<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript --> <!--X-From-R13: Fenivf Qnfrl <rsvaqryNcbynevf.arg> --> <!--X-Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 12:43:31 +0000 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 13325.980227#io,com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 199802270753.CAA15606#relay,mnsinc.com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00621.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00624.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00619.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00656.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00623">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00623">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00623">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: Caliban Tiresias Darklock <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Travis Casey <<A HREF="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 07:48:43 -0500</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: Travis Casey <<A HREF="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</A>></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On Thursday, 26 February 98, Caliban wrote: > What I see in most MUDs is an entirely incorrect > assumption that the interface which makes sense to the programmer is the > interface which makes sense. The climate of the internet, as many people > have noted recently, is very different; when MUSHes and MUDs were first > getting to be popular on the net, you could assume with reasonable accuracy > that anyone on the internet was a programmer or at least a college student > with some programming aspirations and ability. A side note -- many people who aren't programmers liked the atmosphere back then. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who isn't a programmer, and indeed is proud to consider himself "computer illiterate" -- and he was lamenting the fact that anyone can get on a mud these days. In the old days, he said, you could usually be assured of a minimum degree of intelligence among the players, since one needed to at least be able to follow instructions fairly well to log on, and most people with accounts and time to mud were college students in CS or the hard sciences. > You could further assume > that the user who was logging onto a MUD was not only familiar with but > probably *expert* at Dungeons and Dragons, which was pretty much the only > game in town (no pun intended) at the time. So even if your game system > bore no resemblance whatsoever to D&D, you could explain it in D&D style > terms and reasonably expect to be understood. Unfortunately, far too many of them *did* resemble D&D... > Nowadays, there are hundreds of game systems, many of which are nothing > like D&D. Even when muds where first starting, there were dozens (if not hundreds) of RPG systems, many of which were nothing like D&D. Muds really started to build up in the mid-80's, by which time Top Secret, Runequest, Traveller, Tunnels & Trolls, Empire of the Petal Throne, The Fantasy Trip, and DragonQuest all existed -- to name just some of the more well-known systems. A quick look through Schick's _Heroic Worlds_ shows that there were more than 50 RPGs on the market by 1984; how many different *systems* there were is another question, but I'd judge it at at least 30, counting off the ones that I know were based on the same system and rounding down a bit. D&D has always been the best-known RPG, and is a "gatekeeper" RPG -- almost anyone who has played any paper RPGs has played D&D. Thus, it's useful as a sort of lingua franca for role-players. With that said, though, I think it's one of the worst possible choices to base a computer RPG on, and I have to wonder exactly what the early mud designers were thinking -- did they just not know about any other RPGs? -- |\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel#io,com> ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me. |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' visit the rec.games.design FAQ: '---''(_/--' `-'\_) <A HREF="http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html">http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00619" HREF="msg00619.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban#darklock,com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00621.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00624.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Tutorial: Let's build a Compiler! - Part I: Introductio</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00619.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00656.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00623"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00623"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00599" HREF="msg00599.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com">Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com</a>, Thu 26 Feb 1998, 05:41 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00602" HREF="msg00602.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 26 Feb 1998, 06:24 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00612" HREF="msg00612.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com">Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com</a>, Fri 27 Feb 1998, 04:38 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00619" HREF="msg00619.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Fri 27 Feb 1998, 07:53 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00623" HREF="msg00623.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Fri 27 Feb 1998, 12:43 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00656" HREF="msg00656.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com">Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com</a>, Sun 01 Mar 1998, 05:25 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00664" HREF="msg00664.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Sauron <a href="mailto:dlove#kusd,kusd.edu">dlove#kusd,kusd.edu</a>, Mon 02 Mar 1998, 00:16 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00669" HREF="msg00669.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com">Jon.A.Lambert#ix,netcom.com</a>, Mon 02 Mar 1998, 16:28 GMT </LI> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00665" HREF="msg00665.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Java and Javascript</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Mon 02 Mar 1998, 06:55 GMT </LI> </LI> </LI> </LI> </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>