[prof1515]

A friend told me about this thread as I haven't checked this site in quite a long time. Thought I'd pop in and correct the errors they told me about.

First off, there's no debate regarding The Inquisition not being RPI. Years ago, the owner of TI admitted that she started calling her game RPI because she thought it sounded good but that she had absolutely no experience with any other MUD, RPI or otherwise, from which to make such an assessment. The justification for calling it such was supported by a broad definition of RPI that was so broad that it included H&S games which stated that their policy was "RP is discouraged". That hardly makes for a convincing argument.

SoI is not the first RPI. It's not even the second, third or fourth for that matter. Armageddon was the first RPI, followed a couple years later by Harshlands. SoI doesn't arrive until RPIs had been around for a decade with Forever's End and its sequel appearing before it (Chronicles of Ritnarium was also in development around the same time as SoI as well).

The games listed by Bogre all use the RPI Engine but that code is derived from the Diku derived Harshlands' code created by Charles Rand, aka Rassillon. The code evolution began with Harshlands' code which was then used by Wade Gustafson's team to create Forever's End and its sequel. FEM's variation was used to create Dark Horizons which lingered in a state of development for a decade or so and periodically seems to pop back up as its owner decides to work on it again. Harshlands' code was also used by Chad McHenry, aka Traithe, to create Shadows of Isildur. In late 2003 Traithe made an early version of the code available as the RPI Engine. This code was used by a slew of projects, nearly all of which failed to launch or are still in development. Less than a decade ago, Harshlands decided to swap out their original code and begin using the RPI Engine, albeit with modifications, or more to the point removing some of SoI's modifications to the HL code.

Historically there have been three different code lineages used by RPIs. The first is Armageddon's code, used by the RPI of that name. The second is Harshlands' code which is represented today by the RPI Engine variant instead, the original no longer used by any games except Dark Horizon (which itself uses some variations introduced earlier by FEM). The third is Southlands' code used by that game, now renamed Evolution of Essos. A fourth and fifth were started, the fourth being developed by a game that opted not to make it an RPI and reinstated some features from the CircleMUD base they were using and the fifth being the still-in-development FutureMUD code. Technically FutureMUD would be the sixth as my own game started work on what would have been the fifth RPI code attempt but gave up on it as my staff got drawn away by the perils of life, work, family, illness, etc.

Funny enough, the buddy who told me about this thread wasn't the only old RPI friend I chatted with last night. Another old colleague from my days on SoI's staff contacted me last night and we were discussing the old days and the current state of RPIs. Between the two conversations, it was a grim analysis. While there are a few good people still hanging in there on some games, for the most part the RPIs have declined dramatically in the last decade. I have an article on just that topic which I wrote back in 2010 that I should post. In it, which I titled "Why RPIs are Dying (or Dead)" I broke down the reasons for the RPIs' decline over the last decade. Mind you, they're still a source of better role-play than most RP MUDs but the gap between them is much, much smaller. It really wasn't by virtue of other games stepping it up, which they did, so much as the RPIs compromising their own principles and the decline in quality of players and staff. But that, as I already noted, is a discussion unto itself and not one for this thread.

Anyway, just thought I'd pop in and clarify the errors that I'd been told about. Hope everyone here's fine.

Take care,

Jason aka prof1515 aka Falco