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

[Koster, Raph]

J C Lawrence wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:32:09 -0800
> Raph Koster <Koster> wrote:

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

> I try to not kill threads that look like they might get somewhere.

In that case, I will offer up my original definition, which I think
has a lot in common with your other post:

A mud is a spatially based depiction of a somewhat persistent
virtual environment, which can be experienced by numerous
participants at once, who are represented within the space by
avatars.

Lots of caveats in that:

  - "spatially based" does not mean Euclidean space by any
  stretch--it includes quite non-standard geometries.

  - "somewhat persistent" in that the environment must persist, but
  elements within it may not... but then, this can get vague with
  features like instancing. Many muds did full world resets--does
  that mean that Diablo which does a full world reset in each
  instance is a mud? To my mind, it should not mean that...

  - "at once" does mean, to my mind, synchronous communication

  - "avatars" in a fairly broad sense; a virtual identity construct
  is really all I mean

To me that means that LambdaMOO and EQ2 both fit, but that Quake
does not (lacking the persistence). Toontown qualifies, but the
original Diablo does not (the most mudlike location was actually the
lobby, which lacked the spatial metaphor; everything else was
instances). Notwithstanding Lambert's posit, the list doesn't
qualify because of the lack of spatial metaphor. :) Stuff like
Diablo II, however, is getting awfully close to the margin.

Lately, I've grown somewhat dissatisfied with this definition,
because it doesn't pin down some of the above with sufficient
clarity. It seems to me that there should be some way to pin down
what "persistence" means a bit better, for example.

-Raph
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