I'm on my iPad, so this will be choppy with no quotation, but I feel a timely response is warranted.
- Being able to jump right in
There is a common document written very long ago that teaches you the four base objects you need to make a Mush. It helps you find the resources you need if you want to do more intermediate things. It explains the passed variables (%0, etc., which I know aren't called variables). It eventually tells you how to make a user defined command.
This is all you need to build a Mush. If you want to be more modern, TinyMUX allows you to have a pre configured database with something called the "Sandbox Globals Project". I make fun of the SGP for being horrible code, but it is clear and simple and is a fantastic learning aid. (I know the other Mushlikes have similar, but not the point.)
Mushes also have built-in help organized in several ways: By command and by topic. You may not remember that the function "iter()" is the functional "for each", but you can see it under "list functions" in help, and that mental trigger is invaluable. The Oracle web site does the same thing. The PHP web site does the same thing.
Sure, you get a little bit of that with Python, but we're not dealing with just Python here, we're dealing with to some of us an entirely new framework that just happens to use Python. Mind you, there are a ton of Python coding sites, which brings me to my conclusion to this part:
You have to learn Python to have any chance with Evennia. You don't have to learn Mushcode to have any chance with Mush.
- Time to Project
Both Oracle and PHP are insanely detailed to make it easy to set up. (I mean, that doesn't help in Oracle's case, but you take what you can get.) You can experiment within the environment and immediately see your results. Same with Python. Same with Mush. Install, run prompt, play.
I have no idea what's going on with Django or Virtualenv. Now that you mention the word, this was what I meant with "what do I do now?" I didn't see instructions on how to re-start the game. Yes, Mushcode involves a lot of word-of-mouth learning, but I'll tell you that everything I knew about Mushes were learned by reading. I now know things I never thought I would, and the non-Euclidean world of Mushcode has made my mind a breeding ground for the Elder Ones, but that's the problem with becoming a specialist in any field.
Those Elder Ones aren't helping when I run into the issues caused by the two of three frameworks that Evennia uses. Mush uses: one.
Making Mushes--sorry, an online multiplayer game--is simple. Evennia can have that middle ground. Here's how: Hire @Volund to write your installation and initial help documents. I don't know if he has the temperament(I don't!), but he's self-taught and taking off with the hobby possibilities and I keep hearing his name come up in the sentence "Volund helped me set up..."
If you're going for just the professional set, fine, but MySQL manages fine with the middle ground PHP manages fine, there's no reason Evennia can't except that the current project lead designer pushes back every time it's mentioned. That's fine, your project and all, but do accept that some of us are going to point out that it's not a hobby tool.