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Jazuela · 11-16-2010, 07:54 PM

Categorizing muds is just such a hard thing to do successfully. I mean, you could say "I'm looking for a DIKU" and end up with several hundred possible selections, and you might only like one or two of them. So - you can narrow it down - okay - if the choice was "required RP", or "RP allowed" or "not a RP game" - then I want it to be required. So that narrows it down to um - only a couple hundred instead of several hundred. Now let's see - do I want any specific theme? Well - actually. I don't want spaceships or anything modern, no guns, no steampunk.. but how do I filter that out? I'm open to anything else, but I definitely don't want those things.

If I -could- filter those things out, I might find - only a hundred to choose from now.

Okay so out of that hundred, I really don't want to have to try more than a handful before finding my perfect game. My perfect game has at -least- 30 people playing actively during peak time. That means - not people who log in and go idle for 3 hours, but rather, people who are actively there, able to respond to things that show up on their screen. That leaves us with - let's say, 40 games. 40 games that are RP required, with a minimum of 30 people actively on average during peak time, made with a DIKU (or at least based on DIKU - we'll assume derivitives count in this example), that don't involve spaceships, guns, or modern themes.

Now what else. I want my chosen game to have a website where I can find information about the game, and help files, and tips and hints, maybe a run-through, explanation of the game world and the theme, contact information, etc.

That narrows it down to 30 games. I want permanent death. Not "permanent death, except when you..." or "permanent death, but some people can..." I want permanent death. Once your character is dead, they're dead. A resurrection might be available if the game crashed or there was a bug in the code and your character died as a result, but no IC devices to justify resurrections, period.

Aha - we got 8 games to pick from now.

The problem with all of the above, is HOW do we pick categories that people will want to have to select from? Not everyone will have the same criteria - but really, we're all narrowing down our options based on our interests. You have to start with a broad stroke - but which stroke? The codebase? Whether or not it's RP-enforced? Whether or not it's permanent death? Whether or not there are classes? Whether or not human is a playable race? Whether or not it's VERY colorful and you have to use the java client and cannot turn color off? Where do you start, and what options do you give people to select from, in order for them to narrow it down to a reasonable number of games to try?

11-16-2010, 07:54 PM	#2
Jazuela Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New England Posts: 849	Re: The Art of Seach - Categorization of MU*s Categorizing muds is just such a hard thing to do successfully. I mean, you could say "I'm looking for a DIKU" and end up with several hundred possible selections, and you might only like one or two of them. So - you can narrow it down - okay - if the choice was "required RP", or "RP allowed" or "not a RP game" - then I want it to be required. So that narrows it down to um - only a couple hundred instead of several hundred. Now let's see - do I want any specific theme? Well - actually. I don't want spaceships or anything modern, no guns, no steampunk.. but how do I filter that out? I'm open to anything else, but I definitely don't want those things. If I -could- filter those things out, I might find - only a hundred to choose from now. Okay so out of that hundred, I really don't want to have to try more than a handful before finding my perfect game. My perfect game has at -least- 30 people playing actively during peak time. That means - not people who log in and go idle for 3 hours, but rather, people who are actively there, able to respond to things that show up on their screen. That leaves us with - let's say, 40 games. 40 games that are RP required, with a minimum of 30 people actively on average during peak time, made with a DIKU (or at least based on DIKU - we'll assume derivitives count in this example), that don't involve spaceships, guns, or modern themes. Now what else. I want my chosen game to have a website where I can find information about the game, and help files, and tips and hints, maybe a run-through, explanation of the game world and the theme, contact information, etc. That narrows it down to 30 games. I want permanent death. Not "permanent death, except when you..." or "permanent death, but some people can..." I want permanent death. Once your character is dead, they're dead. A resurrection might be available if the game crashed or there was a bug in the code and your character died as a result, but no IC devices to justify resurrections, period. Aha - we got 8 games to pick from now. The problem with all of the above, is HOW do we pick categories that people will want to have to select from? Not everyone will have the same criteria - but really, we're all narrowing down our options based on our interests. You have to start with a broad stroke - but which stroke? The codebase? Whether or not it's RP-enforced? Whether or not it's permanent death? Whether or not there are classes? Whether or not human is a playable race? Whether or not it's VERY colorful and you have to use the java client and cannot turn color off? Where do you start, and what options do you give people to select from, in order for them to narrow it down to a reasonable number of games to try?