There was that MUD programming contest way in the past, and we've discussed and decided the impracticalities of having another in this day and age. But I've recently been thinking about my codebase, and how development of the game side of it is so easy to stall in favour of fleshing out the technical side. And considering starting again, but with keeping to a maxim of maximising game code and minimising technical code.

So what about a lax contest, where you don't need to do it at any fixed time, as long as you are honest in the required areas. No judging. Just something which you can use as incentive to make a game. Which brings to mind the 7 day roguelike contest.

Would anyone be interested in particpating in a 7 day MUD-like contest?

I like the idea, but when you say no fixed time, do you mean any 7 days of your choosing? I think the formal 7 day roguelike (7DRL) compo works because everyone doesdo it at the same time. Of course there are out-of-contest 7DRLs, but it's not the same IMO.

That said, someone recently wrote a mud in 48 hours for Ludum Dare (see here), so 7 days certainly seems reasonable.

A contest that has no fixed time and no judging? I think part of what makes contests work is the motivation to perform under pressure compared to other people; if you remove the pressure and the comparison, I'm not sure it would be that different from just sitting down and writing code under completely normal circumstances.

I was just being as flexible as possible in my suggestion. Ideally, if there were interest, it would exactly mirror the 7DRL in that there would be a yearly contest and people could also embark on it on their own.

Regarding your point David, outside of the annual contest, it is useful as a fixed standard to aspire to. It sets a limited and not too prolonged period which the effort has to be achieved within. You devalue your achievement by making use of too extensive a set of resources – like building on an existing game rather than writing one more from the ground up. And you can measure yourself against any other effort at the challenge. Think of Top Gear and the ladder of celebrities and their speeds driving a standard car, they don't compete against each other, but they are measured against each other regardless. At least that is how I perceive and experienced the 7DRL challenge.