[MUD-Dev2] [MEDIA] Imagine playing WoW on this...

[Mike Rozak]

> For your typical MMO (WoW) included, you can't even get to your raid, 
> dungeon, farm location in the time it would take to ride the bus or enjoy 
> your lunch. Unfortunately, very few MMOs are designed to tolerate play in 
> small time slices.

Now that's an important design issue! Nintendo DS games are designed to be 
easily started/stopped. Most MMOs (barring Runescape, Sherwood, and ilk) 
have a long startup time.


> If you really want to play an online game on a computer like that, you're 
> honestly better off playing one of the commercial MUDs out there. They 
> don't need a graphics card (which that PC lacks) or a lot of ram.

Fair enough, except for the marketing issue that MMORPGs have vastly more 
players than text MUDs. (I'm thinking about this from a game design POV, not 
from my personal desires to play on the bus.)


> Plus, since that PC comes with Linux (and they seem to imply it can't run 
> windows) you are ready to roll for connection to a MUD.

People have gotten Windows to (barely) run on the Eee, and I'd expect it to 
be a standard option in future versions. Most UMPCs come with Windows, some 
even with Vista.

Having said that, I suspect Linux will be a major OS for low-cost systems, 
especially those targeted at 3rd world countries, like the XO.





Since I sent the last E-mail out:

- I've seen a lot more press about the Eee.

- One "Predicting the future" article I read talked about 2008 as 
potentially being the year of the UMPC. I don't believe it'll happen that 
quickly, but press hype can do a lot to get a trend started.

- I stopped by my local computer store. They have one UMPC model on display 
(Sony = expensive), and said they can't keep them in stock.