringes,
pushing the art out even further.  The problem is that we loose the
people still in StockMUDWorld who then have no idea what we are
talking about, why it is important, or even if it is interesting.
In essence this is the problem of the isolation of the ivory tower
(remember Prince Hal).

  There's even a third possible purpose ouside of education and
research: documenting the current state of the field.  For many of
us writing networking code, a mini byte-coded language, algorithmic
simulations, or whatever is no longer a concern.  Its old hat, we've
done it a few dozen times and can do it nearly in our sleep.
Similarly, some of us are quite expert in the softer sides of MUDs,
in running heavy RP games, cummunity growing, etc.  

  What is *YOUR* purpose and interest in this list?  What would you
really like to get out of the list?  What would you like to do with
the list?  Some I know are here purely for the technical aspects of
server development (an area that has received little coverage on the
list of late): how to write performant networking code, how to tune
and design their data model, what the concerns and techniques are in
writing a MUD programming language ala LP/MOO/MUF/ColdC/etc.  Others
I know are interested in hack'n'slash game design, RP, real virtual
world creation, etc. etc, etc, etc.

   If you do not yet have posting authority, please reply anyway --
your message will get bounced to me -- or, if you wish, just email
me directly at mud-dev-owner at kanga.nu and skip the whole bounce
step.  I'll forward summaries or whole texts of such messages to the
list as appropriate.

  Note: Please post only under this subject heading.  

--
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...