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Old 04-24-2013, 02:05 PM   #86
plamzi
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Home MUD: bedlam.mudportal.com:9000
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Re: Do MUDs need to be "brought into the 21st century"

OK, I'll humor you with a more refined definition:

"A text-based game is any game whose world is designed to be experienced by at least some of its players as a flow of text, and which enables at least some of its players to perform any supported game action by inputting text."

So, WoW and Second Life: not designed to be experienced as a flow of text, not text-based. No amount of 3rd party hacks will change the fact that their worlds are simply not textual, and not intended to be textual. If someone were to sit down and describe their worlds in text and then provide an all-text interface for playing them, they will still not be text-based games, although this particular client can call itself a text-based client for WoW, etc.

Archons of Avensharm, clearly a text-based game. Lining the text window with a HUD and not letting people connect via telnet doesn't change how players experience and manipulate the world, in text. If they morph their client in a way that compels all players to experience the world visually and to perform game actions without inputting text, then it won't matter what their server is, they will then have a non-text-based game *by design* and *in practice*.

Grasping the intent/design aspect of the definition is key to seeing things a bit more clearly. Understanding when something is a "wraparound" vs. when something pertains to the actual design and experience of the game is key. Anything less would mean a lot of confusion, not just in defining MUDs.
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