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Almondine War · 01-18-2006, 04:33 PM

Why in the hell is this thread 16 pages long?

I'm a fairly late bloomer in this topic, and I will admit that I didn't exactly read every single word between pages 3-15, however, I am going to add my own opinion none-the-less:

Matt-- if someone keeps asking you a question over and over which would have a simple answer, you could a.) not reply, or b.) provide direction as to WHAT mysterious page your answer appeared on, or c.) answer it again anyway as a curtesy and a show of good faith.

I would think it would be MUCH better to stop nit-picking over the tiniest detail of what these general, every-day words mean. The average MUDer, in -my- opinion, puts about as much effort into contemplating the PRECISE meaning of the word 'free' as he does in the PRECISE molecular structure of his chair at any given moment.

Businesses should worry about their legal obligations on their own turf, and realize that while in an open community, they should go with general public consensus (or, at the very least, do not try to indirectly tote or draw attention to having more power over the community than the average player does, who, of all things, MAKES UP the community).

In this particular instance: go with the generally accepted definition for commonly-used terms/phrases, if anything else for the sake of SIMPLICITY and UNDERSTANDING.

Be, for the moment, the computer illiterate new MUDer looking to find his first game. He goes to a search engine, and looks at his options:

Pay to Play. Instantly, this says, "Oh, I have to have to pay a fee to play the game." He immediately thinks of Everquest as a reference.

Pay for Perks. This one stirs around in his mind a little, but normally, he will come to the quick conclusion that this means, "Oh, I can play for free, but if I want special privileges or cool items, I'll have to pay for them." It really does not get any simpler than that -- those three words are highly descriptive.

Free to Play. "Oh, okay," he thinks, "this one doesn't have any in-game perks for me to buy, and doesn't require me to pay a fee to start playing. Again, self-explainatory."

For me, whenever I've heard of NONCOMMERCIAL games, I think of those games whose servers are paid for out of pocket. The administrators do NOT get any sort of payment for their work and service to the community through their MUD.

Armageddon MUD would be considered NONCOMMERCIAL.

Armageddon's WEBSITE has links to fan merchandise, and this could be considered commercial, but it is not actually affiliated with the MUD.

COMMERCIAL games are those where the servers are self-supported, i.e, there is revenue coming into -the game- from somewhere through players to keep it afloat.

Using this logic, both 'play for perks' and 'pay to play' muds could be considered commercial, even if they are not owned by some great big corporate.

All that said...

I still support the addition of 'pay for perks' and 'free to play/totally free' to the MUD search, and for the list to divided into more categories to ease the one-sided competition among commercial entities and noncommercial ones. Of course, among the commercials, it could be further divided into pay-for-perks or pay-to-play.

MudConnector's SEARCH is, by far, the most powerful among the three great Forums (MudConnector, MudMagic, and TMS) that I use. TMS's is too weak to waste my time on.

01-18-2006, 04:33 PM	#162
Almondine War Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Louisiana, United States Posts: 33	Why in the hell is this thread 16 pages long? I'm a fairly late bloomer in this topic, and I will admit that I didn't exactly read every single word between pages 3-15, however, I am going to add my own opinion none-the-less: Matt-- if someone keeps asking you a question over and over which would have a simple answer, you could a.) not reply, or b.) provide direction as to WHAT mysterious page your answer appeared on, or c.) answer it again anyway as a curtesy and a show of good faith. I would think it would be MUCH better to stop nit-picking over the tiniest detail of what these general, every-day words mean. The average MUDer, in -my- opinion, puts about as much effort into contemplating the PRECISE meaning of the word 'free' as he does in the PRECISE molecular structure of his chair at any given moment. Businesses should worry about their legal obligations on their own turf, and realize that while in an open community, they should go with general public consensus (or, at the very least, do not try to indirectly tote or draw attention to having more power over the community than the average player does, who, of all things, MAKES UP the community). In this particular instance: go with the generally accepted definition for commonly-used terms/phrases, if anything else for the sake of SIMPLICITY and UNDERSTANDING. Be, for the moment, the computer illiterate new MUDer looking to find his first game. He goes to a search engine, and looks at his options: Pay to Play. Instantly, this says, "Oh, I have to have to pay a fee to play the game." He immediately thinks of Everquest as a reference. Pay for Perks. This one stirs around in his mind a little, but normally, he will come to the quick conclusion that this means, "Oh, I can play for free, but if I want special privileges or cool items, I'll have to pay for them." It really does not get any simpler than that -- those three words are highly descriptive. Free to Play. "Oh, okay," he thinks, "this one doesn't have any in-game perks for me to buy, and doesn't require me to pay a fee to start playing. Again, self-explainatory." For me, whenever I've heard of NONCOMMERCIAL games, I think of those games whose servers are paid for out of pocket. The administrators do NOT get any sort of payment for their work and service to the community through their MUD. Armageddon MUD would be considered NONCOMMERCIAL. Armageddon's WEBSITE has links to fan merchandise, and this could be considered commercial, but it is not actually affiliated with the MUD. COMMERCIAL games are those where the servers are self-supported, i.e, there is revenue coming into -the game- from somewhere through players to keep it afloat. Using this logic, both 'play for perks' and 'pay to play' muds could be considered commercial, even if they are not owned by some great big corporate. All that said... I still support the addition of 'pay for perks' and 'free to play/totally free' to the MUD search, and for the list to divided into more categories to ease the one-sided competition among commercial entities and noncommercial ones. Of course, among the commercials, it could be further divided into pay-for-perks or pay-to-play. MudConnector's SEARCH is, by far, the most powerful among the three great Forums (MudConnector, MudMagic, and TMS) that I use. TMS's is too weak to waste my time on.