[KaVir]

That's what I did in my previous mud as well. Each room was placed at a specific x/y/z position, but each room also had its own internal x/y coordinates. The problem was that while you could move around tactically within a room, it was inconsistent with actions that took place between rooms.

But imagine taking that same design concept (rooms have internal coordinates) and creating one huge room to represent the entire world. Technically you might argue that the mud is still room-based (it just has one room), but the movement system isn't room-based in the traditional sense, as you don't move from one room to the next.

This makes it easier to add certain tactical features, such as variable movement rate (including fleeing, leaping, knockbacks, etc), weapon reach, ranged attacks, area of effect attacks, facing, visibility, and so on. It also allows you to have distance-based communication, descriptions, etc.

You don't draw points, you draw terrain. This doesn't need to change between room-based and roomless.

EmpireMUD isn't roomless, it's actually very similar to my old mud - rooms placed on a grid.