On the MUD-Dev mailing list, a fella was asking about Ajax(ish) code for something MUD-like. I kicked this idea around with a co-worker when discussing a current project of his. He mentioned that Microsoft had a control (or something) that would listen for events from the server and update the page. The responses to the post to MUD-Dev mentioned Comet, which looks to do the same thing.
After more thought on this subject, there are tons of neat features that could be added to the standard text-based MUDs. Specifically, images. One of my favorite text-based adventures was the interactive fiction The Guild of Thieves by Magnetic Scrolls. My friends and I would spend all night seeing what freedom we had (cross-dressing, using the toilet, etc). One cool feature was the images that would be displayed in certain areas. I always thought that this would be a great feature for a MUD. Upon entering the pub, for example, an image of the interior would be displayed.
Without the ability to “push” information to the client/browser, could a MUD be possible? I haven’t done the research on Ajax, but would it be possible to “tick” the MUD every 5 seconds and just refresh the page every 5 seconds? The worst latency would be 4 seconds, right? What about a Flash MUD client? Would that be possible? Would it be playable through a firewall? I’m sure Raph and the gang at Areae might be asking/answering the same questions.
