[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions

[Adam Wiggins]

On Mon, 28 Sep 1998, Koster, Raph wrote:
> From: Adam Wiggins [mailto:adam at angel.com]
> > Rather than walking through an interactive world, as I had been led to
> > believe, I was actually walking between props much like those fake
> > buildings they used in the old Hollywood westerns.
> 
> I had the same experience, of course. I imagine we all did. But I would
> not call the goal of having a fully interactive environment even
> necessarily contradictory to what I am discussing. You can have a fully
> interactive environment that still imposes a perspective or a worldview
> on the player, I would think. 

On this particular point I don't think I can agree.  In the end, if
someone detonates a nuclear bomb inside your candy store it's still going
to have the same roomdesc.  I don't think this sort of constructed world
will ever be interactive in the way that I'm thinking; it will always
be a sophisticated Zork spinoff, which is to say you only have the
interactions which are coded by whoever created the area.

Other than that, I agree with all your other points including the main
one.  I could see a whole new genre of muds spinning off from this sort
of thing, especially with free user creation (LegendMOO?).

Adam W.