Thread: Graphic Maps
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Old 10-19-2002, 04:27 AM   #1
Molly
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Sweden
Home MUD: 4 Dimensions
Posts: 574
Molly will become famous soon enoughMolly will become famous soon enough
Recently I've added some graphic maps to our website. Not ansii maps, or the kind of directions that you see in some muds; '2n, e, e, 3s, e, n etc', but real maps, multicoloured and pretty accurate.

This is something that I've been wanting to do for a very long time. What held me back was an argument with my co-imps. We don't often disagree, but in this case our opinions clash.

I'm a map-freak myself, mainly because I am slightly dyslectic, and tend to mix east and west a lot in texts, whereas I have no problem to read a map. But also because I like to have some clue about the layout of the terrain when I explore, to create a visual picture in my mind and know that I am going in approximately the right direction.

Now, my fellow imps say that maps make exploring too easy, and that it takes away the challenge from it, so that the players will not bother to do it any more. That's where we disagree. I think that having maps will actually ENCOURAGE people to explore more, since once you get an overall image of the world, the incentive gets a lot stronger to investigate the details.

Naturally the maps don't show any secrets in the zones, (like hidden portals or secret doors), they just give a layout of the terrain, with roads, cities, forests, mountains, rivers and lakes. They show in what direction to go to find a certain zone, what roads and paths to follow and which other zones you need to pass on the way. This also gives a general impression about risks and perils along the route, since roads are mostly safe, whereas forests tend to contain both wolves and robbers. Also as a rule, the more distant a zone is located from the 'heart' of the Realms, the less accurate the maps become. It stands to reason that a big city would be mapped more accurately than the distant elven forests far off to the west.

I'd like some input on this; in YOUR opinion, are graphical maps a good or a bad idea? Do players appreciate the feature enough to make it worth the effort? Or are my fellow imps right about maps making mudding too easy, and that nothing should be visualised in a mud?
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