<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry --> <!--X-From-R13: [nggurj [vunyl <qvnoybNorfg.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 14:30:36 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: Pine.BSF.4.21.0002151308320.2052-100000#shell9,ba.best.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 38A9B848.D7B2B51E#darklock,com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:diablo#best,com"> </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="msg00334.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00337.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00331.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00338.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00335">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00335">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00335">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Matthew Mihaly <<A HREF="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 14:24:19 -0800 (PST)</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu</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 Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote: > Matthew Mihaly wrote: > > > > On Tue, 16 Nov 1999, Colin Coghill wrote: > > > > > Some of us (including me) feel that the "restricted" ones you mention > > > are a *good* thing for the community. > > > > How are they good for the community? As far as I can tell, all they do is > > ensure that the community is full of a bunch of crappy, generic muds that > > are essentially paint-by-numbers copies of each other. > > Whereas commercially exploitable codebases would ensure that the > community is full of crappy generic MUDs that are essentially > paint-by-numbers copies of each other... which you have to pay for. > > Well, gee, you know... given a choice... I disagree. I think it's pretty damn clear that commercial muds are, on the average, FAR higher quality than free ones. I would like to see it become easier for people to start small niche commercial muds, because I would like to see more of them. No offence to Raph, etc, but the last thing I want to see in the future of muds is the equivalent of pre-cable tv, with a handful of networks providing all the content. The solution to diversity (or at least quality diversity) isn't to have a bunch of people with low-power transmitters and tv cameras in their homes, recording whatever low-quality content they feel like broadcasting. The solution is attracting quality people who have the energy, ability, and money to produce quality content. This is what happened with cable television. I don't watch a ton of television, but what I do watch is almost never from one of the networks. There are tons of niches filled by cable television, from stuff like ESPN2 for sports fanatics to the History channel to MTV to Lifetime: Television for Women (always makes me laugh when I'm watching that and see that logo). You can argue that most of what's on cable tv as well as network tv is crap, and I'd agree, but it's a LOT better on the whole than the crap spewed out by Joe Webcam. Would you still have lots of crappy paint-by-numbers muds if the popular codebases did not have commercial restrictions? Undoubtedly. Of course, they'd be mainly free, because hardly anyone is going to pay for something on par with a standard DIKU. On the other hand, I believe that making it easier for entrepreneurs to create commercial muds would produce more commercial muds which will nearly always be of significantly higher quality than your average free mud. That the profit motive is a very good and very strong motivator is pretty obvious. Someone using a stock base to start a commercial mud would be forced to really gussy it up, or no one is going to pay. He could, of course, code one from scratch, but this is a much more difficult thing to do. There is a large, and very psychologically significant barrier to entry in creating a mud from scratch for a one-man, or handful-of-men operation, and that is that it is very difficult, psychologically, to spend a lot of time in isolation developing a mud with no players on it. It's much more rewarding to have players there, assisting you in terms of suggestions, etc. It's also good to start trying to build a team of quality volunteers as soon as possible, and a player base is the best source for those volunteers. I've been thinking about this issue for awhile, and recently paid a bunch of money to buy the copyright to, and the rights to all extant contracts for, the engine/scripting language Vortex. I'm considering setting up some sort of incubator operation, much like VC incubators (but on a MUCH smaller scale financially and otherwise of course), to assist people in creating commercial muds with Vortex and possibly with a new engine/scripting language currently under development for me called Rapture. I really believe that the mudding world as a whole will be better served with a lot of smaller commercial niche muds as opposed to a few big commercial muds that are forced to cater to the lowest common denominator in their quest for bragging rights to the largest subscriber base. --matt _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00338" HREF="msg00338.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "David Bennett" <ddt#discworld,imaginary.com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00331" HREF="msg00331.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</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="msg00334.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00337.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00331.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00338.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00335"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00335"><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] code base inquiry</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00380" HREF="msg00380.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Ben Greear <a href="mailto:greearb#candelatech,com">greearb#candelatech,com</a>, Thu 17 Feb 2000, 18:06 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00388" HREF="msg00388.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Thu 17 Feb 2000, 18:42 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00398" HREF="msg00398.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Thu 17 Feb 2000, 23:22 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00331" HREF="msg00331.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 15 Feb 2000, 20:59 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00335" HREF="msg00335.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Tue 15 Feb 2000, 22:30 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00338" HREF="msg00338.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, David Bennett <a href="mailto:ddt#discworld,imaginary.com">ddt#discworld,imaginary.com</a>, Tue 15 Feb 2000, 23:05 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00340" HREF="msg00340.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 15 Feb 2000, 23:47 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00343" HREF="msg00343.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, David Bennett <a href="mailto:ddt#discworld,imaginary.com">ddt#discworld,imaginary.com</a>, Wed 16 Feb 2000, 00:02 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00347" HREF="msg00347.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] code base inquiry</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 16 Feb 2000, 00:48 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </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>