[MUD-Dev] Harry Potter

[Todd McKimmey]

I was pondering this fact as I was finishing the third and starting the
fourth book of this series this very evening! Weird.

----- Original Message -----
From: "J C Lawrence" <claw at kanga.nu>
To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Cc: <meta at kanga.nu>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 1:15 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Harry Potter


>
> Given the enthusiasm for the Harry Potter books (and their inventive
> and not necessarily linear world) is there a well publicised and
> educated (in the game world) market for a MUD sitting there for us,
> much ala all the WoD based games all copyright and trademark issues
> aside?

Yes, I think there very much is, though I'm not entirely sure how one could
preserve the quality of the nonviolent results of the encounters in the
Harry Potter books (there is some confrontation, but we've heard mention of
only a handful of deaths in the series thus far?) Could be a wonderful
implementation. I'm wondering though if the direction might be more of a
MUSH style rather than mud, though the wizarding abilities do lend
themselves to quite an intricate combat system. I felt a rather sudden surge
at designing a potion based system after reading only a handful of the
recipies thrown out in the book.

> Further, is this possibly an entrance point, if not a lever,
> to access otherwise largely untapped sections of the market
> (sub-teens, women, etc)?

I think it might very well be, but I think the slant would have to be more
towards a graphics than a text mud basis. I have not real justification for
this, just a gut feeling. <offtopic>Then again I'm finding it increasingly
hard to see why someone would choose a text mud over a graphic mud (I'm
finding myself in the minority of people that I've talked to recently
outside of the mud community that thinks text is the way to go... many think
it's far too cumbersome). </offtopic> But given the popularity of the
series, I think by and large a game of this type would definitely be
something that people who would otherwise not take up might just well... It
has a broad appeal that many fantasy series' do not, and the fact you only
have to suspend part of your belief rather than all of it might be more
appealing to the masses.

> Aside: I'm curious how many of us have read the Harry Potter books,
> so there's a poll up at:

Already voted, but as an aside, I *highly* recommend the series. I find
myself unable to put them down. They're not classic works of literature, but
they're very fun.

I did have a horrific thought tho... I can just imagine this turning into a
backdrop stock-diku area where you run around killing muggles and wizards (I
shudder most seriously!).

I'm rather surprised that one hasn't sprung up yet, at least in the freeMud
community. They seem to follow every other major series out there =)


-Todd





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