View Single Post
Old 03-18-2014, 08:32 AM   #8
Jazuela
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: New England
Posts: 849
Jazuela will become famous soon enoughJazuela will become famous soon enough
Re: How do you bring back a fading MUD?

The dates aren't exactly the same in 2010 as they are in 2014.
Week of 3/7-3/13, 2010:
253 unique logins, 39 new accounts created.

The following week (just to make sure we include those dates that are counted for the 2014 listing):
269 unique logins, 36 new accounts created.

Back in 2010, there were only a few more accounts created in a two-week period, than the game had created in -one- week in 2014. That tells me there's *more* interest in Armageddon now than there was in 2014, if you are to believe limited statistics that come from limited raw data. In the world of marketing and sales, you learn that only around 1% of all people who express interest in something will stick around to enjoy it. Out of every 100 people you tell about Armageddon, 1 person will play. Out of every 100 people you give a pamphlet to your church out on a random streetcorner in your downtown location, only 1 person will show up for Mass. In the marketing world, Armageddon is doing marginally better than the expected statistics as far as getting _new_ players. They lose players for all the usual reasons that all games lose players: some grow out of it, some get banned, some never really liked it in the first place and leave shortly after showing up, some leave out of annoyance with some perceived slight (which might also be a real slight), and some create accounts but never actually try to play, which skews the numbers.

Games fade for all kinds of reasons. Armageddon isn't fading, so it really has nothing to do with the topic.

On topic: the game owner needs to find out why their game is fading, and address the reason. In some cases, it's a lost cause. The head coder gets married and leaves, and the admin can't find a replacement, and doesn't know how to code, himself. Or the game gets hacked. Or the admin chose a code base that was just way too limited for what he wanted to do, and he's coded himself against a brick wall. Or an admin who was just a kid himself, had no idea how to run a game, created it because he was banned from another game, and after all his 3 pals who he riled up into believing they could do a better job, realized they couldn't - they left, and now he has a game with no players.

Other games fade because their themes just aren't interesting anymore. Others, because of admin shifts in "vision" for the game's future. Some games fade because there are too many changes too quickly and this confuses the players, who'd rather just not bother to play than have to keep up. Others fade because the game can't keep up with the players.

So: first, determine whether or not your game is actually fading. If it is, find out why. Address the reason - and the game will stop fading. You might have to shut down completely (in which case, it isn't fading anymore, it's just ended). Or you could just keep it going if it entertains you personally, even with no other players in it.
Jazuela is offline   Reply With Quote