April, 2000 interview
	KARYA What is your occupation? RICHARD That's in the process of being decided. I'm sort of a Games Guru, but I can't really put that on my business card. KARYA What kind of games are you a guru for? RICHARD Online games. KARYA How long have you been on Wireplay and what game(s) do you play on Wireplay? RICHARD I've been on WP since it started and I play MUD2, nothing else. KARYA have you ever tried any of the other wireplay games? RICHARD Why would I? I've tried some as single-player games, but I wouldn't play them multi-player. KARYA Is that because as a player you aren't into multi-player games? RICHARD It's because when I just want to play a game on my own, I play a single-player game. When I want to player a multi-player game, I play the one I like the most. Which, since I wrote it, is obviously going to be MUD2. KARYA What is your favourite all time game and why? RICHARD Dungeons and Dragons. KARYA Why D&D? RICHARD The design aspects, then the running of the design and seeing it work. I used to be the dungeonmaster, although I did used to like playing. KARYA What is the worst game you have ever played? RICHARD I have played a number of crocks that were bad for a number of reasons. I suppose the worst from a game play point of view was one called Brian Vodnik's Vikings, where the enemy AI was so poor it never did anything, you could walk all over it. Great for player empowerment, hopeless for fun. I hate games that cheat though, that really annoys me. Such as The Patrician, a Hanseatic trading game. When ships come up for auction, if the player bids for them they cost like 57,000 thaler, but if the player can't afford them they go for like 20,000 thaler. It wasn't until I managed to bend the rules that I ever won that game, it took around 5 years. KARYA What is your view on the popular graphical muds such as Everquest? RICHARD From what perspective? KARYA As both a player, and a designer of MUD2 RICHARD In general, graphical MUDs are a good thing because they get more people to play such games and they provide a working business model (ie. people will pay to play them). However, the way some of them have been implemented sets precedents which will sour such online games for years to come. From a player's point of view, other games are being judged by the standards of the game they first played. Which, although the player may believe is the best thing since sliced bread, is usually flawed. This means that the players who get discontented with a game and want to play another will often yearn for features the original game had which the new one doesn't have even though those features were also flawed. From a designer's point of view, some of the games I admire, others I think succeeded in spite of themselves. I like the intelligent approach taken by Ultima Online. I don't like the way that EQ is perceived to be a good game because it was designed well when in fact it was because of its backing. Acheron's Call has some interesting bits but it's pretty obvious the designers had never worked on a game like that before. The danger now is that people will take games like EQ, AC and UO and treat them as paradigms instead of working from their own ideas. Still, it leaves the field clear for those who do it right - if they can get the funds to do it right without claiming to be EQ or UO clones. KARYA Do you find that the graphical aspect of these muds, take away some of the more imaginative feel the non-graphical games have? RICHARD Personally, yes, but I'm not the vast majority of people who never played a MUD and who think computer games have pictures and wouldn't play one if it didn't. KARYA What inspired you to design MUD? RICHARD Who needs inspiration? I just saw its potential. Remember Roy Trubshaw wrote the first versions. You have to separate the two strands. Roy wanted to write a multi-player adventure game and a language for designing them. I wanted to write worlds. Together, we did that KARYA Ok, where did you get your inspiration for the worlds you created? RICHARD I didn't get the inspiration from anywhere, nor was the idea borne of anything, I just used my imagination. I don't get inspiration, I just use my imagination. Why would I need to be inspired? I can give you 5 random pieces of imaginings right now without the need for inspiration if you like. Banana thieves who steal into houses at night and replace them with dummies made of plasticine. The society of people who wish to collect other people's love letters. The country where people take lawnmowers for walks to show how rich they are. Small woodland creatures who plot to stop the great oak from dropping acorns on them every autumn. A handbook of how to balance stacks of after 8 mints into aesthetic constructions. There you go, 5 seeds you can use for whatever, no inspiration required KARYA Is this something that you always knew you wanted to do? Or did the opportunity arise and you saw the potential? RICHARD I just like creating things. MUD is a way to create, but there are others. KARYA You have created alternative worlds and realities even, where whole new societies have been born, complete with all the interactions of everyday real-life, is this how you saw mud going, all those years ago? RICHARD Yes, that was part of what I wanted to happen - I wanted people to have the freedom to do that kind of thing MUD is basically a game about freedom. Games like MUD allow players to explore aspects of themselves that they are unable to do in real world society. They are able to do things that in real life would be quite impossible. Obviously, RL has the upper hand in most things, because ultimately the game is a part of RL, too. But taken as a separate environment, a MUD can be very liberating. KARYA Do you see MUD being used as a tool for things such as role-playing scenarios used in management courses, assertiveness training, and similar things? RICHARD I see the possibilities of Muds being used like that, but it's more likely they'd go for something like Quake before they would MUD. KARYA MUD2 has been at number 5/6 on the Wireplay top 10 for a long time, what do you think makes MUD2 so popular, especially considering it is especially considering it is a non-graphical game? RICHARD I don't believe it is as popular as it could be. I think its popularity is more of a reflection of the lack of popularity of the games below it. The only way we get players is if they try MUD having come to WP to play other games. Very few people come here to play MUD itself (present company excepted). The more games there are for people to try out when they've stopped enjoying the game they originally came to play, the fewer newbies MUD2 will get. That said, we do have some plans to get us some more newbies. KARYA How do you think we can attract the number of players it deserves? RICHARD The advent of the WP3 client will really help us in that respect. KARYA What plans are there to get some more newbies? RICHARD Well with WP3 we'll be open to the whole net, not just to Power Play direct dial UK users. If we can find people who haven't encountered MUDs before, we could grow somewhat. KARYA In the two and a half years that MUD2 has been running on Wireplay, what has been some of the more memorable moments for you, both good and bad. RICHARD I liked the game when it first started up and everyone had the same excited air of innocence. I liked the various MUDmeets I've been to. I don't like some of the tiresome tirades some people direct against the game based on false assumptions or bad information. I don't like the way some exceptional players have been ostracised by players who should know better, and I don't like the way that I've seen it all before and will doubtless see it all again. Players are, as I've said before, the best and the worst part of MUD. KARYA On the question of Mudmeets, is that something you anticipated would happen as a result of MUD, people forming long-lasting friendships through meeting on the game? RICHARD You can form long-lasting friendships with people without having to attend a MUDmeet or meet them in real life at all, well, I can, anyway - other people may need a physical component to their friendship. KARYA Where do you see MUD in 10 years from now? RICHARD Still running somewhere, with some of our current players still playing. As for where, well I'd like to think Wireplay would be one of the places. That's not for me to decide though. KARYA Ok, last question - what kind of things do you get up to in your spare time? RICHARD I have 2 children! Where does this suggestion I have spare time come from? KARYA Ok, thank you for your time. RICHARD You're welcome - thanks for inviting me to answer your questions.
	Copyright © Richard A. Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk) 13th May 2000: int0400.htm