[Milawe]

I think I disagree about the lack or presence auto-mapping being a feature that drives players away or keeps them. My favorite MMO* had no automapping, and you traveled by learning key landmark features and just knowing the realm. This played a huge role in PvP, and people who could never tell their way around (me) were not allowed to drive. It still remains my favorite MMO to this day.

Now, lots of MMOs have an automapping fuction because there's pretty much no other choice. In a 3D game, you can't really whip out your graph paper and pencil and map out the places you've explored. MUDs are one of the last bastions of the whole graph paper and pencil type of mapping, and lots of gamers still enjoy that. The "scene" setting of a mud happens in room descriptions. Granted, having a nice picture can add to the whole event, but a well-described mud sets the scene very well. Then players add to the scene based on the "room" that they are in.

Honestly, I think the fastest way that a mud loses players is simply that there's a lot of people out there who do not like to read. MMOs give you the option of playing and interacting in a fantasy world without ever really having to read a single word. People who don't read recreationally simply look at a text game and go, "Huh?"

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit. Your client looks very interesting, by the way!