[MUD-Dev] shrink wrapped mud development kit (fwd)

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

J C Lawrence wrote:
> 
> Every one of the people I've
> talked to who like the GUI IDE development environments has looked
> at my preference rather the same way they look at lice or raving
> lunatics.  I look rather the same way at their tools (tho I like to
> think I hide it better).

Chalk up one on the other side: I tend to look at your preference with
envy. If I hadn't resisted GUI development as long as I did, I would
have been eased into the Windows SDK gradually enough that I could work
out of a text editor with a few macros. Instead, I clung stubbornly to
DOS development until it was absolutely clear that we had lost the
battle -- and had to use MSVC and the like to be productive at all, what
with the documentation features and whatnot. While I still invest effort
in learning the internals of the SDK, chances are I'll *always* reach
for MFC first when I think "I need to write a Windows program". 

MUDs are much the same. My experience *running* MUDs of the sort people
mainly discuss here is virtually nil, being confined mainly to Tiny
derivatives. Believe me, a visual configuration and development
environment would be a tremendous help in running a conventional Diku or
LP style MUD. There's just too much stuff to learn, and if you want
rapid gratification you *have* to work with visual tools and lots of
help files and have a tech support number. Nobody's written "Learn Diku
in 21 Days" or "LP for Dummies" yet. Someone probably should.

> Often the value, real or perceived, is not in the product itself,
> but in the surrounding infrastructure that comes with the package
> (support, extentions, community, available developer talent (say the
> vendor also does custom consulting/customisation), etc).

Another oft-neglected factor is learning curve. If it would take me a
year to be productive and competent in the existing environment, I want
a better environment. That means someone who knows the existing
environment will have to sit down one day and build something that he
does not himself need. How often does THAT happen?



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