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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Stephen Zepp <<A HREF="mailto:zoran#enid,com">zoran#enid,com</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 12:40:08 -0600</LI>
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<PRE>
Greg Munt wrote:
>
> On Fri, 13 Feb 1998, Stephen Zepp wrote:
>
> [Pueblo interface]
>
[my description of my interface]
> >
> > Players hated it. I think that out of about 20 people that saw it, one person
> > actually wanted to use it continuously, and was begging to see the code to
> > support it on his mud ( another ack ). I just found that your generic "text
> > mudder" is pretty set in their ways, and aren't interested in too much change.
>
> Am I alone in thinking that player demand should not drive new mud
> development? On this list, I don't think I am. (On Usenet... Hrmm.)
>
> Generalising, I should say that players are dumb and stupid, and will
> follow you so long as there is a clear path from the past to the present
> to the future.
>
> Obviously, there is no path to what we must consider as the future of UIs.
> In this and similar situations, you should ignore what the players say
> they want (generalising again, what players say they want is not usually
> what they want - most of the time, they don't know they want it until they
> see it, and even then, some period of acclimitisation is warranted), and
> go ahead and do your thing. I remember the uproar when Infocom started
> using graphics in their interactive fiction. A while later, and no-one was
> interested in a text-only interface. Look at Sierra's "Space Quest" series
> - originally graphics and text, it is now wholly a GUI.
>
> You can't make decisions based on the current demands of the players -
> but, rather, on their future demands. And their future UI demands are
> definitely graphical.
>
> My current project will be supporting telnet only as a courtesy. There
> will be no line editor for telnet users. (Although I could do one, if I
> wanted to.) I should imagine that all of my initial players will be
> coming in through telnet. That does not mean I will support telnet in
> anything but a minimal way.
>
> PLAYER DEMAND SHOULD NOT BE A FACTOR IN INNOVATIVE MUD DEVELOPMENT.
>
I agree with this part, but you've also got to consider that no matter how well
_you_ like an interface, it's the players that will use it. I didn't give up on
the peublo stuff because my players ( really playtesters, I'm not open ), didn't
like it, but because sending full length html was way to cumbersome...lag was
obvious whenever I had to send 24 characters for a single forground color
change, for example, as opposed to the under 7 char for a straight ansi
sequence. We've been playing around with a 3 character command code sent from
the mud to a custom client, with a mud-configurable lookup table de-referencing
the command codes into client tasks. Should be much more efficient.
In general, players shouldn't drive your design, but I strongly feel that they
must interact with it in the early stages to ensure that it's gonna work. For
example, I have always liked SSI designs, but hated their interfaces so totally
that I will never buy another SSI game. Stronghold comes quickly to mind..a
really cool game, but impossible ( for me ) to control and play effectively.
Z
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<LI><STRONG><A NAME="00549" HREF="msg00549.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></STRONG>
<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Greg Munt <greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk></LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00621" HREF="msg00621.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></strong>,
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Fri 27 Feb 1998, 12:22 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00756" HREF="msg00756.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 19 Mar 1998, 00:08 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00549" HREF="msg00549.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></strong>,
Greg Munt <a href="mailto:greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk">greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk</a>, Sat 21 Feb 1998, 11:47 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00550" HREF="msg00550.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></strong>,
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Sat 21 Feb 1998, 13:30 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00552" HREF="msg00552.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Clients</A></strong>,
Stephen Zepp <a href="mailto:zoran#enid,com">zoran#enid,com</a>, Sat 21 Feb 1998, 18:38 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
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</ul>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00199" HREF="msg00199.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>,
Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Sun 11 Jan 1998, 21:18 GMT
<UL>
<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00361" HREF="msg00361.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>,
Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 01:20 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00394" HREF="msg00394.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>,
Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Sun 08 Feb 1998, 22:30 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00626" HREF="msg00626.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>,
Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Fri 27 Feb 1998, 20:04 GMT
</LI>
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