> However, think of it this way. Joe Soap decides to create a mud. He > downloads a circlemud with patches, compiles it, and runs it. He hasn't > got any original ideas of his own, or if he does, they are relatively > minor. Okay - so what, if his mud isn't any good people wont play it. Now > though, another 50 Joe Soaps come along and do the exact same > thing. Suddenly there's a lot of muds out there that are, and most of them > are nearly the same. The CircleMUD genre gets a reputation of being full > of stockmuds. That can't be good for the community. Joe Soaps turn into the guys you see on this list. About 5 years ago, I got a package deal... and look at me now... I'm developing my own snippets. Peter Ajamian and I have taken a stock circle codebase, and turned it into a mess of original code and unique ideas. Not so long ago, Peter hadn't played with the CircleMUD code at all, and he contributes to this list daily... We all start somewhere... so be careful how you word things... As for original ideas... I do certainly agree with your point. You have to be original to be non-stock, its that simple... Continuing... > So thats my point - has CircleMUD become so easy that it is a > detriment to the *community*? This is a double-edged question. This is the primary reason for my response... Yes. Its becoming detremental, primarily because of the fact that it is SO easy to create and run a stock MUD. I'm willing to bet that the MUD Connector site is filled with primarily stock MUD's of some sort. All in the same... No... This opens up the community to really show who is original. Take for instance Rhu-Dina'ar. This is a MUD that has been on the drawing board for years. It started as a concept, and now, is flourishing into a full scale project. The originality of the MUD spawns from its zones, background, and staff, as much as it does the code. Yes, there are evident changes in the code... there are many tools/commands that we're working on adding... but it still has the flavor of a Circle code base, because people are familiar with it. So what you have really... is a community founded upon standards... with the flexibility to become original. As a community, we should strive to push unique and flavored MUD's... but in truth, you can only change so much and call it Circle. > But this is what I want to discuss - *has* it become a problem? If it has, > why exactly has it? And if you don't think its a problem, maybe you can > try to explain our contrasting opinions? Has it become a problem... well... I think its always been an issue. See... the stock MUD's are there so that people can learn, and understand what makes a good MUD. At some point in time, the stock MUD was new and original, but now, it gives newbies a starting ground. In the same light, the snippets and patches give us a place to learn how to modify Circle. These together don't make a good MUD. In fact... the elements of a good MUD are completely seperate of these. I'll prolly go into those in a later mail... So perhaps the better question to ask... is, how can we change the public opinion of the circle community. Or even on a more focused level, how can we make our MUD stand out of the stock crowd. For Rhu-Dina'ar, I'm working on my background story... and it will eventually be a novel. That will be the highlight of the game... its the basis for the game... and the players write the continuing novels. I'm developing a nice website for the game... and I'm having my staff work at RP'ing before we go public. Sure... I'm giving Circle its due credit... but its not my selling point. Its the standard... so that people know what to expect for the interface... and that's where it stops. So... I hope I've addressed this in a more objective light... its not what patches you have... or what zones you write... its how you use them (I don't want any... its not the size that counts cracks) Michael Gesner Lodaren of Rhu-Dina'ar rhudin.newvisiongames.net 17777 -- +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | FAQ: http://qsilver.queensu.ca/~fletchra/Circle/list-faq.html | | Archives: http://post.queensu.ca/listserv/wwwarch/circle.html | +---------------------------------------------------------------+
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