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dark acacia · 03-16-2014, 02:24 AM

Once in a while I find some game, usually through the TMS forum, which is trying to restore its former glory. As often as not, these games are places which used to have a respectable community, often as few as three to five years ago. For whatever reason, most of its core community have moved on, and now the regulars amount to a few people and perhaps an IMM or two at peak time. All that's left is the memory of what adventures once took place there, and the dungeons and monsters and quests which live on through the occasional visit by some diehard regular's new alt.

One big thing which keeps me from staying with one of these games is almost always the lack of a community of people to play with. Sure, it may be RP enforced, but a murder mystery isn't much of a mystery if the victim and the suspects were the only three people on the desert island.

Some of these games use incentives like huge experience modifiers, significantly reduced costs for things, and special items to attract new players. The regular non-IMMs are also often glad to take a newbie all the way through the newbie levels to the highest obtainable non-IMM levels within a day or two, showering him or her with lots of gold and equipment along with killing off monsters which the newbie would have absolutely no chance of beating alone or with other newbies. I used to think that this was a great thing, until I finally realized that I'd get tired of the game very quickly because there's no challenge when everything is given to me in an attempt to make me stay.

It's a vicious circle for me; on one hand, I want a community I can role play with. On the other hand, I don't feel motivated to stay in a game when everything is handed over to me so easily. Either one thing or the other gets to me first and then I find myself straying away from the game, perhaps not returning.

I understand that a fading MUD is trying hard to hold on to the old days so that the old legends and stories and hundreds of hours of coding and administration won't go to waste. These games are no more deserving of collapse than any currently popular MUD.

So how does a fading MUD make a comeback? Are there now games which came back?

03-16-2014, 02:24 AM	#1
dark acacia Banned Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 263	How do you bring back a fading MUD? Once in a while I find some game, usually through the TMS forum, which is trying to restore its former glory. As often as not, these games are places which used to have a respectable community, often as few as three to five years ago. For whatever reason, most of its core community have moved on, and now the regulars amount to a few people and perhaps an IMM or two at peak time. All that's left is the memory of what adventures once took place there, and the dungeons and monsters and quests which live on through the occasional visit by some diehard regular's new alt. One big thing which keeps me from staying with one of these games is almost always the lack of a community of people to play with. Sure, it may be RP enforced, but a murder mystery isn't much of a mystery if the victim and the suspects were the only three people on the desert island. Some of these games use incentives like huge experience modifiers, significantly reduced costs for things, and special items to attract new players. The regular non-IMMs are also often glad to take a newbie all the way through the newbie levels to the highest obtainable non-IMM levels within a day or two, showering him or her with lots of gold and equipment along with killing off monsters which the newbie would have absolutely no chance of beating alone or with other newbies. I used to think that this was a great thing, until I finally realized that I'd get tired of the game very quickly because there's no challenge when everything is given to me in an attempt to make me stay. It's a vicious circle for me; on one hand, I want a community I can role play with. On the other hand, I don't feel motivated to stay in a game when everything is handed over to me so easily. Either one thing or the other gets to me first and then I find myself straying away from the game, perhaps not returning. I understand that a fading MUD is trying hard to hold on to the old days so that the old legends and stories and hundreds of hours of coding and administration won't go to waste. These games are no more deserving of collapse than any currently popular MUD. So how does a fading MUD make a comeback? Are there now games which came back?