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I was not contradicting myself in the least. The current MudLibs for DGD are not the full spectrum things that you are used to. At this point they concentrate on basic functions that still leave the 'game' part open for development.
From the Phantasmal Web Site:
Melville and Phantasmal both provide player logins, objects, rooms, soulDs and basic descriptions. They both provide basic chat facilities, including a ChannelD.
Melville also provides in-MUD mail and bulletin boards where you can post and read messages. Its most compelling feature for most users, though, is the fact that its code is quite simple. Melville doesn't do much extra for you, but its functionality is reasonably obvious and simple, and its structure reflects that. Developers have been using it as a very good tutorial for a very long time -- it's one of the very oldest DGD MUDLibs.
Phantasmal is designed for more expansion. It has a robust and well-populated help system, significantly more extensive OLC (online creation) facilities, several well-defined file formats for loading objects, extensive localization, and the ability to recompile the MUD on the fly. It has mobiles, and daemons managing its various objects. It's also based on the Kernel MUDLib, giving it a very stable and secure base to work from. The latest versions generally contain many more features than Melville, despite a few specific Melville features that they don't have yet.
End of Docs...
So the game, combat, characters, skills, and all of those things are still up to the designer.
Persistance
For most people Persistance is about things like Inventory but it is of course more than that. Yes you can easily make any create respawn if you wish, but you can also create creatures that can live past reboot.
In the past I have created complex AI-driven NPCs that need to eat, sleep, and do other work. They were intended to live and grow until killed but the need for a daily reboot really limited their functionality. I would have liked to have them remember certain facts and events over time but to do that I had to save the information somewhere else and then re-transfer it back each time the game rebooted. Since just remembering is a messy task adding this on top of it made it extremely difficult.
I love the power of LP, everything is available for modification on the fly, but the idea that everything is temporary was not part that I liked. DGD retains the power and adds a database like persistance. This is a key feature of some of the newer and more powerful codebases and seems to be very popular with many current designers.
And also, DGD is being currently developed and has active support. I used MudOS a number of times but the last time I look at the main website I saw a rather disturbing attitude. It went something like:
"Well here is a new version but please do not bother me with questions about the next one because I do not think there will be one"
Or something to that effect. Certainly his right to decide what he want to work on, but it is not exactly an encouraging way to talk to people who depend on your code to run their games.
If I should happen to decide to make a new free Mud, I already have the assurance of the developer of Phantasmal of a close working relationship. Not only will there be new versions of the MudLib, but they will include things that we really need to make our work better. Compared to the past where I used things that totally lacked any sort of support whatsoever this is just a fantastic thing.
A.T
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