Thanks, Fiendish, for putting in words what I was trying to say ...

A while ago now there was some debate in the MUD community about whether we should improve the user experience by adding in standardized improvements to the user interface. Unfortunately, for reasons that elude me a little, there was a lot of resistance to the idea. Probably the closest I can get to understanding it is the idea that "MUD games are text-based adventures".

I stumbled across a couple of articles by Fiendish from Aardwolf recently:

Of mice and MUD clients. Part 1 of some number.

and

Of mice and MUD clients. Part 2 of some number.

Fiendish articulates what I was trying to explain - our MUD experience is enhanced, not diminished, by seeing what is going on around us. Status bars, experience bars, battle sounds, all add to the immersion. But this is not turning a MUD into a 3D game. It is just improving the user interface. Which is exactly what Apple, Microsoft, and the Linux-based operating systems have all been doing over the years.

I don't go for copy protection - I think it's crap. I still fume every time I put a DVD into my player - one I have paid for - and have the makers of the DVD insult me by running a spiel about "you wouldn't steal a car, you wouldn't steal a horse, so DON'T STEAL THIS DVD!".

Just imagine what it would be like if when you entered a shop, security guards bounced out of nowhere, seized you by the shirt, and shouted at you "You wouldn't steal a car, right? So DON'T STEAL FROM THIS SHOP!". It's bad business to do that to your customers. And to add injury to insult, then they shout at you in languages you don't even understand!

Er, anyway ...

So we tried to make a universal protocol to improve the MUD experience for everyone. You didn't have to use it. But if you did, your players would get an enhanced experience.

The project got dragged down in negativity. Ah well, that's life. But some MUDs at least are embracing the idea - implementing "out of band" messages that clients can pick up, and display status bars, experience bars, group information, and so on.

Aardwolf is one of those. There are others. I like the enhanced experience. And strangely enough the better-known MMORPG games seem to be on a bit of a slide right how. This might be a good time to get back into MUDs. Their low costs in terms of adding content means that there will always be something new for you - new areas to explore, and new friends to make. I regret that I am usually so busy improving MUSHclient that I don't have more time to spend more time with the great people I have met when playing MUDs.

This isn't an ad. I make very little money out of MUSHclient. The donations I get go a little way towards supporting this site. Aardwolf is free to play. Most MUDs are. I still think MUDs are fun. They are fantasy worlds where you make friends. What more could you want?

I'm flattered. But only a little bit, because I knew I was right when I wrote it. :D

It's funny...I promised a part 3 explaining how to do it wrong and how to do it right and left a cryptic note that I thought the "current" (read: old, before I took over maintaining it) Aardwolf package did it wrong. But I didn't leave myself any notes about why, and now I honestly can't remember. I guess maybe that statement about it changing before the next edition gets published has become true.


Whoa. ^_^

This is an example of what Fiendish has done with miniwindows and plugins to make the MUD experience more fun:



On the left are two map views - the top one shows a bit more information, the lower one shows the overall view. On the right is the MUD output, so you still get your textual displays. Underneath is the "communication log" where chats and other conversations go. Some of that is blurred for privacy.

Then you have your health and experience bars, and your current stats.

The information windows have a consistent design, where they can be resized, moved around, sent to the back or front, and so on.