[MUD-Dev] java clients

[Jon A. Lambert]

Colin Coghill wrote:
> On Wed, 2002-07-31 at 20:45, Valerio Santinelli wrote:
 
>> If it's an applet, then it's part of the security of Java applets
>> not to let it write anything on the client's disk.
 
>> If I were you I would have developed a standalone C++ client
>> where you have full control over the features you want.  In the
>> case of Skotos I guess they implemented some of their games with
>> an ActiveX interface that gets included in Internet Explorer and
>> lets you have browser's capabilities merged with a standalone
>> client. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

> I think that doing that you immediately eliminate a reasonable
> portion of your possible market.
 
> Mac users, Linux users, people with old slow computers, people
> using PDA's, people who are worried about security, and so on.

I've heard this refrain again and again in mud newsgroups, mud
forums for 6 years, and you'll find it repeated here often in the
Mud-Dev archives.

The percentage of mud players using a client that runs on a
Microsoft Windows platform has gotten larger and larger ever since
1995.

At least that's my take.

>  Plus new > people are unlikely to go to all the effort of
>  downloading and > installing a new piece of software just to
>  *try* a new MUD - given > that most MUDs suck.

New people aren't very likely to know what a mud is and that it
sucks.  Of course if they are introduced via standard telnet many of
them will surely find out it sucks.
 
> Maybe each is a small percentage, but it starts adding up.
 
> Java, for all its faults, really is quite cross-platform. If
> you're going for a standalone (non browser built-in) I'd say
> Java's still the best bet.

My personal working definition of "cross-platform" and "portability"
is software that runs on Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98,
Microsoft Windows NT 3.5, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft
Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows ME, Microsoft Windows XP, and if you
stretch it Microsoft Windows CE.

And ZMud still seems to be one of the most popular clients.  It's
also a huge download and for most users another big download of MDAC
from the Microsoft MSDN site.  I'm guessing in total this is around
7-9 MB.

I think gamers can and will download 20MB programs and patches.
Meaning I think requiring a user to DL Sun's Java JRE or Microsoft's
NET framework is certainly viable and not at all unreasonable today.

The biggest complaints you'll probably get are from those running
other clients that run on a Microsoft Windows platform if your
client is short of some of the popular features.

In short I don't think it matters what you use for a client as long
as you keep those "cross-platform" and "portability" issues I
mentioned above in mind.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways we did a survey on this late last year that ran for a few
weeks.  It's a pretty small sample size but here it is:

-----------------------xxxxxxxxxx Polling System------------------------
1) What client do you most often use to mud on xxxxxxxxxx?  32 votes
were cast on this issue and the results are...

  1) Some other client not listed here.                 ---> 4 votes (12%)
  2) TinTin                                             ---> 0 votes (0%)
  3) TinyFugue                                          ---> 1 votes (3%)
  4) WinTinTin                                          ---> 0 votes (0%)
  5) tkMOO                                              ---> 0 votes (0%)
  6) SimpleMU                                           ---> 1 votes (3%)
  7) MushClient                                         ---> 1 votes (3%)
  8) Unix/Linux Telnet                                  ---> 1 votes (3%)
  9) Portal                                             ---> 2 votes (6%)
  10) Zmud                                              ---> 7 votes (21%)
  11) Gmud or GenewicMud                                ---> 12 votes (37%)
  12) Windows Telnet                                    ---> 2 votes (6%)
  13) Pueblo                                            ---> 1 votes (3%)

If this was broken down by platform this is my best guess based on
some user comments on it afterwards.

  1) Windows   27
  2) Unix       3
  3) Macintosh  2

Anyone out there in Text Mud land do anything similar and would like
to share?

--
--* Jon A. Lambert - TychoMUD        Email:jlsysinc at alltel.net    *--
--* Mud Server Developer's Page <http://www.alltel.net/~jlsysinc> *--
--* If I had known it was harmless, I would have killed it myself.*--



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