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

[Marian Griffith]

On Tue 22 Sep, J C Lawrence wrote:

> 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).

>From what I have read there are many people who say they are intimi-
dated by the list, yet most of the time they themselves are involved
in discussions  that lose me withing the first paragraph.  I suppose
that if they are intimidated I should be terrified by this list. And
in a way I am. For the most part discussions are so far over my head
that I honestly have no idea what people are talking about.  This is
inevitable I suppose, and perhaps not necessarily a bad thing.  I've
no illusions that  I'll ever be anything than an interested listener
in a very small fragement of the discussions going on  on this list.
Considering that I have trouble programming a vcr  (I can manage the
microwave thank you)  I think it is hardly wise to lower the list to
my standards.  Sometimes however  I feel,  not like a kangaroo on an
ostrich convention, but like a cat in the middle of the ocean. There
is some land out there I know but most of the time  I am just trying
to stay afloat.
Please understand this is not criticism on the list, just realism on
my part. I am proud that one of the examples I wrote to make a point
has been elevated to scenario status  (even if people seem to insist
on reading different questions into it than I tried to raise ;) I am
also realist enough to know that I really have little business here,
other than the occasional comment. And maybe to keep you lot with at
least one foot on the ground ;)

>   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.

I do not think anybody is expert at community growing on a mud. This
is something that is so new  that nobody tried to do it deliberately
yet that I am aware of. Those situation where a community evolved it
was more or less by chance. However your point is well taken.

>   What is *YOUR* purpose and interest in this list?  What would you
> really like to get out of the list?

To be honest, I do not know. I suppose I do not have a purpose at all.
My interest is  to talk about games and game design.  Some of which is
happening here. But since I am not going to get any mud running myself
it is purely interest and nothing practical for me.

>  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 anything,  the world creation appeals to me,  but we have seen pre-
ciously little discussion of that as far as I can remember. Personally
I think this issue is at least as important  as the things that do get
discussed often around here. If the game and world don't appeal to the
players then all work is in vain. If the game is not playable then the
players will not stay.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey