[Ide]

There is no doubt that scripting can create an environment where many things are needlessly repeated. On the other hand I don't see that as a disadvantage of scripting per se. I don't know if you've used OLCs on DIKU-like muds but it's fairly typical to find multiples of unique 'common' mob and item types such as dogs, cats, rats, cloaks, etcetera. The correct approach is to create for example a rat property that a builder applies to an animal so they don't have to redefine multiple parameters on a new mob. But just because a mud uses a data-driven approach (OLC) doesn't mean you'll end up with a clean environment.

In a scripting environment you just would want to create templated scripts -- retaining the flexibility of scripting while keeping things clean and streamlined. On second thought you probably would want templated 'scripts' in a data-driven environment as well -- no need to make data entry more onerous than it should be.

I admit I haven't seen what a fully-featured data-driven environment would look like and the idea is very intriguing; even with templated scripts it's true a scripting system would get bloated after a while.