[the_logos]

There's an interview I did recently with Dr. Bartle (inventor of MUDs) up on my blog: http://forge.ironrealms.com/2006/09/...ichard-bartle/

Enjoy!
--matt

[Luvan]

Progenitor says, “If you can get someone to play one for an hour, you’ve got them indefinitely.”

Is that really true? I guess I am exception.

Whats up with the light text on a light background?

Anyway, I am jealous. Have you played Oblivion? It seems somewhat have the type of AI you where mentioning.

[Kylotan]

As I see it, Oblivion has very little in the way of innovative AI, and probably nothing text muds haven't had for a long time.

[Gromble]

Does anyone else feel that Richard Bartle gets too much deference?

Having read several interview and articles, I find myself in agreement with some of his views and completely at odds with others.  And I think that underscores how virtual worlds are a subjective experience, and what tickles one person may not another.

I give him credit for being an early innovator, but have a hard time swallowing everything he says as the right or wrong way to build virtual worlds.

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by (Luvan @ Sep. 22 2006,01:19) Progenitor says, “If you can get someone to play one for an hour, you’ve got them indefinitely.” Is that really true? I guess I am exception. Whats up with the light text on a light background? Anyway, I am jealous. Have you played Oblivion? It seems somewhat have the type of AI you where mentioning.

No, it's not true that you have them indefinitely if you get someone to play for an hour. Not literally true, at least. What he meant, I think (and I'd agree with it) is that if you can get someone who hasn't played a text MUD before to sit down and play it for an hour, at the end of the hour (presuming they haven't quit in frustration already), they're probably going to be ok with the text interface.

Regarding light text on a light background....that's just the way Wordpress (the blog software I use) does "quote mode". I suppose in the future I could not use the quote mode though.

Yep, I played Oblivion all the way to the end, and I was sorely disappointed by the so-called "radiant AI," which Bethesda had spent a lot of time hyping pre-release. The difference between what Bartle proposed in his columns (found here: http://www.skotos.net/articles/DAWNOF.shtml - start your way at #23 and work up) and what Oblivion does is that Oblivion's AI is almost entirely window-dressing. No quests are generated as a result of what the AI is doing. All the quests are completely pre-written and the AI never actually does anything new.

The only people in gaming that I'm aware of (which hardly means they're the only people doing it! who are focused strongly on AI are Online Alchemy (Mike Sellers, one of the creators of Meridian 59, runs it). Their web page is at: http://onlinealchemy.com/OA_Main_content.html

--matt

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by (Gromble @ Sep. 22 2006,10:20) Does anyone else feel that Richard Bartle gets too much deference? Having read several interview and articles, I find myself in agreement with some of his views and completely at odds with others. And I think that underscores how virtual worlds are a subjective experience, and what tickles one person may not another. I give him credit for being an early innovator, but have a hard time swallowing everything he says as the right or wrong way to build virtual worlds.

I'd agree. He's not automatically right. Even credited on his book, I find disagreements with certain parts of it. Sometimes he, like everyone, mixes together what he wishes were true with what is true. For instance, he wrote that to have a good game you should first aim for a good virtual world, but a couple lines later he admits that WoW is not a good virtual world. (It's certainly a good game.)

Nevertheless, he has a lot of experience, and is worth paying attention to for that reason alone.
--matt

[Brody]

We invited him to FidoCon, and I wish he could have attended, because whether one always agrees with him, it's definitely valuable to hear his thoughts on the state of virtual worlds and what the latest generation of games might mean to our own.

Thanks for posting the interview!

[Sanvean]

Nice interview! I think one of the hardest issues text muds face is how to get those new users to try it for an hour. One thing we talked about doing at sf conventions is setting up a computer and letting people watch what's happening in a tavern room on the game world, to see whether or not that can hook them. I think it's the people who really like to read who are the lasting generation of mudders, but who knows?

Sanvean/Cat Rambo
http://www.armageddon.org/http://www.kittywumpus.net

[the_logos]

Originally Posted by (Sanvean @ Sep. 22 2006,14:37) Nice interview! I think one of the hardest issues text muds face is how to get those new users to try it for an hour. One thing we talked about doing at sf conventions is setting up a computer and letting people watch what's happening in a tavern room on the game world, to see whether or not that can hook them. I think it's the people who really like to read who are the lasting generation of mudders, but who knows? Sanvean/Cat Rambo http://www.armageddon.org/http://www.kittywumpus.net

Do you guys do much promoting at conventions? That's something I've not really experimented with. I've spoken at places like Dragoncon, but we've never set up a booth or anything, primarily because setting up something that really looks professional is reportedly quite expensive.

--matt

[Sanvean]

We have done tables at DragonCon a couple of times, with handouts on them and people hanging out to talk about the game. It's always been fun, but it's usually been a player-driven assemblage.

Sanvean/Cat Rambo
http://www.armageddon.org - http://www.kittywumpus.net