[MUD-Dev] in-game vs web-based boards (was: Geometric content generation)

[Derek Licciardi]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vincent Archer
> According to John Buehler:

>> Task switching is one approach, which Asheron's Call permits.
>> Note that AC Explorer, a sort of electronic Fodor's for Dereth,
>> is not a browser-based application.  It is custom-built for the
>> problem that it solves.  Why not integrate that into Asheron's
>> Call?  Task

> It's already done, of course.

> AC's "Decal" system lets you integrate things into the game
> proper, and one of the things done is DPS (Dereth Positioning
> System), which acts exactly like AC Explorer, but in game and
> without the map.

>> results.  I switch out to check on the Asheron's Call Bestiary
>> all the time.  Why isn't that integrated into the game?  In the
>> very

> Same. I don't use it, but a friend does.

>> least, why aren't hooks available from the Asheron's Call code
>> that permits players to hook information sources into the game?
>> That

> In Asheron's Call, there are. Some of the most popular Decal
> plugins have had slowly their effect duplicated by the game
> interface (the component buyer, the enchantment timer, the corpse
> locator), but the hooks are in.

>> Anyway, I see the game itself being the focus of activity, and
>> switching to other mechanisms is currently a necessary evil.  I'd

> I used to switch out of AC a lot when the game came out. I don't
> do that much these days; there's even an ICQ client integrated
> directly into the game.

I have played AC with the Decal system, albeit only for a short
while because AC ran horribly on my Windows 2000 machine.  Anyway,
my question to this group is at what point do ICQ clients, Web
Browsers, and Email Clients inside the game client become a
distraction and get in the way of suspending disbelief in the
illusion that is the virtual world?  It seems to me that this stuff
would be better suited to have some sort of in-game context if at
all possible.  Do we really want people ICQing to their favorite
Pedophile channel while logged into the game?  Forget the potential
for lawsuits from this type of activity.  Do we really want people
talking with non-players through an in-game method of communication?
I don't claim to know the answers and suspect they are a personal
preference, but the question needs to be discussed in light of the
direction of this topic.

A seperate topic could also be, does Dereth Global Positioning also
give the player an advantage?  Does this system take the player out
of the immersion factor reducing your game to a large scale RTS?
Something tells me that a GPS system in a late 14th century-ish game
is somewhat out of context.  If it is necessary then shouldn't it be
an ingame thing instead(a sextant maybe?)?

In the end all this relates to how open you want your client
platform to be.  At this point I do not know the answer to the
question or if there is even an answer.

Derek

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev