[MUD-Dev] Games vs. simulations

[Dmitri Zagidulin]

-- matt writes: --
>> I get particularly worked up over the whole "room system" debate.  One
>> of the most notable and impressive periods of computer gaming history,
>> the Infocom days, used systems even more crude than the room systems
>> found on current text MUDs.  How many games can truly aspire to the
>> levels of the classic Infocom games, yet how many people have worked
>> furiously to replace the room-based systems?

> Yeah, I don't understand text muds who get obsessed
> with realistic room systems. That's what graphics are good at.
> I think some things, like "realistic" room systems are
> built mainly just out of the (laudable) goal of just wanting to see if
> it can be done. I, personally, LIKE traditional room systems. They don't
> bother me a bit. They are like the walls of the ravine that you can't
> climb in a video game. They are just there and you accept the
> limitations, and move on.

> --matt

Not to spark a holy war, but can anyone explain to a newcomer why non-room
systems (read some kind of coordinate systems) are a bad idea?
They seem like a good holy grail to me...
Isn't that what Skotos is going for, among other things - trying to
transcend the "you're in a room and that's it" limitation with their
positioning engine?

Does anyone know of any examples of text-based muds with non-room based
location systems?

The only thing that I know of was the space system on old MicroMUSE - with
x, y & z floating point coordinates, the whole bit. 
Which turns the question around for matt & other avid room-based
proponents -- how _do_ you handle things like flight, sailing, and, most
importantly, the question of world scope discussed in that excellent
article on Gamasutra (don't remember the name).

That is, do you agree that having a large, wide-scope world has many
in-game benefits and is desirable?
If so, do you think it's really possible to do expansive terrain (lakes,
fields, wilderness in general, seas, planets) using the myopic room-based
system?

- Dmitri





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