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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: "Leach, Brad BA" <<A HREF="mailto:Leach.Brad.BA#bhp,com.au">Leach.Brad.BA#bhp,com.au</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 09:16:07 +1000</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>
On Tuesday, July 14, 1998 12:21 PM
J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Jul 1998 11:50:39 -0700 (PDT)
> Adam Wiggins<adam#angel,com> wrote:
>
> > The answer is that it is invitation-only, and at its core a
> > dictatorship. This keeps quality up, but number of players low
> > (have we ever had more than about 20 active posters at any given
> > time?). I think most here would agree with me that this is a
> > desirable effect; you could do a mud the very same way as long as
> > you didn't mind spending a lot of energy on it and after four years
> > only having 20 active players. :)
>
Has anyone actually tried running a mud as an invitation-only service?
How successful has this been? I am extremely impressed with the quality
of this list, and at this stage I would like to run my mud as such a
service. There seem to be a few issues with this, however. Do people log
on for the "average 4 hour per day" as they do on other muds? Do they
get bored and leave due to the lack of people on? Is the player base
centralised a common logon time? [That question is important to me as I
live in Australia :-) ]. How is motivation retained for the
implementors?
[MUD-Dev stats snip'ed]
> The period when the list /was/ invitation only (remember, that hasn't
> been true for several months now) was significant however. It allowed
> the list culture to evolve, consolidate, and to become deeply accepted
> by the membership. This is important to the extent that it provides a
> commonly agreed upon and accepted premise for new members conform to
> and join.
>
Imagine the fun you would have with such a player base for a mud. :-)
From a personal point of view, the culture of a mud is one of the key
factors for me. I have played an old EoD based Diku mud for years. The
code is, well, primitive (Sorry Greg :-), but it has such a
distinguished culture (to me). I continue to go back and play there over
and over.
> In the MUD world this would be equivalent to having a
> beta-test period to form a central knot of players for the new
> players, once the game is opened to the public, to coalesce about.
>
I can see my mud never getting out of the beta stage...
[Closing comment snip'ed]
I would love to have a culture built up in my mud from this method, but
there are other "experiments" I would like to "run". One of the other
methods I would like to try is to have (initally) a "rule-less" mud.
There would be no rules set by the admin - it would all be left for the
players to inadvertantly set and enforce. I am not sure this would be
successful. It has worked for the human race, but then again, we were
faced with the options of evolving into a society with culture, or at
the other end of the scale - extinsion. As there are no consequences of
any actions from a mud, I cant see any result apart from extinsion -
except if a very strong culture is formed by a tight knot of players.
Even then, the chances of the mud forming into a culture that *I* like,
is limited. I dont think I am prepared to put the time in to a mud to
find that I dont want to be there/play it after a certain period of
time. Maybe it can be a project for a University experiment (or a
concurrent server to my "real" mud) in the future.
That's all for now,
-Brad
<sig snipped>
</PRE>
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<li><strong><A NAME="00952" HREF="msg00952.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com></li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00411" HREF="msg00411.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> s001gmu#nova,wright.edu</li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01245" HREF="msg01245.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>,
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Sat 26 Sep 1998, 02:58 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01333" HREF="msg01333.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Mon 28 Sep 1998, 17:21 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01271" HREF="msg01271.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>,
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sat 26 Sep 1998, 19:01 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01179" HREF="msg01179.html">No Subject</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 05:42 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00405" HREF="msg00405.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>,
Leach, Brad BA <a href="mailto:Leach.Brad.BA#bhp,com.au">Leach.Brad.BA#bhp,com.au</a>, Tue 28 Jul 1998, 23:20 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00411" HREF="msg00411.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>,
s001gmu <a href="mailto:s001gmu#nova,wright.edu">s001gmu#nova,wright.edu</a>, Wed 29 Jul 1998, 04:02 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00952" HREF="msg00952.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Sat 05 Sep 1998, 01:07 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
<UL>
<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00406" HREF="msg00406.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>,
S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:choke#sirius,com">choke#sirius,com</a>, Tue 28 Jul 1998, 23:57 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00412" HREF="msg00412.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Affordances and social method</A></strong>,
quzah <a href="mailto:quzah#geocities,com">quzah#geocities,com</a>, Wed 29 Jul 1998, 04:17 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
</ul>
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