I’m with Tide’s Horizon on this one — it’s about time that more developers embraced the web the way LOTRO plans to.

More interesting is that the game is going to support extensive and complex community functions that twine with the actual gameplay. A Google Maps version of Middle-earth will be accessible to subscribers. Each character you create will get his or her own page on the game’s official website, and you’ll be able to blog it. Minigames on the website will affect your real progression in (currently unspecified) ways. The site will also feature an online Wiki encyclopedia of info about the LOTR Online universe. All in all, it sounds like a very robust package of community tools.

Read More “Next gen community relations”

Richard Tew, member of the MUD-Dev2 mailing list, has helpfully posted up an archive of MUD-Dev messages. Alas, it only covers 1996-2000, so it is incomplete, but many of the peak years will be present.

The MUD-Dev archives have always been one of the best resources for online world designers — not just in the discussion, but also just because it seemed that whateverr you wanted to talk about had probably been discussed before. I used to make a habit of re-reading the archives every year, because gems would always pop out at me.

Dani Bunten named to AIAS Hall of Fame – News at GameSpot

To this day, M.U.L.E. is my favorite game ever. I have a major soft spot for Seven Cities of Gold as well. I have both of them running in emulation on my phone, actually. I made the head of programming for the Sci-Fi Channel light up with glee when I showed him that.

I never got to meet Dani, alas. The first GDC event I went to was the one she had to cancel because she was ill. She passed away just a few months later.

I’ve lost count of how many times I have pitched “M.U.L.E. Online.” A lot.