[MUD-Dev] NEWS: Why Virtual Worlds are Designed By Newbies -No, Really! (By R. Bartle)

[Wayne Witzke]

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:32:09 -0800, Koster, Raph <rkoster at soe.sony.com> wrote:

> I tried. But it hasn't stuck. In common usage, for better or
> worse, the majority of people associate MUDs with text-only
> displays. Even though it's demonstrably false (there have been
> text muds with tile-based maps, text muds with static pictures,
> text muds with ASCII art, and of course, graphical muds with all
> significant output in the text box), people presume that there is
> a vast difference.

> MUDs were a problematic umbrella term fifteen years ago, when the
> MU* terminology wars were going on...

> (gak, has it really been fifteen years?)

>  ((waiting for JC to kill this thread per the list charter, but
>  hoping he doesn't))

I hope he doesn't kill this thread, either.  In order for any
profession to mature, a profession-specific nomenclature has to
develop that professionals can use to talk about profession-related
topics intelligently and with sufficient specificity.  For instance,
if somebody says "mob" in the context of our profession, I know
exactly what they're talking about, even though someone from outside
our profession might be thinking "pitch forks and torches."  If we
haven't decided on a name for the things that our profession works
on (something that would seem to be a fundamental building block for
any such nomenclature), then it seems to me that further discussion
is warranted to at least come to some general consensus.  We need to
know that when somebody says MUD they mean x and when they say
MMORPG they mean y and when they say *name to be determined* they
mean everything.

--
Wayne Witzke
wayne.witzke at gmail.com
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