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Old 04-14-2008, 06:07 PM   #3
MikeRozak
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Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Are MUDs the clog dancing of online gaming?

I totally agree.

The problem is, even if you can convince players that text/language is a good foundation (and I definitely think text has strong points), a LOT of other stuff about MUDs holds them back. My first reactions on entering a text MUD are:

- Why does the overall UI look so crappy (because I'm usually using a Java-ish client written by a mud-admin who thinks of it as a holdover until I splurge and pay for Z-mud... which is incredibly scary looking, although powerful.)

- Why don't I have a graphical map? (Because it's assumed that I'll eventually use Z-mud or something and figure out how to use automapping.)

- Character creation usually involves picking one of 50 races and one of 50 classes. To find out what the races/classes are, I either have to type in an obscure command or visit the web site. Why isn't this better integrated.

- Why do I have to type all the time? Why can't I click on the word "orc" and get a context menu for the most common stuff I can do to the orc. Arrow keys to move, etc.

- And MUD help reminds me on Unix "man".

- And a few pictures here and there wouldn't hurt. It doesn't have to be $30M worth of art, just a few.

- At which point, I usually log out disgusted.


People coming from MMORPG-land will all have their own conscious/subconscious impressions, and they won't be exactly the same as mine.


To use a book analogy: Back in Roman Times, there were no spaces between words, and scrolls were more common than books. Imagine reading Harry Potter on a scroll, with no spaces. It could be the exact same text, but the presentation limits the experience.

Which is why I wrote option (a) is to do nothing (stick to scrolls, and MUDs tha run on virtual teletype machines), or (b) update the experience (books with pages and modern conventions, or MUDs that solve some of the problems I mentioned above, or whatever problem most people see as being important).



That's great.

Some counter-thougts:

1) You may be the exception. What's the total MUD population now, and has it been increasing or decreasing? No one knows these answers. My own highly-flawed memory of watching the MUD forums (topmudsites and ilk) is that post numbers seem to be going down. (Just as the population numbers in individual MMORPGs have a habit of peaking and gradually declining. At the moment, MUDs seem to be on the gradual decline.)

2) The MMORPG population is growing at the rate of around 30% per year (plus or minus). If the MUD population is shrinking at 10% per year (my non-scientific innacurate guestimate), then relative to MMORPG's, MUDs are shrinking at approx 40% per year! Yes, this isn't an entirely fair comparison, but it's something I got used to doing when deciding what financial investments to make, where the return on an investment is relative to what other investments return.


And a slightly wild tangent that's related (and which you briefly mentioned):

I'm excited about UMPCs, mini-notebooks, or whatever you want to call them (Eee-like devices). I expect them to be popular with schoolkids, travelling adults, and 3rd world countries. At the moment, MMORPGs don't work well (if at all) on them.

Imagine a nice-looking, easy-to-get-going MUD on such a device. It's be perfect! MUDs are low bandwidth, low CPU, low screen-real-estate, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, low power consumption.

So yes, I do see hope for MUDs, but I think they have to change and adapt. (Which leads to paradigm shifts and why people/companies fail to ride out the paradigm shift, but that can be for yet another topic.)
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