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Threshold · 05-02-2006, 09:43 AM

KaVir raised a very interesting question in the other DIKU thread:

Probably the two main responses to this question would be:

1) The Mudding Community would be better off if DIKU had never been. DIKU created the stock explosion, and is largely responsible for the fact that the majority of MUDs are of very low quality and are very poorly run. DIKU made it too easy to get a MUD running, and thus too many people were running them that had no business doing so. As a result, a potential new MUDder had a high likelihood of landing on one of these crap/stock MUDs the first few times they tried out MUDding, and would simply quit before finding a good one. DIKU also created a culture of people who thought they could run muds by cobbking together snippets and zones coded by other people. This created an overall "industry" dominated by unoriginal, uninspired games.

2) The Mudding community may not have even existed without DIKU. DIKU let thousands of MUDs get created that would never have been made otherwise. From this horde of muds, a few very good ones rose to the top and served as glimmering examples to other designers. DIKUs accessibility allowed the community to grow and flourish. From the humble beginnings of DIKU, all sorts of other mud engines evolved - including Everquest. DIKU played a very large role in creating the "MMO" market, and fostering its explosive growth. If DIKU had never been, we might still be waiting for the modern MUD and/or MMO to evolve.

I think those are the two major schools of thought on the issue. What are your thoughts and on which side do you come down?

05-02-2006, 09:43 AM	#1
Threshold Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Home MUD: Threshold RPG Posts: 1,260	KaVir raised a very interesting question in the other DIKU thread: Probably the two main responses to this question would be: 1) The Mudding Community would be better off if DIKU had never been. DIKU created the stock explosion, and is largely responsible for the fact that the majority of MUDs are of very low quality and are very poorly run. DIKU made it too easy to get a MUD running, and thus too many people were running them that had no business doing so. As a result, a potential new MUDder had a high likelihood of landing on one of these crap/stock MUDs the first few times they tried out MUDding, and would simply quit before finding a good one. DIKU also created a culture of people who thought they could run muds by cobbking together snippets and zones coded by other people. This created an overall "industry" dominated by unoriginal, uninspired games. 2) The Mudding community may not have even existed without DIKU. DIKU let thousands of MUDs get created that would never have been made otherwise. From this horde of muds, a few very good ones rose to the top and served as glimmering examples to other designers. DIKUs accessibility allowed the community to grow and flourish. From the humble beginnings of DIKU, all sorts of other mud engines evolved - including Everquest. DIKU played a very large role in creating the "MMO" market, and fostering its explosive growth. If DIKU had never been, we might still be waiting for the modern MUD and/or MMO to evolve. I think those are the two major schools of thought on the issue. What are your thoughts and on which side do you come down?