size
	size noun The impression of the dimensions of the world modelled by a MUA, as perceived by the players. Normally, this correlates pretty well with the number of rooms it contains, although if large quantities of maze rooms and hard-to-get-to rooms exist then the MUA may well feel smaller than the raw data would suggest. Some MUAs work on a co-ordinate system, where a 100 by 100 grid can generate claims of "10,000 rooms!"; normally, these games allow personae to interact directly with one another across several (eg. 5) room boundaries, which makes them feel less vast. Size (or, worse, number of rooms) is considered a Good Thing by people who know more about SUAs than MUAs: in MUAs, what's important is the players/size ratio, ie. how long you have to wander around before bumping into someone. It's no use having 5,000 rooms if there are only 4 players, as contact would be so infrequent that the MUA would feel empty. Likewise, 200 rooms and 20 players would certainly be cramped.
	Copyright © Multi-User Entertainment Ltd. (muse@mud.co.uk) 23rd September 1999: size.htm