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Tezcatlipoca · 12-03-2004, 04:31 PM

Couple of points:
-First I think many of us (myself included) are possibly a bit guilty of pushing off MUDs as too "foreign" or difficult for "normal" people, which means we need to pay special attention to advertising it in special ways to them. While I still haven't completely convinced myself of this NOT being true, I think it would be worthwhile to play devil's advocate with the notion.
The first computer game made was a text based game that, except for the multiplayer environment, bears a striking resemblance to the style of most text based MUDs out there (although I think we can agree that while they may LOOK like "Zork" or one if it's counterparts on the surface, it's better to equate "Zork," the 10mm Hydra viridissima, to it's current MUD brother, the 10m long fifty headed Hydra). The game of course had many single player variants. So many that, I'd be willing to bet that many people who spent their adolescence or teenager years during either the 80's or the 90's, and used one of many different computer types that were commercially active, can recall playing (and probably enjoying) either “Zork”, or a variant of it. True, I’m focusing in again on a smaller group of people (“…and used [a] … computer…”) which certainly was no where near the extent we have today, but I’ve personally been pretty darned surprised at the people I’ve found that used to play such games, and even those that used to play multiplayer text based games (not necessarily MUDs however) on the old acoustically coupled modems. I’m also (although less so as I’ve found more and more) surprised at the number of people (younger people then the afore-mentioned) who have in fact heard of and even played MUDs before in semi-recent times. The excuses for quitting are usually the same of course: “not enough time… I was too addicted… everything else in my life screeched to a halt…”
Really, from personal experience, the only large groups of people I’ve found that played or at least seen a MUD before, are those of the “new” generation (those that are teenagers now--you know, the ones that are most apt to become problem players for a while before they get bored). Interestingly enough, this generation is the most computer heavy generation of any so far, with strong focus on the Internet, and more importantly, games. The games they’re used to seeing ARE the flashy new games with huge intricate engines, massive attention to graphical detail and which tend to favor a short reaction time over an imaginative or quick thinking brain. These, although I’ve managed to pull a few in myself, tend not to be the most creative players. They also almost never have seen or heard of MUDs before. They might, in turn, not be the best people to focus on.
If the people we focus on are those that already are aware of MUDs, then what’s the point in advertising right? Well… I don’t think we can say that every person that has heard of a MUD is an ex-MUDder him or herself. A campaign for reintroduction of these people into the text-based genre may be advantageous. Starting with those who are most apt to jump ship in terms of time availability--college students.
But an overall reintroduction campaign I think might be worthwhile. It just needs to present to them both tasty morsels of MUDding that they now miss and can still get excited about, as well as presenting them with recent changes which take care of those problems they finally decided to bail out because of (as mentioned earlier by someone else, too much Rping, or too much H&S; not enough of a balanced fun, mix, or even alternate activities to both). It might also be worthwhile to tell them that they don’t NEED to spend every waking moment of their lives on the game anymore. With the mixed pay/free MUDs out there, money can be supplemented for time in terms of “getting somewhere” in the MUD world (although I understand and respect that some people here might not agree with that method of administration). Another option: with so many other styles of MUDs out there, I’m pretty sure (although I haven’t looked) that there exists MUDs that don’t require lots of time to play so much, as just a place to stop by when you have time and kick back for a few minutes or an hour, and yet STILL have fun, and maybe even still get somewhere because of quality playing during those few minutes.

-Second point (the first one started turning into a rant. I figured I probably should divide it up before I find myself with only one point). Spoke restates a great point; the best way of “advertising” is through word of mouth. Or at the very least, it’s been the mainstay of MUD advertising as I’ve seen it. It’s how I got into it probably closing in on 10 years ago now... I’ve honestly lost count… 10 doesn’t seem right, but I think only because it makes me seem older then I want to admit to myself. Either way, wherever I’ve been, the primary means of “advertising” the MUD was to get players to mention it to people they knew; friends, family members, online acquaintances, ect. I can’t say that they achieved earth-shattering results of course—there’s many reason for that I think—but I know it does work, as I’m a product of it working.

-Third point. This isn’t really a point I don’t think. In fact, I’m not sure any of these could be considered “points.” More like crappy advice. At any rate… posting “MUD Stories” is not a bad idea at all. But I’d suggest posting a mix of them. Most that I’ve heard mentioned are humorous ones. I’d suggest mixing those with tragic ones, violent ones, and all sorts of different kinds. Humor is an attractive device, but if you present nothing but humor, you might find people merely taking what you’re presenting as a joke. That and as great as the humor can be in MUDs (especially the ironies involved in some of your more run of the mill-MUDs, or those involved in H&S MUDs [the “good” aligned elf slaughtering eliminating whole populations of people just to gain a level]), the way we can spin some more tragic tales in can provide even more impact. The story that got me MUDing wasn’t necessarily a funny one (although I could find humor in it as I’m sure many others could) was one on a standard DIKU H&S variant: the protagonist was working with others in a clan. The antagonist stole something from him or some such. Either way it started a bit of a clan war. It wind down to him walking into the cathedral (I’m sure many of you know which I’m talking about) where the antagonist was sleeping, dragging him out by his collar, and hacking him apart there on the steps. In fact, this story is so generic that I’d be willing to bet half of us have been on both sides of that story multiple times. But it hooked me. The intrigue of being able to work WITH other people AGAINST other people in such an environment, even one with such loose RP as a H&S, was attractive, with no intended humor involved really.

I think I’m out of points but for those who think I write too much to get my point across (an acceptable opinion) here’s a condensed version:
1) Don’t necessarily bank on the idea that we’re an isolated group of gamers, surrounded by a larger group of generic gamers that haven’t ever heard of MUDs, and requires them to be explained. Many people KNOW MUDs are out there. Others that don’t, don’t necessarily need them explained, or need to understand them, in order to get them hooked.
2) “Networking,” although I find it personally abhorred when job searching, is effective in spreading the word of MUDs, as “proven” by most player’s histories.
3) Don’t focus on one aspect of MUDs. They’re too complex to stop there. Humor is great, but there’s a lot more then can be presented in a MUD-story format, just or maybe even more, effectively.

12-03-2004, 04:31 PM	#104
Tezcatlipoca Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 46	Couple of points: -First I think many of us (myself included) are possibly a bit guilty of pushing off MUDs as too "foreign" or difficult for "normal" people, which means we need to pay special attention to advertising it in special ways to them. While I still haven't completely convinced myself of this NOT being true, I think it would be worthwhile to play devil's advocate with the notion. The first computer game made was a text based game that, except for the multiplayer environment, bears a striking resemblance to the style of most text based MUDs out there (although I think we can agree that while they may LOOK like "Zork" or one if it's counterparts on the surface, it's better to equate "Zork," the 10mm Hydra viridissima, to it's current MUD brother, the 10m long fifty headed Hydra). The game of course had many single player variants. So many that, I'd be willing to bet that many people who spent their adolescence or teenager years during either the 80's or the 90's, and used one of many different computer types that were commercially active, can recall playing (and probably enjoying) either “Zork”, or a variant of it. True, I’m focusing in again on a smaller group of people (“…and used [a] … computer…”) which certainly was no where near the extent we have today, but I’ve personally been pretty darned surprised at the people I’ve found that used to play such games, and even those that used to play multiplayer text based games (not necessarily MUDs however) on the old acoustically coupled modems. I’m also (although less so as I’ve found more and more) surprised at the number of people (younger people then the afore-mentioned) who have in fact heard of and even played MUDs before in semi-recent times. The excuses for quitting are usually the same of course: “not enough time… I was too addicted… everything else in my life screeched to a halt…” Really, from personal experience, the only large groups of people I’ve found that played or at least seen a MUD before, are those of the “new” generation (those that are teenagers now--you know, the ones that are most apt to become problem players for a while before they get bored). Interestingly enough, this generation is the most computer heavy generation of any so far, with strong focus on the Internet, and more importantly, games. The games they’re used to seeing ARE the flashy new games with huge intricate engines, massive attention to graphical detail and which tend to favor a short reaction time over an imaginative or quick thinking brain. These, although I’ve managed to pull a few in myself, tend not to be the most creative players. They also almost never have seen or heard of MUDs before. They might, in turn, not be the best people to focus on. If the people we focus on are those that already are aware of MUDs, then what’s the point in advertising right? Well… I don’t think we can say that every person that has heard of a MUD is an ex-MUDder him or herself. A campaign for reintroduction of these people into the text-based genre may be advantageous. Starting with those who are most apt to jump ship in terms of time availability--college students. But an overall reintroduction campaign I think might be worthwhile. It just needs to present to them both tasty morsels of MUDding that they now miss and can still get excited about, as well as presenting them with recent changes which take care of those problems they finally decided to bail out because of (as mentioned earlier by someone else, too much Rping, or too much H&S; not enough of a balanced fun, mix, or even alternate activities to both). It might also be worthwhile to tell them that they don’t NEED to spend every waking moment of their lives on the game anymore. With the mixed pay/free MUDs out there, money can be supplemented for time in terms of “getting somewhere” in the MUD world (although I understand and respect that some people here might not agree with that method of administration). Another option: with so many other styles of MUDs out there, I’m pretty sure (although I haven’t looked) that there exists MUDs that don’t require lots of time to play so much, as just a place to stop by when you have time and kick back for a few minutes or an hour, and yet STILL have fun, and maybe even still get somewhere because of quality playing during those few minutes. -Second point (the first one started turning into a rant. I figured I probably should divide it up before I find myself with only one point). Spoke restates a great point; the best way of “advertising” is through word of mouth. Or at the very least, it’s been the mainstay of MUD advertising as I’ve seen it. It’s how I got into it probably closing in on 10 years ago now... I’ve honestly lost count… 10 doesn’t seem right, but I think only because it makes me seem older then I want to admit to myself. Either way, wherever I’ve been, the primary means of “advertising” the MUD was to get players to mention it to people they knew; friends, family members, online acquaintances, ect. I can’t say that they achieved earth-shattering results of course—there’s many reason for that I think—but I know it does work, as I’m a product of it working. -Third point. This isn’t really a point I don’t think. In fact, I’m not sure any of these could be considered “points.” More like crappy advice. At any rate… posting “MUD Stories” is not a bad idea at all. But I’d suggest posting a mix of them. Most that I’ve heard mentioned are humorous ones. I’d suggest mixing those with tragic ones, violent ones, and all sorts of different kinds. Humor is an attractive device, but if you present nothing but humor, you might find people merely taking what you’re presenting as a joke. That and as great as the humor can be in MUDs (especially the ironies involved in some of your more run of the mill-MUDs, or those involved in H&S MUDs [the “good” aligned elf slaughtering eliminating whole populations of people just to gain a level]), the way we can spin some more tragic tales in can provide even more impact. The story that got me MUDing wasn’t necessarily a funny one (although I could find humor in it as I’m sure many others could) was one on a standard DIKU H&S variant: the protagonist was working with others in a clan. The antagonist stole something from him or some such. Either way it started a bit of a clan war. It wind down to him walking into the cathedral (I’m sure many of you know which I’m talking about) where the antagonist was sleeping, dragging him out by his collar, and hacking him apart there on the steps. In fact, this story is so generic that I’d be willing to bet half of us have been on both sides of that story multiple times. But it hooked me. The intrigue of being able to work WITH other people AGAINST other people in such an environment, even one with such loose RP as a H&S, was attractive, with no intended humor involved really. I think I’m out of points but for those who think I write too much to get my point across (an acceptable opinion) here’s a condensed version: 1) Don’t necessarily bank on the idea that we’re an isolated group of gamers, surrounded by a larger group of generic gamers that haven’t ever heard of MUDs, and requires them to be explained. Many people KNOW MUDs are out there. Others that don’t, don’t necessarily need them explained, or need to understand them, in order to get them hooked. 2) “Networking,” although I find it personally abhorred when job searching, is effective in spreading the word of MUDs, as “proven” by most player’s histories. 3) Don’t focus on one aspect of MUDs. They’re too complex to stop there. Humor is great, but there’s a lot more then can be presented in a MUD-story format, just or maybe even more, effectively.