all they need to do is implement MSDP that streams server data over its own
multiplexed channel on top of telnet. Then people with skills can write their
own clients. The "facelifts" one can get through this can be radical, to say the least.

I don't give a shit about bitmap graphics for rooms and characters but I would like them
(or equivalent clicky clicky interfaces) for character stats, inventory, shops, maps and so on.

I'd also like ambient music that is dynamic, ever present, and smoothly integrated into the word
(wind, rain, echoes in a cave etc) and also ambient effects that take into account weather. These
things would make the game a lot more immersive.

You can do a lot of that already with text extraction from the mud (with regexps if you're clueless,
full state machines if you're not) but it's a lot of work and MSDP would give you everything
on a platter.