[plamzi]

For the kind of interface that would actually make a difference, the work would be about as much as your efforts on the server. But (it has been my argument all along) in this day and age, if you neglect the client (or put two hours in it as opposed to the same LoE you invest in the server), then you don't really have a game as far as the vast majority of players is concerned. All you have is a socket server that only a small secret society known as mudders can figure out how to play.

Again, I harbor no illusions that anything will change. Most hobbyist MUD admins run a text-based game precisely because they don't want to care about anything client-side. Most are OK with not having any players, or with having so few players that by any industry-wide definition the game has been a ghost town for 15 years. Many admins spend many years developing dev-pleasing features like mob AI and physics engines that do nothing to increase a game's general appeal. Yet, any thought of a custom client is dismissed as too much work.

That's freedom for ya.