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Back to the Future III was "relatively accurate" if one's idea of late 19th century America is that it resembled every cliche of a bad Western.
Technology plays an integral role in the socio-cultural development of civilization. Change the technology and you change the culture. The printing press played an important and timely role in the spread of Protestantism as well as the diffusion of knowledge which led to the Enlightenment and Age of Reason. When a culture has no use for a technology, either the culture changes to adapt itself to that technology (a great example is the internet) or the technology fails to be utilized (the best example may very well be the Chinese invention of the clock).
As I was explaining to someone the other day, the use of the pocketwatch was directly related to the steam engine. With the use of steam-powered locomotives, trains became a rising means of transporting people and resources. However, in order to maximize their use, you don't create a set of tracks for every train. Instead, multiple trains run on the same set of tracks. Coordinating them to prevent collisions requires running them on a schedule. To maintain and monitor that schedule from every aspect requires a portable time-keeping device. Hence clocks became smaller, conveniently able to be stored in a pocket. However, you also needed standardized time so that one clock didn't differ by 10 minutes from another while yet another was off from them both by 12 more minutes! Technology changes society, which spurs changes in technology which further change society.
Throw in different technologies that weren't present in a historical context (or used in the same manner), and you change the nature of society in that setting.
Rollerblades on horseshoes to prevent the mount from tiring? Maybe this is why Barbaro broke down in the Preakness.
Moving on....
Not at all. Plenty of non-technologically-advanced cultures understood/understand that medicinal herbs are not magic. And even those cultures which believe in "magic" of a sort do so out of the same belief of some people in today's society: religion. In many different historical periods, you'll find people of the same society who believe in the fantastical and those who don't. "Magic" in the context used today is primarily the result of ignorance and the drivel of pulp novels rather than a serious understanding of its role in historical and present-day cultures.
Yes, one has to incorporate historically-accurate prejudices into a setting. What has to be remembered is that these prejudices affect the characters, not the players. So yes, a female character wouldn't be treated as an equal to a male character. A noble character would receive better treatment than a peasant character. That kind of conflict is a great way of driving role-play.
I fully recognize that not everyone will be interested in a MUD with a historically-accurate representation of the socio-cultural setting. I realize not everyone has the knowledge or desire to learn such a setting. But some do, and for those tired of fantasy settings which don't hold up under scrutiny, I hope to provide them an alternative.
The question I asked however was not "do you understand history, science, or technology" or "do you want to play a historically-accurate MUD". The question I asked, which the others responded to (and I appreciate their feedback), was how should a historically-accurate socio-cultural MUD set in an original world be labeled? Is it historical or is it fantasy, or both?
Take care,
Jason
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