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SnowTroll · 05-04-2012, 10:23 AM

It can almost be night and day when you're comparing what attracts rp-focused players to a mud, and what attracts players, in general, to a mud. Here's what draws me, as a roleplayer.

First, your mud needs to be a roleplaying mud. Roleplaying needs to be required, enforced, and every single player needs to buy into that. I can't get into the rp scene of a mud if I'm limited to rping in a dark corner with a few other like minded players, while half of the playerbase runs around playing a non-rp mud. I need to be in an environment where every person I run into and everything I see is part of the in character game, and where I can expect every other player to act in charater wherever and whenever I run across them. This isn't to say that they have to drop everything and have a 10 line emote fest with me. They just need to not break character, and if they do interact with me or others, they have to do it in character.

Second, your mud needs to be very easy to get into. I don't want to have to spend two hours reading your website and learning all about your game's lore and history. The entry barrier needs to be low enough that I can just jump right in, learn things about the game world as I go, and use your website as a quick reference if I have to look up the name of a god or a city or something. If I enjoy the mud, I'll probably read through the rest of the materials in my spare time. This also applies to the mud's code. I need to be able to figure out, within 5-10 minutes of starting the game, how to move, communicate, and strategically use all of my character's skills and abilities (more complex is not necessarily better, especially if a game is focused on roleplaying). This also applies to character creation. If it takes me an hour, and I have to pick 50 different options, and waste time writing a bunch of descriptions, only to find out that I picked a bad starting city or race or class or whatever the mud offers and have to start again, I'm ticked off. And no mud that has any kind of application or approval process gets my patronage. If a mud wants to attract players, don't make me feel like I'm begging for permission to play and need to pass your scrutiny before I'm worthy.

Third, roleplaying needs to be fast and interesting. I can't stand muds where people sit in a public room and take turns emoting 4-6 line paragraphs, round robin style. I'll roleplay in a chat room if I want to write a shared storybook. I'm interested in what other people's characters say, do, and think, and what happens as a result, and in how they react to what my character says, does, and thinks. The content is important, not a bunch of colorful prose. Roleplaying should be about interacting and exchanging in character words, actions, and thoughts with other characters. Not about showing off your writing style and creativity. If I have to wait more than 30-40 seconds for someone to say or do something in response to what I said or did, I'm going to run laps around them, because I'm going to say or do something else before they've responded. Or just leave the room.

Fourth, gameplay needs to be interesting. Every character, new and old, needs to be able to have some sort of niche when it comes to killing mobs, making money, gathering resources, crafting items, or whatever makes your mud tick. There needs to be enough to do and enough ways to do it that I'm not suck in the same area grinding against the same mobs in exactly the same manner for 6 months. A roleplaying game is still a game. It needs to be fun and interesting even when I'm not actively roleplaying.

Fifth, the world needs to make sense. If death isn't permanent in the game, and people come back to life 30 seconds later, the world needs to reflect that fact. Murder would be a very minor crime compared to the real world, and violence would be a very common way to resolve issues. If the game has public in charcater channels, the world needs to reflect that fact. Think about how differently a world would evolve from ours if everybody in the world could talk to everybody else through this magic chat room in their brain, their whole lives. If the world has healing magic and it's fairly widespread, there'd be no such thing as a doctor or any knowledge of medicine, because a level 1 cleric can just snap his fingers and cure light wounds your pain away. And so on. The game world needs to be believable without the players having to bend over backward too much.

The above isn't all-inclusive, of course, but just some off the cuff things that I've learned about myself over many years of playing muds.

05-04-2012, 10:23 AM	#2
SnowTroll Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 183	Re: What do you look for in a mud? It can almost be night and day when you're comparing what attracts rp-focused players to a mud, and what attracts players, in general, to a mud. Here's what draws me, as a roleplayer. First, your mud needs to be a roleplaying mud. Roleplaying needs to be required, enforced, and every single player needs to buy into that. I can't get into the rp scene of a mud if I'm limited to rping in a dark corner with a few other like minded players, while half of the playerbase runs around playing a non-rp mud. I need to be in an environment where every person I run into and everything I see is part of the in character game, and where I can expect every other player to act in charater wherever and whenever I run across them. This isn't to say that they have to drop everything and have a 10 line emote fest with me. They just need to not break character, and if they do interact with me or others, they have to do it in character. Second, your mud needs to be very easy to get into. I don't want to have to spend two hours reading your website and learning all about your game's lore and history. The entry barrier needs to be low enough that I can just jump right in, learn things about the game world as I go, and use your website as a quick reference if I have to look up the name of a god or a city or something. If I enjoy the mud, I'll probably read through the rest of the materials in my spare time. This also applies to the mud's code. I need to be able to figure out, within 5-10 minutes of starting the game, how to move, communicate, and strategically use all of my character's skills and abilities (more complex is not necessarily better, especially if a game is focused on roleplaying). This also applies to character creation. If it takes me an hour, and I have to pick 50 different options, and waste time writing a bunch of descriptions, only to find out that I picked a bad starting city or race or class or whatever the mud offers and have to start again, I'm ticked off. And no mud that has any kind of application or approval process gets my patronage. If a mud wants to attract players, don't make me feel like I'm begging for permission to play and need to pass your scrutiny before I'm worthy. Third, roleplaying needs to be fast and interesting. I can't stand muds where people sit in a public room and take turns emoting 4-6 line paragraphs, round robin style. I'll roleplay in a chat room if I want to write a shared storybook. I'm interested in what other people's characters say, do, and think, and what happens as a result, and in how they react to what my character says, does, and thinks. The content is important, not a bunch of colorful prose. Roleplaying should be about interacting and exchanging in character words, actions, and thoughts with other characters. Not about showing off your writing style and creativity. If I have to wait more than 30-40 seconds for someone to say or do something in response to what I said or did, I'm going to run laps around them, because I'm going to say or do something else before they've responded. Or just leave the room. Fourth, gameplay needs to be interesting. Every character, new and old, needs to be able to have some sort of niche when it comes to killing mobs, making money, gathering resources, crafting items, or whatever makes your mud tick. There needs to be enough to do and enough ways to do it that I'm not suck in the same area grinding against the same mobs in exactly the same manner for 6 months. A roleplaying game is still a game. It needs to be fun and interesting even when I'm not actively roleplaying. Fifth, the world needs to make sense. If death isn't permanent in the game, and people come back to life 30 seconds later, the world needs to reflect that fact. Murder would be a very minor crime compared to the real world, and violence would be a very common way to resolve issues. If the game has public in charcater channels, the world needs to reflect that fact. Think about how differently a world would evolve from ours if everybody in the world could talk to everybody else through this magic chat room in their brain, their whole lives. If the world has healing magic and it's fairly widespread, there'd be no such thing as a doctor or any knowledge of medicine, because a level 1 cleric can just snap his fingers and cure light wounds your pain away. And so on. The game world needs to be believable without the players having to bend over backward too much. The above isn't all-inclusive, of course, but just some off the cuff things that I've learned about myself over many years of playing muds.