December 1997
- Vague: Containers Ling
- Forests, swamps, terrain & web ecology (long) Ling
- Forests, swamps, terrain & web ecology (long) coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Adam Wiggins
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Brandon J. Rickman
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Jon A. Lambert
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Chris Gray
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Chris Gray
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Jon A. Lambert
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Marian Griffith
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries coder@ibm.net
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Marian Griffith
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries Matt Chatterley
- BUILDERS: Ferries coder@ibm.net
- BUILDERS: Ferries Sauron
- BUILDERS: Ferries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- BUILDERS: Ferries coder@ibm.net
- BUILDERS: Ferries Marian Griffith
- BUILDERS: Ferries Mike Sellers
- BUILDERS: Ferries Adam Wiggins
- BUILDERS: Ferries Ling
- BUILDERS: Ferries Jon A. Lambert
- BUILDERS: Ferries Chris Gray
- BUILDERS: Ferries coder@ibm.net
- BUILDERS: Ferries Jon A. Lambert
- BUILDERS: Ferries Derrick Jones
- BUILDERS: Ferries Marian Griffith
- BUILDERS: Ferries s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- BUILDERS: Ferries Vadim Tkachenko
- BUILDERS: Ferries Marian Griffith
- Alignment Vadim Tkachenko
- Status visualization Was: UI Issues: Anti-scripting techniques Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: forests and such Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- OT: forests and such Chris Gray
- Seminal Designs, WAS: Alignment Koster, Raph
- META: FAQ and Thread Summaries (HTML) Ling
- OT: News from the front coder@ibm.net
- OT: News from the front Richard Woolcock
- OT: News from the front Matt Chatterley
- OT: News from the front Mike Sellers
- OT: News from the front Chris Gray
- OT: News from the front coder@ibm.net
- OT: News from the front Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: News from the front Marian Griffith
- OT: News from the front Sauron
- OT: News from the front Nathan Yospe
- OT: News from the front coder@ibm.net
- OT: News from the front Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Alex Oren
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Derrick Jones
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Richard Woolcock
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) coder@ibm.net
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Adam Wiggins
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Adam Wiggins
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Felix A. Croes
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Felix A. Croes
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Vadim Tkachenko
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Richard Woolcock
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Derrick Jones
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Marian Griffith
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Marian Griffith
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Travis S. Casey
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Marian Griffith
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Greg Munt
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Chris Gray
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Michael Hohensee
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Stephen Zepp
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Jon A. Lambert
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Vadim Tkachenko
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) coder@ibm.net
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Mike Sellers
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) JC Lawrence
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Maddy
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Derrick Jones
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Matt Chatterley
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) coder@ibm.net
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Adam Wiggins
- Wild west (was Guilds & Politics) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics Stephen Zepp
- Guilds & Politics Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Adam Wiggins
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Stephen Zepp
- Guilds & Politics Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Maddy
- Guilds & Politics Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics Derrick Jones
- Guilds & Politics Maddy
- Guilds & Politics Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics Sauron
- Guilds & Politics Marian Griffith
- Guilds & Politics Jon A. Lambert
- Guilds & Politics Stephen Zepp
- Guilds & Politics coder@ibm.net
- World Design Jon A. Lambert
- Jerks (was ) Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World] Mike Sellers
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Koster, Raph
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Stephen Zepp
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Koster, Raph
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Stephen Zepp
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] coder@ibm.net
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Vadim Tkachenko
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Koster, Raph
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Mike Sellers
- Problem Players [was: Guilds & Politics ] Matt Chatterley
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Stephen Zepp
- Rats, pests and FAQ. Ling
- Rats, pests and FAQ. coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Mike Sellers
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Vadim Tkachenko
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Mike Sellers
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Adam Wiggins
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Adam Wiggins
- Introductions and Marian Griffith
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Chris Gray
- Introductions and Adam Wiggins
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and coder@ibm.net
- Introductions and Richard Woolcock
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- Introductions and Matt Chatterley
- Introductions and Stephen Zepp
- now, prestige, Karma, and alignment Guilds & Politics Mike Sellers
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Jon A. Lambert
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Richard Woolcock
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Stephen Zepp
- Players as Monsters/NPCs Jon A. Lambert
- Server design (was: meta-something) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Koster, Raph
- Guilds & Politics [was Affecting Sauron
- Guilds & Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ: location Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ: location Sauron
- META: FAQ: location Vadim Tkachenko
- META: FAQ: location Miroslav Silovic
- META: FAQ: location Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: location Mike Sellers
- META: FAQ: location Adam Wiggins
- META: FAQ: location Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ: location Adam Wiggins
- META: FAQ: location Jon Leonard
- META: FAQ: location Nathan Yospe
- META: FAQ: location Nathan Yospe
- META: FAQ: location Derrick Jones
- META: FAQ: location Stephen Zepp
- META: FAQ: location Richard Woolcock
- OT: Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World] Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: Era of the Nerd (forwarded) Adam Wiggins
- OT: Books Adam Wiggins
- OT: Books Koster, Raph
- OT: Books Mike Sellers
- OT: Books Nathan Yospe
- OT: Books s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- OT: Books Chris Gray
- OT: Books coder@ibm.net
- OT: Books coder@ibm.net
- OT: Books Mike Sellers
- Is mud research real? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Is mud research real? Koster, Raph
- Alignment...an old view Derrick Jones
- Jerks (me) Ling
- LIST: Forced unsubscriptions due to persistant bounces coder@ibm.net
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Brandon Cline
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Jon A. Lambert
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Chris Gray
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Stephen Zepp
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Adam Wiggins
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Marian Griffith
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Jon A. Lambert
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Matt Chatterley
- Gods, worshipers and the balance coder@ibm.net
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Richard Woolcock
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Vadim Tkachenko
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Richard Woolcock
- Gods, worshipers and the balance Maddy
- META: FAQ: Location, etc s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Sauron
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Richard Woolcock
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Matt Chatterley
- META: FAQ: Location, etc s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Nathan Yospe
- META: FAQ: Location, etc Jon A. Lambert
- META: FAQ: location Chris Gray
- Crowds and Recognition (Was: Introductions and ) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- META: what's with these vcard.vcf attachments? Alex Oren
- META: what's with these vcard.vcf attachments? Vadim Tkachenko
- Describe module Stephen Zepp
- Describe module Vadim Tkachenko
- Seems rather quiet Stephen Zepp
- Seems rather quiet coder@ibm.net
- I live over there! coder@ibm.net
- LIST: Now back on the air coder@ibm.net
- Circumstances & Situations Ling
- Circumstances & Situations Richard Woolcock
- Circumstances & Situations Ling
- Circumstances & Situations Travis Casey
- Circumstances & Situations Nathan Yospe
- Circumstances & Situations Travis Casey
- Circumstances & Situations Marian Griffith
- Circumstances & Situations Travis Casey
- Circumstances & Situations Richard Woolcock
- Circumstances & Situations coder@ibm.net
- Circumstances & Situations JC Lawrence
- Circumstances & Situations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Circumstances & Situations JC Lawrence
- Circumstances & Situations Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- META: nospam in email addresses coder@ibm.net
- OT: My Web Page Jon A. Lambert
- Mail from mud Stephen Zepp
- Mail from mud Richard Woolcock
- Mail from mud Miroslav Silovic
- Mail from mud Brandon Gillespie
- Mail from mud Vadim Tkachenko
- Mail from mud Chris Gray
- FAQ: Personality Clash Ling
- FAQ: Personality Clash Sauron
- FAQ: Personality Clash Marian Griffith
- FAQ: Personality Clash Greg Munt
- FAQ: Personality Clash s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- FAQ: Personality Clash JC Lawrence
- FAQ: Personality Clash Koster, Raph
- FYI: Playing God, Creating Virtual Worlds Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: loss of information control Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- OT: loss of information control Jon A. Lambert
- OT: loss of information control JC Lawrence
- OT: loss of information control Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Mail from mud Update :) Stephen Zepp
- Mail from mud Update :) Vadim Tkachenko
- Mail from mud Update :) Richard Woolcock
- Mail from mud Update :) JC Lawrence
- Mail from mud Update :) Shawn Halpenny
- FAQ: Personality Clash - extra Server Design info included Reed Copsey, Jr.
- OT: Merry Christmas Kris Kringle
- OT: Merry Christmas Matt Chatterley
- The impact of the web on muds Greg Munt
- The impact of the web on muds ##Make Nylander
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds ##Make Nylander
- The impact of the web on muds Matt Chatterley
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Travis Casey
- The impact of the web on muds Richard Woolcock
- The impact of the web on muds Nathan Yospe
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds Ling
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Michael Hohensee
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon Cline
- The impact of the web on muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Marian Griffith
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Shawn Halpenny
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon J. Rickman
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds Jon A. Lambert
- The impact of the web on muds Adam Wiggins
- The impact of the web on muds Greg Munt
- The impact of the web on muds Travis Casey
- The impact of the web on muds Jon A. Lambert
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Koster, Raph
- The impact of the web on muds Vadim Tkachenko
- The impact of the web on muds Travis Casey
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds JC Lawrence
On Wed, 24 Dec 1997 15:30:50 PST8PDT
Greg Munt<greg@uni-corn.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> [Please ignore historical inaccuracies]
Awwww, shoot.
> It was largely unknown outside of academic circles, and was entirely
> a textually-based medium.
No. It was largely a textually represented medium. There is a
difference. I, for one, was running X apps across the 'net back in
the '80's. I also ran (briefly) multi-user text mode versions of
NetTrek with localised GUI frontends that remapped the text interface
to more glossy GUI interfaces. Then of course there is always Xtrek
and BSX.
> It is little wonder that The Big Three (DIKU, LP and Tiny) were all
> text-based games which all supported the TELNET protocol.
Actually, LP is the only one of the three which even pretends to
suppoort telnet. The rest don't support telnet. They support some
sort of hacked subset of telnet which many telnet clients are willing
to not barph on. Again, there is a difference, if a rather moot one
in this case.
> lynx surviving through sheer strength of will...
I'll note that lynx is my browser of choice, and its massive use and
utility for the blind and deaf. Aside: One of the most accomplished
and capable programmers I know is blind, as well as a lynx user under
DOS. I use Lynx under OS/2 primarily.
> The Internet has become a graphical medium.
No, this is a dangerous equation and assumption. It leads to
conclusions which are unsupportable. The default __interface__
__representation__ of the 'net has become graphical via a browser-type
interface. The contents of that representation are still primarily
textual as vs audio, graphical, video, etc.
> The
> text-based tools, such as mail, ftp and telnet, these are still
> around - albeit with a GUI bolted on top of them.
Precisely. The representation of the interface has changed. Little
to nothing else.
> If you look at the mainstream, not too much; the old text-based
> games are still popular...
I'm not aware of any formal user statistics or surveys on the MUDding
population. I suspect that it is both not large, and shrinking.
> Many of us are writing scratch muds. This, then, is an ideal
> opportunity to explore the new interface. This is an opportunity to
> lead muds into the arena of the GUI, where the rest of the Internet
> has been for years.
I really dislike many of the assumptions underlieing the quoted text,
but will ignore for now.
I don't intend for my server to be telnet accessable for anything but
very minor and constricted uses. The reason is sheer data volume and
information overload. It is difficult for a human user to read,
comprehend, and intelligently react to data scrolling past on a telnet
screen at 10+ lines a second. Use of multiple windows, history
scrollbacks, dial/progressbar/meter-style stat representations, radio
buttons, check boxes, client side scripting etc allow for that data
volume to be contained and represented in a manner more suited for
rapid comprehension and response. I don't see that I have a choice
here.
Will the interface actually be graphical? I'm not sure, but probably
not. Certainly I'm resistant to the concept. Most likely it will be
much more analagous to multiple purpose and task specific sized telnet
windows, each running a full-screen CURSES-style mouse-sensitive
interface. All the GUI crap, represented textually for cheapness, all
mouse sensitive as if it were a real GUI. Heck, most likely it will
look like a standard tcl/Tk app.
While I would really like to go for first person 3D graphical in
glorious stereophonic technicolour on the viewpoint representation,
its highly unlikely. Morely likely I'll go for simple stick-figure
representations with monochrome sketched backgrounds and object
renderings, semi-wire-framed, all pasted into a fish-eye lens view
offering a full 300 spherical degrees of vision (spherical distortion
and all). A decently close model might be some of the 1930's charcoal
sketch cartoon animations...
> It would be hard to disagree with the assertion that The Mud
> Connector (www.mudconnect.com) would not have become as popular as
> it is, within a text-based medium. Count the number of Internet
> users on a global scale, and compare that figure to the number of
> mud users. I would be surprised if there was not a massive
> difference. The simple fact is that the majority of Internet users
> do not know what a mud is - and if they know of a talker, it will
> probably be something web-based, like PowWow. A large proportion of
> people sign up with an ISP considering the Internet and the Web to
> be synonymous. This attitude will not be changed - so it must be
> taken advantage of, by us.
I do not expect MUDs to ever be popular with a large percentage of the
'net user base. I would like to see them settle with a percentage no
lower than say 0.01 percent of the 'net user base within the next 10
years (actually that would be 0.01% of the total $$$ spent by the
average home 'net user), and will be extremely pleased if we get that
high.
> Now take a look at the sites themselves. Most were written and
> designed by the coder of the mud - and it shows. Some sites say no
> more than "StockMUD exists, come and play!!!" - whilst others go
> into considerable technical detail. Web surfers do not care about
> the quality of the implementation, in itself - they care about
> attractive, interesting sites; they don't really care to read
> through a carefully maintain version history of the code. They want
> to know what there is to do, and how to do it. They also want it
> WELL PRESENTED. Mud coders rarely make master web designers. It
> would follow, therefore, that mud coders are not masters of HCI and
> GUI design, either.
Translation: Marketing sells, and well targeted and researched
marketing which strikes at the needs and wants of the desired public
sells better.
> So let us now turn our attentions to the GUI. Ignoring the initial
> problem of creating an attractive and intuitive interface, we have
> the problem of increased ease of use resulting in decreased
> functionality. Having an icon for each of 60 verbs would definitely
> result in unwieldiness. We need to consider the extent of the
> conversion from text to graphics. At one end of the scale we have
> text I/O planted onto a web page - at the other, we have removed
> text altogether, and are left with - perhaps - something which looks
> a little like Doom, with extensions.
A feature of DOOM that should be admitted is that the range of
interaction which the player can express in DOOM is extremely limited.
Essentially it is limited to motion, viewpoint direction, activation
of the default methods of objects, and the use and firing of weapons.
That simplicity is both attractive and easy to represent.
Consider the current state of the art in arcade games. Many (ofen
older) games have a single joystick with one or more rarely two
buttons to use in playing the game. Some of the newer games have
multiple joysticks and ocassionally as high as 8 or 10 buttons which
are combination and press-pattern sensitive.
Neither approach is suited for MUDing.
> Can we really remove the interface for text input? Or would doing so
> decrease the possible functionality too much? Perhaps those involved
> on a professional level could shed some light on this issue.
I'll assert that text is not technically required, but is expedient
and efficient for command entry and discourse in a MUD.
> Would a move towards more graphically-orientated muds mean the decay
> of samey stock muds?
Graphical MUDs have a very high cost of entrance. It takes a hell of
a lot of work to graphically describe a world. Orders of magnitude
more than it does to code one. Now think about the comments Raph has
already made on thinking up hundreds of variations on the messages in
UOL (I hope I don't misrecall).
> Would people put up with muds that literally
> look the same?
Given a stock graphical MUD freely available, hell yes. DIKU has
already shown that, as has BSX to a lesser degree.
> Would having a graphical interface enable people to
> more easily comprehend that we need to innovate, not imitate?
I'd be very surprised if there is any relation between the two.
> Or
> would we see graphical code snippets being released?
Until graphical libraries, system models, and representation methods
coalecse a lot more, I doubt it. There are far too many utterly
different ways to skin the cat right now.
> I believe that moving muds into a graphical medium would allow
> greater popularity to be achieved. For many people, the Web *is* the
> Internet. So let's bring muds to the web.
I'd prefer to side-step the Web -- I just don't see it as relevant
outside of marketing and documentation.
--
J C Lawrence Internet: claw@null.net
Internet: coder@ibm.net
----------(*) Internet: jc.lawrence@sun.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... - The impact of the web on muds coder@ibm.net
- The impact of the web on muds Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The impact of the web on muds JC Lawrence
- The impact of the web on muds Brandon Cline
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Mike Sellers
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Michael Hohensee
- The impact of the web on muds Chris Gray
- The impact of the web on muds Michael Hohensee
- The impact of the web on muds Miroslav Silovic
- MUD Development Digest Dr. Cat
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, JC vs Z :) ) ( was Wild west ) Stephen Zepp
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, JC vs Z :) ) ( Jon A. Lambert
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, Z, DOWN FOR THE COUNT! :) ) Stephen Zepp
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, Z, DOWN FOR THE COUNT! :) ) Michael Hohensee
- Attributions vs brainstorming coder@ibm.net
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Greg Munt
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Greg Munt
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Jon A. Lambert
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] JC Lawrence
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The morality of logfiles [was 'Wild west'] JC Lawrence
- Attributions vs brainstorming ( or, Z, DOWN FOR TH Jon A. Lambert
- Task Parsing Stephen Zepp
- Task Parsing Greg Munt
- Task Parsing Stephen Zepp
- Task Parsing Nathan Yospe
- Task Parsing JC Lawrence
- Task Parsing Stephen Zepp
- Mud Settings Greg Munt
- Mud Settings Jon A. Lambert
- Mud Settings Greg Munt
- Mud Settings Ling
- Mud Settings Stephen Zepp
- Mud Settings Vadim Tkachenko
- Mud Settings Marian Griffith
- Mud Settings JC Lawrence
- Mud Settings Travis Casey
- Mud Settings JC Lawrence
- Mud Settings Travis Casey
- Mud Settings Mike Sellers
- Mud Settings Matt Chatterley
- Mud Settings JC Lawrence
- UO's External Chat Programs [was 'Wild west'] Greg Munt
- UO's External Chat Programs [was 'Wild west'] Koster, Raph
- Time travel and Logging Jon A. Lambert
- Time travel and Logging JC Lawrence
- Time travel and Logging Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Time travel and Logging Jon A. Lambert
- Time travel and Logging JC Lawrence
- Time travel and Logging Ling
- Time travel and Logging Koster, Raph
- Time travel and Logging Jon A. Lambert
- Time travel and Logging JC Lawrence
- Task Parsing (repost for format) Stephen Zepp
- AI Nodes (was: Attributions vs brainstorming ...) s001gmu@nova.wright.edu
- AI Nodes (was: Attributions vs brainstorming ...) Jon A. Lambert
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Jon A. Lambert
- Commercial value of RP Travis Casey
- Commercial value of RP Brandon Cline
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Travis Casey
- Commercial value of RP Travis Casey
- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
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- Commercial value of RP Miroslav Silovic
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- Commercial value of RP Ling
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- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
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- Commercial value of RP Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
- Commercial value of RP Vadim Tkachenko
- Commercial value of RP Chris Gray
- Commercial value of RP Koster, Raph
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Raph & Kristen Koster
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- Commercial value of RP Miroslav Silovic
- Commercial value of RP Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Commercial value of RP The Eternal City
- Commercial value of RP Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Commercial value of RP The Eternal City
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP The Eternal City
- Commercial value of RP JC Lawrence
- Commercial value of RP Mike Sellers
- OT: Mud Settings Vadim Tkachenko
- OT: Mud Settings Travis Casey
- FAQ: Personalities Ling
- FAQ: Personalities coder@ibm.net