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Old 04-11-2013, 05:02 PM   #26
SnowTroll
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 183
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Re: Do MUDs need to be "brought into the 21st century"

Browser-based games are definitely the place to look to see where muds ought to be going. I’ve thought about this a little more, and like most of us, I’m 100% certain the issue isn’t “graphics.” Some people like games with awesome graphics, some people don’t care. You’ll never win a person looking for awe-inspiring CGI movies over to muds.

The issue also isn’t entirely interface. That’s part of it, because as mentioned by someone above, it’s a little inconvenient to download a client. But it’s also “weird” to download a separate program that’s not a game itself, but a program you use to access a bunch of games that fit this strange category. That mentally places muds in this strange, set-apart classification, so that they’re not “normal games.” A lot of mud players like that separation. They don’t equate muds with the type of game, so much as with a telnet interface and a bunch of text. They'll tell you that if it has graphics and isn't text only, it's not really a mud. In their mind, telnet=mud.

But a browser-based way to access your mud, built right into your webpage (while a good start) doesn’t fix what I think the biggest barrier is. Muds are just plain difficult to learn and get into. If you’re not a hardcore gamer looking for the latest title for your PC or console, then odds are you’re looking for a simple game to pass the time. Having to learn a bunch of text commands and type them long-hand into a terminal window (versus clicking on things, typing the first letter of things, moving around with directional keys, etc.) is hard. Chatting with others isn’t so different from a chat room or forum (though it comes across as weird to have to type “say” in front of things), but remaining in character, writing a background and description, and roleplaying with everyone you meet is hard. That’s a huge entry barrier. You can’t just log into a roleplaying mud for a few minutes the same way you can go play a few fun flash games online. Roleplaying muds are something you really have to learn and invest yourself into. If I’m not a former tabletop RP gamer and I’m just looking for a fun game to pass some time on the internet, and you put Threshold on Kongregate next to some Bejeweled clone (just an example – no hate for Threshold here, and definitely no love for Bejeweled), I’m not going to take the time to learn muds and roleplaying. Muds are only appealing to pre-existing roleplayers. Very few casual gamers are going to invest the time to learn, and to play make believe on the internet.

I think there’s a huge opportunity for non-roleplaying muds, though. Especially with a sweet client that lets you click a bunch of things and type one-letter hotkeys, maybe with a built-in minimap. If people will take the time to grow a farm on Facebook, they’ll play around killing and crafting things and chatting with other players in a browser window, as long as it’s easy to learn and they don’t have to do any of that nerdy roleplaying stuff.
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