[Threshold]

camlorn: Wow. You've been playing some crappy muds. You need to expand your horizons. Take the 10 or so "best muds." There are more unique features in those games than in every single MMO ever created - combined.

Your description of MUD combat is worse than MUDs I played 20 years ago. So please: branch out! There are far better muds out there than the ones you described!

Straw man. That isn't what was said.

Forcing/requiring a graphical UI in an existing successful game is a bad move and disrespectful of the loyal gamers responsible for your success.

If someone wants to "go graphical", they really should just make another game to complement their MUD. Forcing players who LIKE a text game to play a graphical game is not a solution.

Another Straw man. Nobody said that and nobody does that.

MUDs change rapidly. That's part of their charm. It is easier and faster to add content to a MUD than to a graphical MMO precisely because you don't need new graphical assets.

Just because people may not agree with the changes YOU want to happen doesn't mean they are opposed to change. There are a lot of MUDs that are very forward thinking both in features and even in accessibility.

is 17 years old and in the last year our usage has increased by about 50%. Our new user creation rate is back to near peak levels.

So I'm going to disagree with you on the basis of both principle and factual data.

Granted, we've done a lot of things to make this happen.

The gaming landscape is very competitive. You have to constantly bust your butt to get people to discover your game.

Trying to be something you aren't isn't a solution. MUDs are text games. Some optional graphical UI bells and whistles can be nice and convenient for some users. But beyond that, you're taking away what actually makes MUDs special and different, while you alienate loyal players.