[MUD-Dev] [Tech] MUDs, MORPGs, and Object Persistence

[Kwon Ekstrom]

From: "Greg Munt" <greg.munt at btinternet.com>
> From: Derek Licciardi <kressilac at home.com>

>> I do believe that to accomplish some of the ideas that people
>> express on this list, it will require larger servers.  This will
>> more than likely change the scope of a MUD that wants to be that
>> ambitious and turn it into a full fledged commercial venture.  The
>> next wave of ideas we discuss here will most definately require
>> more than just a single man shop running the game on spare hardware
>> in some ISP or school.

> the art is flawed. Commercial muds have to be popular. Popular does

<snip>

> perceptible way. Free muds, on the other hand, can get by on no
> players at all, if need be. They can concentrate on making muds
> better. Players are important, but their needs do not have to
> influence the direction of the game's growth. On a commercial mud,

<snip>

> Your implication that free muds will soon be dead is not one that I
> can support. I can only assume that you place zero importance and
> value upon free muds - or that you consider muds that aren't
> massively multiplayer games to be stagnant and nowhere near the
> direction that 'real' muds are heading. I happen to think that free
> muds have the potential to be much more ambitious, and much sooner,
> than commercial muds. (That potential is rarely realised,
> unfortunately.) This is mainly because their "success" does not have
> to be defined in terms of the number of players that they can
> attract.

I don't see free muds as dying off any time soon, but I don't think
that's what Derek meant by his post.  It seems more along his meaning
is that to accomplish certain goals would require more resources than
commonly available to the free mud.  It is always the commercial
sector that advances certain technologies such as graphics and
networking, etc... eventually making those resources commonly
available to work with as open standards.

I'd also like to know which specific systems would require a "larger"
servers.  Since any system that would require a major server to handle
would seem bloated and inefficient to me.  Now, to support the system
on an MMP (Massively MultiPlayer) game, should probably require a more
powerful setup, and yes, I think most MMP games should be commercial
or at least non-profit (accepting donations, etc to cover expenses).

IMHO a free mud's purpose is to have fun, which isn't restricted by
the need to at least break even.  I myself only aim at a community of
50-100 simul players... I want enough players for major pvp
interaction, but few enough that it can become a tight-knit community.

-- Kwon Ekstrom

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