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Old 08-19-2011, 02:15 PM   #16
KaVir
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Name: Richard
Home MUD: God Wars II
Posts: 2,052
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Re: Need for a new MUD engine?

Web clients have been around for years now, yet even the most advanced of them are still a long way behind in terms of features. I've seen nothing suggesting that the situation will change - both types of client seem to be advancing at a similar pace.

Telnet is simply a network protocol, dropping support for it won't let you do anything you can't already do on existing muds; as I mentioned previously, you can already connect to telnet muds using a websockets client.

The only thing your proposal would achieve is to block the dozens of existing mud clients that have been developed over the last couple of decades - some of which are far more powerful than any web-based mud client, and many of which have a devoted following who will refuse to switch clients.

Don't get me wrong, web clients are a nice thing to have, particularly when drawing in new players - there's a good reason why so many commercial muds have invested in their own custom web client. However there's also an equally good reason why those same muds continue to support established clients.

You say that games are important, not technology - yet you propose dropping support for a well-established and strongly-supported network protocol simply because it's old?

But let's say the OP were to follow your suggestion, and create a new mud engine which uses websockets. We know that websockets clients can already connect to any telnet mud, meaning that every mud can take advantage of their graphics, sound, etc. So what's the selling point of this new engine?


Around 20-25% of my active players are blind or visually impaired, and they manage fine.

Many mud clients already let you play sounds, and unlike browsers they don't have to deal with .
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