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Old 05-29-2013, 10:09 AM   #12
plamzi
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Home MUD: bedlam.mudportal.com:9000
Home MUD: www.mudportal.com
Posts: 292
plamzi is on a distinguished road
Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Like you, I haven't played these games. Unlike you, I feel that makes me largely unqualified to comment on them.

I'm sure that, like any other games, various people play these games for various reasons. If your favorite free game became pay-for-perks tomorrow, you will get the same folks that try to mine real money in any way possible. That's human nature. Given that, how would you suggest that people working in the online game industry monetize their efforts? Not everyone works on an online game as a hobby--they want to get paid for a hard day's work, just like you do.

If anything, the (alleged) complicated and time-consuming exploit you heard about is a testament that the staff of these games has closed off all the easy botting they could find.

When you play a commercial online game, most of what you pay for is service: professional support, guaranteed on-going event activity, a guaranteed pace of content growth, a better longevity.

Try running a free game as if it's a commercial one, and you'll quickly find out how much more work it is. If your favorite game is trying to do that, then you should focus on giving it extra kudos instead of looking down on other games just because they're commercial.

Incidentally, I believe that more commercially-run MUDs are better for everyone. They are the ones that have promotional budgets to get the word out, and have the potential to generate new audiences. If we were smart, we would support their efforts rather than disparage them.
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