🚀 go-pugleaf

 A.G.Poole@newcastle.ac.uk (Ford (Alex Poole)) writes:

> Hi... this isn't really like the sort of things
> you seem to have been discussing so far, but it is
> a matter of policy, so here goes...

> What are other Uni's attutudes towards Multi-User
> Domains (MUDs)?

Multi-User Dungeons, I think.

> I've been told (*8-) that there is one (or 3?)
> here, but they are all being wiped for good in the
> next week or so, and the ports we can currently
> access to allow them to run will be locked. Is
> this the same for other Uni's?

> I've also heard that American Uni's actually
> support MUDs.. or is this folklore? How are they
> justified if this is so?

> Any comments or arguements for MUDs appreciated,
> comments against burnt *8-)

> (only kidding... arguements both ways will be
> welcome)

> Thanks Alex

> (PS... those people who program such things... not
> me of course... are trying to find a way of
> stopping it, so if anyone has had the threat of
> removal, and has overcome it somehow, please tell
> us how!!!)

Well, it is a viewpoint kind of thing. Can't speak
for the UK, but over here, the bulk of the populace
is still scared silly of computers, so providing
something fun to do with them is a great way to
break down that initial barrier of fear.

Second, MUDs are thinly disguised exercises in
logical deduction and managing complexity and
debugging failing pathways, all skills needing
honing for the average CS student (or indeed, nearly
any student).

Third, at least for the user programmable MUDs (the
only kind to run for just this reason), the MUD is
also a very thinly disguised exercise in
"programming in the large", where you have to make
software you write interact reliably with software
other people wrote. It tends to use more modern
(actor or object oriented) programming paradigms,
also A Good Thing.

Some folks recognize that education disguised as fun
and done on an informal basis is the best way to get
the student up to speed, other folks are horrified
at the very thought of any knowledge or skills being
allowed to accrete to a student in anything but a
stuffy classroom lecture mode. Mostly the second
type don't belong in education as a career, have
been in it for over thirty years without allowing a
single new idea to penetrate their skulls, and are
incurably insistant at remaining ignorant, so you
have a job of work ahead of you.

Kent, the man from xanth.
<xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>