I've seen people get so into MUDs it's scary.
MUDs are a much more complicated interaction than Myst. For starters,
you have multiple people instead of a single person. Also, many MUDs
allow you to create parts of the universe.
I'm convinced it's because people want room for their own imagination to
roam and that pre-made graphics can seriously interfere with this.
I'd agree that some people would rather "read a book" than "watch a
movie." On the other hand, there are plenty of people who'd rather
watch a movie than read a book. And let's face it, a lot of MUD room
descriptions are pretty bad, because not a lot of effort has been put
into writing them. From an imaginative/literary standpoint, the
single-person text adventures that I played in my childhood were far
more engaging than any MUD text I've ever seen. So I think there's
more than one reason why people get totally sucked into MUDs.
I got sucked into MUDs because they had the appearance of being really
neat games.
I kept with MUDs because I could create neat objects.
I abandoned MUDs because the social cliques didn't like my work.
However, MUD cliques are a big draw for a lot of people. Especially
when your clique has power, and you can do nasty things to people you
don't like. The politics of clique vs. clique were entertaining for a
bit. But when it gets nasty, it gets old pretty fast.
In sum, I think most of the things that make MUDs compelling, have to
do with the fact that they're multi-user. I don't think it has
anything to do with whether they're 2d or 3d.
The
current state of VRML is also lacking in stimuli for the active young mind.
Could you elaborate? I agree, but my list of specific reasons is so
long and convoluted that it would be quicker if you started with your
own. :-)
So now I'm confused about how movies can be so compelling and CD-Roms kind
of suck. I guess it's because the control of pace and narrative is severely
reduced.
Well, to be honest I think that 1/2 to 2/3 of what mainstream
Hollywood produces, "really sucks." The main problem is "I've heard
that story before." And then not only have you heard the same story
before, you've seen it filmed in exactly the same way before. If
neither the content nor the form is novel, what else is there?
CD-Rom's, on the other hand, have enormous novelty value right now. A
lot of the subject matter isn't engaging, but the form is, because
you've never seen it done before. It's like being at the dawn of
cinema, and trying to imagine all the formal possibilities.
Cheers,
Brandon