[vworld-tech] Modern MUD server design

[ceo]

Brian Hook wrote:
>>If it's a text mud and you want lots of users, I vote for pure
>>telnet, or else write a client that's easily accessible from the
>>web.  (ie. in Java -- or maybe C#?)
> 
> ...
> 
> One of my goals is to make the game approachable by non-MUDders, so 
> giving up pure telnet compatibility may not be that big a deal.  A 
> Java client might be nice though.
> 

Java has very good SSL support etc at the moment. As of the latest 
versions (1.4.x, starting about 3 years ago), this has been integrated 
as part of the standard download, rather than as an add-on package.

The only problem is that the documentation glosses over some critical 
points to do with selecting your encryption scheme; the current docs are 
very good at getting your code written, but then your client or server 
tends to fail with strange errors that usually come down to "you need to 
call: allow( DES )" or similar. Finding out how to do THAT is tricky, 
since there are about 6 different methods for doing so, and the 
developer guide doesn't really explain which of the 6 you should use.

Conveniently, the JDK also comes with a complete set of key management 
tools for creating, importing, managing and signing certificates.

Adam