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realmsofvalor · 05-09-2012, 06:05 PM

I think the first thing that caused me to begin playing MUDs was a circle of RL friends that played and drew me into it. Following that was the torrential joy of friendships, emnity, and roleplay both good and bad from people who were strangers turned internet-friends. There was a sense of community & belonging to something special, and looking back, a lot of fine memories.
I can remember being hunched over a keyboard, typing madly during the rare adrenaline-crazed pkill. Shaking with emotion afterward, for good or ill, it felt like a good book times ten, and one where I am not content to read as an outsider, but was involved in crafting the story - and that alone made all the time worthwhile. I was greatly saddened when the day came that this game shut down.

Now I've built, with the aid of many other friends and strangers alike, a MUD of our own, and am seeking to regain that feeling of community and story. This work has spanned many years, almost a decade, of on-and-off players and builders and betas and it has been quite fun! Watching a game from an Administrative perspective is much different than a player's.

I've always been in agreement that the mechanical gameplay, aside from roleplay, should be varied and interesting as well. Different character classes, or more to the point, the choices characters make (from ability scores to skills to guilds) should hold different strengths depending on the situation. The advantage is twofold - you don't get players who flock to a particular class in order to become the 'best' PC possible with numbers (lol whyd u pick an ELF BARD noob!), and, given the chance to pick and choose some, but not all, of your skills (as my MUD does), it encourages customization to make you stand out from others who favor the same class. Balance is a delicate thing and it is something that should be constantly tweaked, from an Admin's perspective.

Shameless plug: Arantha is a roleplay-enforced medieval fantasy game with a custom campaign setting and is loosely based on AD&D 2nd edition rules. We seek to marry the tabletop rules of yore with a group of exciting and friendly players. Indeed, one of our rules (and the most important one in my eyes) is: We are Here to Have Fun. I would invite anyone who is interested (especially if you miss the feeling of those 'golden days') to come on by and check us out! (arantha.net:4000)

05-09-2012, 06:05 PM	#14
realmsofvalor New Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 22	Re: What do you look for in a mud? I think the first thing that caused me to begin playing MUDs was a circle of RL friends that played and drew me into it. Following that was the torrential joy of friendships, emnity, and roleplay both good and bad from people who were strangers turned internet-friends. There was a sense of community & belonging to something special, and looking back, a lot of fine memories. I can remember being hunched over a keyboard, typing madly during the rare adrenaline-crazed pkill. Shaking with emotion afterward, for good or ill, it felt like a good book times ten, and one where I am not content to read as an outsider, but was involved in crafting the story - and that alone made all the time worthwhile. I was greatly saddened when the day came that this game shut down. Now I've built, with the aid of many other friends and strangers alike, a MUD of our own, and am seeking to regain that feeling of community and story. This work has spanned many years, almost a decade, of on-and-off players and builders and betas and it has been quite fun! Watching a game from an Administrative perspective is much different than a player's. I've always been in agreement that the mechanical gameplay, aside from roleplay, should be varied and interesting as well. Different character classes, or more to the point, the choices characters make (from ability scores to skills to guilds) should hold different strengths depending on the situation. The advantage is twofold - you don't get players who flock to a particular class in order to become the 'best' PC possible with numbers (lol whyd u pick an ELF BARD noob!), and, given the chance to pick and choose some, but not all, of your skills (as my MUD does), it encourages customization to make you stand out from others who favor the same class. Balance is a delicate thing and it is something that should be constantly tweaked, from an Admin's perspective. Shameless plug: Arantha is a roleplay-enforced medieval fantasy game with a custom campaign setting and is loosely based on AD&D 2nd edition rules. We seek to marry the tabletop rules of yore with a group of exciting and friendly players. Indeed, one of our rules (and the most important one in my eyes) is: We are Here to Have Fun. I would invite anyone who is interested (especially if you miss the feeling of those 'golden days') to come on by and check us out! (arantha.net:4000) Last edited by realmsofvalor : 05-09-2012 at 08:48 PM.