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

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>   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?

I think I have two things I look to get out of this list. One is
education and the other is inspiration - quite often the two are
linked together.

The problem I have with it is that generally the things I want to
get education about are things likely to have been discussed before,
so I'm reluctant to post before rummaging through the archives and
generally I never get around to rummaging through the archives. This
kind of topic includes things like what better way is there to 
generate NPCs rather than regular resets, what better way is there
to handle combat etc. - cases where I've hit limitations inherent in
the "normal mud way of doing things" and rather just blindly reinvent
my own wheel I'd like to see what wheel designs others have come up
with first. Generally I am picking up a lot of hints from
things mentioned in passing so I do find the list useful in this
respect.

The other benefit is inspiration - other peoples ideas posted kicking
off ideas of my own. Again generally it's items discussed long ago
that I pick up on - things like the "Orc Caves" scenario and the
like, so again I don't tend to post on these subjects. A more recent
example is Raph's post on moods for speech and other actions - I
really like the idea and will be coming up with something similar
for my own mud real soon now.

> 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.

As I'm writing an LP mud, most of this doesn't concern me - MudOS does
all of this work for me (excepting data model of course). So these
technical threads I tend to skip.

> Others I know are interested in hack'n'slash game design, RP, real 
> virtual world creation, etc. etc, etc, etc.

I guess I'm in at the higher levels of game design, where discussion
of ideas gets down to pros and cons but not down to the best C++
implementation of it.

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