[MUD-Dev] Shift in time

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

"Matt Mihaly" <matt at ironrealms.com> writes:

> 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.

I know that the definition of "MUD" is defined as off topic, but I
believe you can cluster most similar systems in the regions of the
3D space with axis game, world and communication. I don't think
_story_ is a needed distinguishing feature that will separate the
different types from each other. I personally view the "proper MUDs"
to be the ones which are worlds-with-some-kind-of-game. _story_ in a
MUD is just a mixture of a system's gameness and
worldness... Now... DON'T GO TELL A NARRATOLOGIST THIS!

Examples:

  IRC            (1/8 game, 2/8 world, 4/4 communication)
  RP MUSH        (2/8 game, 5/8 world, 4/4 communication)
  Active Worlds  (1/8 game, 4/8 world, 3/4 communication)
  Anarchy Online (5/8 game, 6/8 world, 2/4 communication)
  EverQuest      (6/8 game, 5/8 world, 2/4 communication)
  Myst           (1/2 game, 4/4 world, 0/4 communication)

In my classificatio scheme I have tossed user-building into the
communication category. Of course, user building is also world
defining, but so is roleplaying activies. Hence the 1/4 worldness of
IRC.

--
Ola - http://folk.uio.no/olag/
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