[MUD-Dev] Shift in time

[Matt Mihaly]

Brian Lindahl wrote:
> Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes <kamikaze at kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu> wrote:

>> ...and my solutions aren't particularly applicable to most other
>> MUDs.

> Well, I highly doubt that. While it may not be applicable towards
> the typical derived MUD, there are quite a few developers (or at
> least were) that were very interested in implementing unique
> solutions to problems and who loved to share such unique solutions
> with the group to bounce ideas off, and receive constructive
> criticism. In the past, the list wasn't so much used by developers
> to ask questions, but to post ideas for critique. This type of
> atmosphere has seemed to have disappeared lately - and something
> that I miss quite a bit.

It got a bit boring for some of us to do so when the list became
interested primarily in talking about how to make games that would
make the most money. I certainly have no aversion to that but a lot
of small developers, such as us, aren't trying to make games that
make the most money or garner the most mainstream audience or
whatnot.

> Also, in reference to commercial MUDs and developers who may be
> now in contract - I believe this mainly applies to MMORPGS - which
> seems to be the new focus of the list. About half of the
> discussions posted here are either directly focused on, or partly
> focused on MMORPGS, and ones that are graphical at that -
> something which I really really hate to call a MUD. To me, a MUD
> means an interactive story where a powerful aesthetic feel is
> introduced by the textual interface - one that most graphical MUDs
> can only hope to provide. Note that I'm not using the explicit
> definition of MUD, but rather the definition that relates to the
> more historical aspect of the acronym. To me, a MUD is more of an
> art than simply something to entertain a massive crowd of bored
> gamers.

MMORPGs are just another name for MUD. I don't believe "MUD" implies
anything about gameplay or audience. And if you believe MUD means an
interactive story then I have to wonder how many you've played. ;)
The original MUD was certainly quite short on story. Some MUDs are
big on story, of course, but the vast majority are monster bashing
fests.

--matt
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev