I just want to share that I’ve tried going into the IfMUD once, and it rather intimidated me. IRC seems more accessible, and with so many collaborative projects going on it seems ideal for people to brainstorm privately or publicly.
I wonder if activity will migrate from the MUD to IRC like it migrated from R*IF to this forum. Probably not, but at least those of us who don’t much care for the MUD format have a choice. Full marks for the initiative, Kyle.
Some folks take to the MUD like a duck to water; some people instinctively can’t stand it, and there’s no very good way to predict which you’ll be. But it’s set up just how we like it.
I’ve been on ifMUD since 1997 and I doubt I’d leave for an IRC channel. I doubt others would as well. Remember, ifMUD has a channel system where we talk about a lot of different subjects, not just IF. So IfMUD is more of an online community than a strict IF chat arena. Many of us are friends and we’ve had I think four or five marriages come out of it, so it’s not just about the IF and it’s not just about chatting.
Another possibility would be to expose the MUD server itself as an IRC server – that is, let IRC clients connect directly to the MUD. (You’d need some convention for MUD commands.)
I suspect that would satisfy nobody, however. If you find the MUD uncomfortable through a MUD client, it won’t be any better through an IRC client.
Gatewaying an IRC channel to a single MUD channel is possible. Probably easy, in fact. It might or might not work out culturally.
Anyone can create them (except guest accounts, and getting a non-guest account is trivial), and creating new channels happens all the time. There are thousands and thousands of channels. I’m on 908 channels at present, most of which are almost never used. There are channels for individual games, channels for individual people to talk about their life without feeling spammy, channels created for individual RPG sessions, channels used only for dealing with particular bots. (Of course, a lot of the actual conversation takes place on more general channels. Point is, if there isn’t a channel for X, it’s fine for you to make one.)
I suppose it’d be considered bad form if you created spamloads of new channels all at once just for lulz. That’s about it, I think.
Yeah I’m not seeing any language indicating that this is supposed to replace the MUD, just provide a gathering place that’s accessible to people who find the MUD less so. Even Peter said ‘Probably Not’ when he mused on whether there’d be migration. I think it’s cool for there to be multiple gathering places.