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

[J C Lawrence]

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:59:05 -0600
Michael Sellers <mike at onlinealchemy.com> wrote:
> JC wrote:

>> You may note that I never mention games[1].  For a host of reasons,
>> many historical, some quite personal and others joking or quite
>> serious, I find "MUD" as both a stand-alone word and an expansible
>> acrynym to be an accurate and punnish term to reference such
>> services.

> It's an acronym well-rooted in history.  But one that's also not
> suited to the commercial marketplace.

I'm not sure, not in the long term.  Oh, sure, current marketing
realities, branding definitions, etc have well established the need for
other terms, but I see that as a function of the market being immature
rather than of fundamental commercial realities.

> Personally, I tend toward "virtual world" when pressed.  I'd like to
> find something better -- "virtual" equates to "hopeful" or even
> "nebulous" and "world" has grandiose connotations.  Not good things
> when talking to skeptical investors, publishers, or potential
> partner/customers who don't know a mob from a noob.

FWLIW I've never liked the term "mob" and "mobile" wasn't much better.
That I can see the distinguishing characteristic is that they are causal
agents which are driven by the system instead of being driven by another
participant.  I like names which recognise that.

--
J C Lawrence
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.

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