[MUD-Dev] Blog about GDC implies changes to MMORPG population

[Lydia Leong]

On Jun 24 11:46, Amanda Walker wrote:

> SL is closest to the "classic MUD" crafting model, which involves
> being able to create interactive, scriptable objects (this goes
> back at least to LambdaMOO, possibly further back), new game
> areas, etc.  That's why I mentioned it, not because of any
> preference for SL--in fact, I harangue Linden Labs from time to
> time for not letting me do the kind of crafting I'd like to do
> even there.

Second Life is to MMOGs, what TinyMUD is to MUDs. For those of you
who don't know MUD history: TinyMUD is the "root" of the MUD server
design that becomes MUSH, MUCK, MOO, etc. -- MUD servers that
emphasize an open or semi-open "player content creation" model.

MUD people call player content creation "building". I don't think
there's any real need to invent a new term for the graphical form of
it, or to co-opt the word "crafting", which has been the traditional
term used in MMORPGs (and MUDs) to denote the economic system and
player ability to interact with the economy. "Crafting" has
generally manifested itself as "click to instantiate an item, take
multiple instantiated items and combine them to make another
instantiated item", although other models have emerged and will
continue to emerge.

Note that the only real difference between Second Life and a
Tiny-style MUD is the fact that you're in a 3D world, and there's a
commercial entity behind it. The parallels between Second Life and
the early Tiny worlds are enormous, down to the evolution of player
activities. (Early Tiny worlds: TinyMUD Classic, TinyHell, Islandia,
etc. LambdaMOO belongs to that generation of design, although MOO is
second-generation technology.)  Might as well keep some terminology
in common.

	-- Lydia
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