[MUD-Dev] Virtual worlds based on real world history

[Greg Munt]

> [Willow Reed]
>
>Has anyone worked with a historical MOO at all? I have seen a lot of
>futuristic ones or ones based on a nether time somewhere, but what about
say,
>the Elizabethan era? or the civil war era, or anything historical like
that?


I had been pondering basing something around 17th-18th Century Bahamas.

Blackbeard was a regular at Nassau, as were many other carribean pirates.
Given my knowledge of New Providence's coast, and surrounding island's, it
would be quite interesting to do, I think.. There is also the relationship
that the Bahamas has had with the Americas, for most of its history -
including the American Civil War, when the Bahamas was a strategic landmass
for both the North and the South, at varying times. Forts were built as
defences, and the harbour facing Hog Island (now Paradise Island) was
bustling.

I think that if you are going to have a historical theme, then it will help
greatly if you base it in a physical location that you have reasonable
knowledge of (and things that have been there for a long time, such as the
coastline, harbours, towns, cities) - and also somewhere you know plenty of
historical information about.

Why? Because it makes for a stronger storyline. You have plenty of
information to draw on - read: a good story is like a house, it needs firm
foundations.

Addendum: there is nothing wrong with adding things from fiction to this
historical setting. Imagine it as an episode from 'Sliders'; if you have
ever seen that show, you'll know what I mean... In it, the characters visit
parallel dimensions where the place, time and population is the same, apart
from some minor 'difference' (eg dinosaurs never died out, no one forgot how
to use magic, aliens landed, etc), which makes the world completely
different from the one you know and live in. If you do things like this, you
have a firm background and setting for your world, a community, real
conflict - plus you can still let your creativity run riot.

Greg.



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