Re: Games as service
Unfortunate, but hardly surprising. While a non-commercial mud is generally operated as a hobby, commercial muds tend to be operated for profit; if they cease to be profitable, they'll be shut down. In the case of graphical muds, their lifespan is even more limited by their graphics (eye candy becomes dated very fast).
In the past, it's been implied by some that commercial muds offer a more stable future than non-commercial muds, because the admin have a vested financial stake in making sure the game continues to operate. My counter-argument has always been that the existence of such a mud depends upon its financial status, and this situation with Asheron's Call 2 is a prime example of the sort of thing I was referring to; The game ceased to be profitable, so it was cancelled.
If you want a multiplayer game with lots of players, then you really need at least some service aspect - even something like Diablo II, which is great fun solo, relies on the Battle.net service for its community element.
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