[MUD-Dev] BBG's a link to the past

[Edward Glowacki]

On Wed, 2003-07-23 at 09:47, Corpheous Andrakin wrote:

> For those of you who don't know about them, BBG's are Browser
> Based Games, much like the old school MUD's but with a graphical
> overlay.  They are seperated from the title of "graphical mud" (or
> at least in my opinion and others) because they do not offer
> command line interfaces and many are turn based as opposed to real
> time.

> The question is, is this missing link so to speak, marketable?

Maybe.  I'm not a big fan of HTML and web browsers as an application
platform though, it's a HUGE step backward from modern GUI's, and in
terms of interactivity even character-based displays can often beat
it. But it might work for simple things, turn based things as you
mentioned, and other stuff that fits the model of the web well.  So
if your idea is realizable within the technical limitations of the
web, then it might be marketable.

> Another question is can these types of games be used as customer
> hooks and even testing modules? Many times games will have an
> anxious community before the game even comes out.  Could those not
> fit for beta or not in it because of size restrictions still be
> put to use unwittingly testing out formulas in a BBG?  If the BBG
> was detailed enough and modeled after a larger world you could
> easily incorporate things actual game formulas and such into it
> couldn't you?  It would also keep back some of the baying of the
> hounds especially when you push back release dates ;)

I could see myself potentially going to a website for an upcoming
game (assuming I was already interested in the game) and playing
with some of these things.  But I think if they sucked or didn't
work properly or whatever, then instead of fueling my desire to play
the finished game, it would *lessen* my interest.  After all, it is
a reflection of the company and the design team that's building the
game, and if they can't make a "simple" website...

That said, there are potentially some interactive or game-like
things that would work OK.  Character building, trading, crafting,
etc.  For example, you could make a Tradewars-esque trading game
based on your economic system.  You could also put up more static
content like backstory, descriptions of
spells/items/monsters/skills/etc and make an encyclopedia of you
game world, which would continue to be valuable even after the game
is released.  That one's not really a web-based game though.

> Just looking to get some thoughts on this niche and see if anyone
> else thinks this type of game has a place in the multiplayer
> gaming industry.

Maybe, if you can hit the niche.  There are definitely examples of
browser-based MOO's that seem to work OK in limited situations (I'm
thinking specifically of those using Encore).

-ED

--
Edward Glowacki			glowack2 at msu.edu
A PBS mind in an MTV world.
	-- Author unknown
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