[MUD-Dev] Histories and Legends

[Koster]

From: Matthew Dobervich

> To use the current language (and fashion) of scale free network
> theory, I don't see that companies producing persistent worlds
> recognize that pieces of external >content< represent nodes in the
> network that is the player community.  I would argue that they're
> some of the most important.

They are indeed. The biggest problem has been presenting that
content to the playerbase as a whole. On UO, at any rate, only
around 10% of the playerbase even visited the website, much less the
fansites. So the exposure to the content outside the game was very
limited for most people.

> Player created content >IS< the future of persistent worlds, but
> most of the discussion tends to get hung up around legal issues
> and customer service overhead associated with its inclusion.
 
> Why not create in game tools and systems that leverage the
> external game related content already in existence?  A simple
> engine that captures URLs a player receives in chat to
> "weblog.txt" would be a good first step.  The next step being web
> connections being built into the world such as a the texture on a
> 3d object being an image behind a URL or a general midi file
> behind a URL.  You get the idea.

I think you have to go all the way to "pushing" the content right
off thebat, or it's not worth it. It's too much to expect of users
that they will seek after the content--you have to present it to
them.

> To me this offloads the copy write issues on to another party,
> reduces the amount of customer service overhead associated with
> player created content (how much is the question), doesn't
> increase the hosting company's bandwidth bills, and most
> importantly helps to create new links between the nodes in the
> network that is the player community.

Yeah, it's an attractive route for sure. It does raise the risk that
the 3rd party might demand money for our use of their freely posted
materials on the grounds that we are attempting to make a profit off
of it. And, of course, any IP dilution concerns (fanfic that
presents our IP in a bad light, say) still apply.

-Raph 

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