[the_logos]

I do indeed lack faith. I'm more into reason!

Was that under dispute? I don't think anyone was suggesting that text-based MUDs would die out. They clearly provide something that graphical MUDs do not (ie a text-based environment).

That's true. The few thousand people who are interested in a hardcore roleplaying environment as I'm guessing you define it are probably better off in text MUDs (or even better off in pen & paper roleplaying campaigns or good LARPs).

You're pretty focused on roleplaying, but roleplaying is only one aspect of MUDs, and is hardly the end-all, be-all. It's just a feature that can be implemented/encouraged to a greater or lesser degree (like combat or fishing or gambling or anything else really).

Further, I'll point out that just as people may pretend to be talking in Elven while speaking in English, players pretend to be communicating in Elven while typing in English (or Finnish or whatnot) on text MUDs.

I also get the idea that you've never actually participated in the activities you deride. Voice chat is used primarily as a tool to efficiently and quickly organize large groups of people. Text MUDs rarely have enough players to require 40 players to work closely together in real-time. Running a high-end raid in WoW without voice chat is painful.

You're definitely incorrect there. Many of them are looking for roleplaying. The definition of roleplaying differs from person to person though and what you consider roleplaying is not what someone else may consider roleplaying.

And they are definitely looking for an imaginative environment.


"True gamers." Anyone who plays games is a true gamer as far as I'm concerned, whether that game is a text MUD, Monopoly, or Bejeweled. The idea that someone who plays an RP game is more of a gamer than someone playing Go is completely arbitrary in my opinion.

What? Have you ever spent time actually watching people play in libraries or schools? I'm guessing not! Runescape and AdventureQuest/Dragonfable (the latter two aren't MUDs/MMOs but present themselves as one) are overwhelmingly present there.

Text MUDs that don't require a client install have an advantage over graphical MMOs that do have a client install, but some of the most popular MMOs do not require an install and are quite playable from libraries, schools, work, and so on. That trend is only going to increase as well with things like the (admittedly probably somewhat weak at first) upcoming Flash 10's inclusion of 3d capabilities.


They can and did years ago.

--matt