[Kedoeji]

With all the connectivety of today i am surprised I have not see muds being played on cell phones.
I know with languauges like pearl this is possible but who will be the first or is something like that going to alot harder than I think?
Or instead of just muds on cell phones would it be more likely to see a client that connects to muds before cell phone specific muds?
Anyways, I feel like this is prob the next direction in muds.

How it will actually look like to code this and go in this direction is very intresting question to explore.

Let me know what you think.

[Ilkidarios]

I don't think it would be hard to get a mud cellular, but it would probably have to be hosted from an external system, such as a computer or server and a phone would have a telnet inside of it to hook up to the external source.  Generally, MUDs don't demand a lot of your computer.  You could even use a modified version of a text messager to do all the commands and such.

[gth]

I already know of several who perform admin functions while on the road (either with laptop via cellphone, or directly from a more capable smartphone).  There are basic telnet clients, or if you wish you could go in the other direction and run VNC on the phone.

The question is whether a mortal would bother 'typing' in an environment where the interface is so restrictive.  Using stylus + gestures is inaccurate; using an on-screen keyboard takes up precious screen real-estate, as would implementing an actual MUD client with buttons to remove/reduce the need for text entry.

But you never know... a 75% workable solution usually works in IT; just ask Mr Gates.  

[Jaregarde]

I'm sure that it is possible for cell phones to connect to servers with text messages; in fact, Google has already done something similar(http://www.google.com/sms). They have a service that lets you get driving directions and business listings and other cool stuff via text message. As you already pointed out though, gth, typing would probably prove too difficult for it to be worthwhile.

[Murpe]

This has been reviewed in the past via Gamasutra.com article and presents these issues:

1) As with many telnet applications, these are written primarly in Java. Since most of the older, inexpensive cell phones are not Java-based, they cannot run terminals (like telnet) across them. For the phones that are Java-enabled, the telnet applications that are available, however, presents such a limited screen to the client that is nearly impossible to play effectively.

2) The SMS system is not a streaming technology. Its more of a proxy system, thus telnet-like applications have problems connecting to real-time server environments.

3) Since MUDs are more keyboard usable, cell phones that aren't QWERTY based (i.e. you dont have to hit a number 2 or 3 times to change the letter) are in limited supply and usually very expensive (i.e. blackberrys, PDAs, etc).

This being said, PDAs however would present a better choice for being the gaming console. But you also have to remember that newer technology such as Flash MX is not yet available for these environments, so they will be just as limited as the basic 'Java-enhanced' phones. As for the C/C++ game clients, these could be run from PDAs but would have to really be stripped down from their PC counterparts due to limited ram and flash-drive disk space.

-- M

[the_logos]

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Originally Posted by (Murpe @ April 19 2005,10[img http://www.topmudsites.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif[/img]3)]1) As with many telnet applications, these are written primarly in Java. Since most of the older, inexpensive cell phones are not Java-based, they cannot run terminals (like telnet) across them. For the phones that are Java-enabled, the telnet applications that are available, however, presents such a limited screen to the client that is nearly impossible to play effectively.

The other thing to keep in mind is that not all carriers do open systems where you can just download a java app onto your phone. The BREW platform, for instance, used by Verizon, is a closed system that doesn't allow this kind of thing.

And even assuming you're using a handset on an open carrier (the majority of handsets use java rather than BREW, for instance), you've got to deal with horrible implementations of Java that vary widely from handset to handset, often requiring you to use handset-specific APIs to get any decent functionality.

And, as you say, there's always the screen size issue. To effectively play a MUD completely from a mobile device, I think the MUD would have to be designed specifically to be played from that device (as opposed to allowing you do perform a limited set of game functions from a mobile device like checking in-game news or messages or issuing commands to your armies or whatever).

--matt

[Ilkidarios]

Darn it, my original post had the point about typing difficulty but I edited it out because I thought about the cell phones with keyboards.