[the_logos]

As Ide said, neither are people typing in elvish languages. They're typing in English. No different from speaking in English from that perspective.

Yes, of course you CAN do it without voice chat. It's more efficient with voice chat. It's why soldiers in real battles prefer voice over typing to each other.

Yes, exactly. MMOs like Runescape, which is the most popular MMORPG in the western world.

You're asking me to point you to GUI MUDs playable without an install and then admitting that you're familiar with them. I'm confused. Again, I'll point you to Runescape, which is THE most popular MMORPG in Europe and North America and is playable from libraries, schools, etc. It's not as if using a particular rendering or client technology changes whether something is a MUD or not.

Yes, I'm aware of how this works. I run a company that's developing 3d MMOs (and one that's developing text MUDs). Again, Runescape is the best example here, as what you describe is exactly what they do. Same with Sherwood RPG, Club Penguin, Habbo, etc. Also worth pointing out that Raph Koster's company, , is using Flash as their initial rendering technology for

Betting on ubiquitous access as some sort of advantage for text MUDs is a bad bet. 5 years ago, not too bad a bet. Today, bad bet as Flash, Java, and Shockwave MMOs are only going to proliferate in the face of the absolutely massive success of some of the titles I've mentioned.

--matt