If it's particularly telling that I ignored your flippant response and responded to the meat of your argument, I'm not sure what it's telling you. My answer, though, is two-fold. One, it's a false analogy. The difference between text-based MUDs and modern MMOs is an issue of technological capabilities advancement. The difference between older MMOs and modern MMOs is a game design paradigm shift. Ignoring the invalidity of the analogy and focusing on the spirit of your point, though, I would say it's a matter of taste. There are dedicated communities of MUD players that survive into the modern day, and I myself had a masochistic blast playing Project1999 last summer.
But I see your point, and I apologize if I was a bit strawman-ish in my earlier responses. As I've said a couple other times since, I didn't read closely enough to realize that the basic combat log was what the OP was asking for, and I agree, it's plain silly not to have one.
Even MUDs have those ;p