[Ar-list] AR-related computer-mediated system

[John W Pierce]

A while back (well... several months ago) Carter suggested that at least
some people might be interested in some work I've been doing on what amounts
to a MUD system. For those who might not be knowledgeable about the internal
MUD systems, for some purposes they can be considered to have two parts: the
"driver" that provides the actual computational work of managing the MUD;
and a programming language plus a library of more or less generic objects
and functions that actually implements a particular virtual environment. To
a large extent, the driver portion couldn't care less about the details of
the virtual environment; it just executes the code that creates that
environment.

>From my point of view, the really interesting part is the driver, and it has
nothing to do with AR at all. However, a MUD driver is pretty useless
without a virtual environment to take care of, and the initial environment
will be derived from AR. In particular, the DRF is a great concept and one
MUDders should have thought of years ago.

A very general document on the driver is at the URL below, and it contains
links to the AR-related parts: the attributes of a generic base object for
building environmental objects, and the attributes of an avatar object for
representing players and NPCs within the environment.

	http://www.r2systems.com/Muve/Design/

(there is no link to this - or anything else - off of R2 Systems' main page)

There is no on-line document that actually describes the driver system,
though eventually there will be one.

I considered writing a document on the differences between MUDs and "live"
RPGs. That's not very likely to ever get done. Really, the main differences
are these:

1. Computational complexity is not an issue with computer-based games (for
all practical purposes). The same can be said of other bookkeepping chores
such as maintaining the state of that part of the environment that is out of
the view of any particular player or group of players (or, perhaps, all
players).

2. There is (for practical purposes) no direct interaction between players
and people functioning in the role of "gamemaster". This means that MUDs are
much less flexible than live RPGs; they can only handle what the creators
thought of *before* the players got a chance at it. (There are, of course,
ways of fixing things *after* the players have complained. :)

3. There are any number of players, operating individually (for the most
part) or in groups of unknown size. Rarely do all of them stay "in role",
and any of them will happily reveal any "secret" they find to any other.

4. There may be many GMs - anywhere from one to every player in the game. In
the MUD systems typically used for games that are most like live RPGs, there
will generally be from five to twenty or more people with at least some
portion of a GM's capabilities. All of these people have their own reasons
for helping run a MUD, and all hold at least three mutually contradictory
sets of ideas on how that should be done.

A useful analogy to relate live RPGs to MUDs might be this. Imagine that a
RPG organization has taken over a large hotel. Initially, there are, say, 40
GMs scattered through the conference and meeting rooms of the hotel. They
have previously agreed on the general system they will use (AD&D, say), the
general layout of the world they will operate in, and very generally the
areas of that world each will use. However, with respect to that last item,
the "assigned" areas only encompass about half of the actual world, and each
is free to extend their portion of the world into the void if they wish to
do so. Three of their number are elected to be Master GMs and may add or
remove the others at their individual whims.

Now populate the hotel with a thousand or so players who may, individually,
freely wander in and out of any GM's area of responsibility, taking
everything they own with them. They are also free to leave the gaming area
and return to it as they wish, with no loss of possessions or abilities. the
bar, go swimming, etc, and then return to the gaming area. The GMs are also
free to wander in and out as they choose.

GMs may communicate with each other only via written notes. GMs may be
rewarded for their work by receiving discounts on hotel services at the whim
of any of the Master GMs, but the primary criterion will be the popularity
of their area with the players.

If you can imagine all of that, then you will have come reasonably close to
understanding how most MUDs are organized (I use the word very loosely). The
amazing thing isn't that a very large number of people have quite a good
time with them. The amazing thing is that they work at all.

-- John W Pierce, R2 Systems, San Diego
   jwp@r2systems.com