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Luthien · 05-02-2006, 03:41 PM

I think I would probably lean more towards the second of the statements, that's what came to mind first. It wasn't the genesis of the whole thing, but it certainly facilitated the expansion. It allowed more people to get interested in running muds, because they could then say "well I have this great idea for how I'd like to do such a thing, let's see if it's possible" and similarly you had more options for players. The ease of setup is a big part of what allowed this to happen, and made it more than just a small corner of the internet (let's be honest, it still is...but it's a slightly larger small corner).

The problem expressed in the other statement is intimately tied in with this ease of startup though. More people were able to just get something going because they could, or because they didn't like how things were run where they were before, etc. That doesn't always lead to a quality experience. I know the first mud I played at had an owner who left and didn't turn over the keys to anyone, so it was hosted...but nobody had the power to make any changes whatsoever, fix bugs, add new content, or anything else. Kind of a problem. You got a lot of that in the backlash. Stock is good in that it gives you a base to work from, but...well yeah it is tough to make a really quality game using only stock. There's nothing to distinguish you from anywhere else. Initially a lot of people didn't really take that next step to add in their own original content...which created stagnation.

Without diku, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the same basic thing would have happened....it just would have taken more time. Someone probably would have cooked up a basic engine that people could use to run their games, and that would have been passed around--perhaps with a more or less restrictive license, who knows.

05-02-2006, 03:41 PM	#8
Luthien New Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Home MUD: The Sea of Storms Posts: 18	I think I would probably lean more towards the second of the statements, that's what came to mind first. It wasn't the genesis of the whole thing, but it certainly facilitated the expansion. It allowed more people to get interested in running muds, because they could then say "well I have this great idea for how I'd like to do such a thing, let's see if it's possible" and similarly you had more options for players. The ease of setup is a big part of what allowed this to happen, and made it more than just a small corner of the internet (let's be honest, it still is...but it's a slightly larger small corner). The problem expressed in the other statement is intimately tied in with this ease of startup though. More people were able to just get something going because they could, or because they didn't like how things were run where they were before, etc. That doesn't always lead to a quality experience. I know the first mud I played at had an owner who left and didn't turn over the keys to anyone, so it was hosted...but nobody had the power to make any changes whatsoever, fix bugs, add new content, or anything else. Kind of a problem. You got a lot of that in the backlash. Stock is good in that it gives you a base to work from, but...well yeah it is tough to make a really quality game using only stock. There's nothing to distinguish you from anywhere else. Initially a lot of people didn't really take that next step to add in their own original content...which created stagnation. Without diku, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the same basic thing would have happened....it just would have taken more time. Someone probably would have cooked up a basic engine that people could use to run their games, and that would have been passed around--perhaps with a more or less restrictive license, who knows.