[MUD-Dev] Re: Ugh, IS Diablo a mud?

[Ryan Prince]

First of all, I'd like to clear any arguments of symantics. Note that this is
not my opinoin, just a factual disection of the term MUD. The term MUD is an
achronym of Multi-User Dungeon, meaning a version or variation of the game
Dungeon ( a popular text-adventure game ) that is meant to be used by several
people at the same time. Dungeon itself was not an RPG, however many people
thought it was. It was an 'adventure' game and a puzzle solving exercise, but
involved no role playing. I have personally NEVER seen a role playing game that
was single player. They are ADVENTURE games. RPG is a misnomer.

However, the term MUD has come to mean a little more than it used to. It now
means something different to every person that says it. My interpretation is a
multi-player online game with a persistant world and player-driven action. A lot
of games are now multiplayer, using the internet and networks, but that does not
neccisarily make them MUDs. The key here are the terms PERSISTANT and
PLAYER-DRIVEN. Persistant refers to something which is at least INTEDED to keep
the effects that are placed on it for the rest of it's life, until something
else changes it back. Diablo looses here because it is not persistant, it is
meant to be reset often. MUDs on the other hand are only reset when a major
addition is being tested or added or it crashed. Player-driven means that the
outcome of the game is based on the actions of the player. Again, Diablo looses
out, as there is only one outcome of the game unless you quit, which is killing
diablo. The fact that Diablo is so one-track percludes it from me being able to
categorize it as a MUD. It is BARELY an adventure game, and besides the shops
and repetitive quests it is a 3/4 overhead version of DOOM. Not to mention that
I have seen several DOOM clones that include shops and mini-quests. 

I would also like to add ROLE-PLAYING onto my list, however, it has not become
important enough, yet. So I tend to go with MURPEs ( Multi User Role Playing
Environments ), rather than MUDs. ( BTW, I have seen lots of
modified-but-diku-based MURPEs out there, especially RoM based stuff.)

--
- Jynx Ryn
- The Complex Man with the Simple Signature
- Home Page: http://jynxryn.home.ml.org/