<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts --> <!--X-From-R13: Qnyvona Fverfvnf Rnexybpx <pnyvonaNqnexybpx.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 11:14:10 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 4.1.19990604103648.00bfe200#pop,darklock.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: Pine.BSF.4.10.9906040001240.28524-100000#shell9,ba.best.com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:caliban#darklock,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="msg00486.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00488.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00496.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00442.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00487">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00487">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00487">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</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] thoughts</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Caliban Tiresias Darklock <<A HREF="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 11:09:01 -0700</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 12:19 AM 6/4/99 -0700, I personally witnessed Matthew Mihaly jumping up to say: > >I've also been thinking about how I play muds. I don't tend to form very >distinct pictures of things, if at all. They are just vague, either >non-visual or very nebulous, concepts for the most part. My perception changes, based on what game I'm playing. On Cajun Nights MUSH, I have a real sense of location and description. It matters to me whether it's windy, raining, or dark -- even though these have no game effect. They make a difference in how I act and in what my in-game mood is. On Realms of Despair, I read descriptions primarily to scan for things that look like they can be manipulated. Once I know an area well enough to recall what can and can't be manipulated there, I stop reading descriptions in that area. On Ultimate Universe, descriptions don't even exist. There is an ordinal number for location, and a terse list of what's in the location. My primary concern is to scan for anything dangerous or unusual, and to investigate thoroughly upon noticing something unusual... it tends to be evidence that someone has mucked around to try and protect something interesting. >I see certain text, which embodies >a feeling or concept of some sort, like "Your mind reels as it is battered >by a hammer of psychic force", and I think "eat goldenseal, eat >goldenseal, eat goldenseal". To use the same group of games, on CN it is more or less necessary to the game that you involve yourself in the actions and statements of others. On RoD, yeah, same basic thing you describe here; lots of words with little meaning. On UU, there is no such text: everything is very dry and technical and usually only informs you of a possibility. (Example -- "Battle debris strikes specialty bay area." Translation -- your ship's device bays *may* have been damaged in this battle. You have to look in order to find out whether any were. If you know, however, that your device bays are well-enough armored that damage is impossible... you don't even bother.) >However, when I play a mud, the only direct stimulation there >is is the actual text you are seeing. I feel as if it isn't the >text-as-English that I am experiencing when I'm logged in, but a >meta-language wherein individual concepts, or arrays of concepts, are >represented by the fixed patterns of text. This seems like a very long and convoluted way to say "If it doesn't mean anything important, I ignore it, and after a while I don't even see it." The human brain is good at this. This is, in fact, primarily what the human brain *does*: figure out what's important enough to spend time processing and filter out everything else. >This is especially true in combat in Achaea, now that I think of it. Your >screen scrolls amazingly fast, and you have to discipline your mind to >pick out the important patterns and toss away the rest. I can scan the galaxy in UU at a rate of approximately 100 sectors a minute. Obviously, I cannot *possibly* read every sensor display -- I look for specific things which trigger a "look closely" response. Such things include but are not strictly limited to black holes, sector mines, attack drones, and planets. Most everything else gets ignored. >I expect a lot of you will jump up and think I'm either nuts or have no >mudding soul, but I shall ignore your treacherous mutterings and let Pip >deal with you. I think you're raising a very good point. Many combat MUDs are designed by builders and developers who want to create an immersive experience, and played by players who want a fast-action experience. There's a difference in expectation there. That difference in expectation leads to a difference in effort, which in turn leads to a difference in perception of quality. The builder looks at his area and says "it is a masterpiece of flowing language and powerful imagery", whereas the player looks at the same area and says "all of the mobs are wimps, none of them carry any decent items, and there aren't enough of them to keep you busy through an entire repop cycle". The area may, in fact, be a truly impressive place to look at! The builder may have been perfectly successful in HIS design goals! But from the player's eye, this area is utterly worthless -- because there is a fundamental failure to recognise why people play the area to begin with. It is a very religious issue as to whether the builder was wrong by not doing what the players wanted, or the player is wrong for missing the point of the area. I think both are at fault, to an extent; look at Quake 2. The level design is *beautiful*. Stick it in god mode and wander around just looking at things. Ignore the monsters themselves, deny yourself the twitch response, and just watch their actions and animations. Sure, you get close to a wall and it's all pixellated. But who cares? Look out across that room. Look at the lighting, the shadows, the textures, hell... the design is seriously impressive. You *can* have it all. Whether one person can *do* it all is a different matter. ;) ----- | Caliban Tiresias Darklock caliban#darklock,com | Darklock Communications <A HREF="http://www.darklock.com/">http://www.darklock.com/</A> | U L T I M A T E U N I V E R S E I S N O T D E A D | 774577496C6C6E457645727355626D4974H -=CABAL::3146=- _______________________________________________ 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> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00481" HREF="msg00481.html">[MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Matthew Mihaly <diablo#best,com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00486.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00488.html">[MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00496.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00442.html">[MUD-Dev] Combat (very long)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00487"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00487"><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] Game Economies</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00857" HREF="msg00857.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Mik Clarke <a href="mailto:mikclrk#ibm,net">mikclrk#ibm,net</a>, Fri 18 Jun 1999, 20:43 GMT </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00481" HREF="msg00481.html">[MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Fri 04 Jun 1999, 15:40 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00486" HREF="msg00486.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Fri 04 Jun 1999, 17:56 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00496" HREF="msg00496.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Fri 04 Jun 1999, 21:24 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00487" HREF="msg00487.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] thoughts</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Fri 04 Jun 1999, 18:14 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00442" HREF="msg00442.html">[MUD-Dev] Combat (very long)</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:sarapis#achaea,com">sarapis#achaea,com</a>, Thu 03 Jun 1999, 05:57 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00446" HREF="msg00446.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Combat (very long)</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Thu 03 Jun 1999, 08:42 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00455" HREF="msg00455.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Combat (very long)</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:sarapis#achaea,com">sarapis#achaea,com</a>, Thu 03 Jun 1999, 16:00 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00544" HREF="msg00544.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Combat (very long)</A></strong>, Marian Griffith <a href="mailto:gryphon#iaehv,nl">gryphon#iaehv,nl</a>, Sun 06 Jun 1999, 13:26 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </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>