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the_logos · 01-11-2008, 01:06 PM

Decreasing the 'barrier to entry' is important for getting anyone to do anything, anywhere in life really. Universally, the bigger the barrier to entry the bigger the 'carrot' has to be on the other side of that barrier to get people to go through the hassle of climbing over that barrier.

A client that doesn't require an install has a lower barrier to entry than a client that does, and you need to remember that the big fat dedicated MMO client downloads are a barrier to entry (if you compare all the free MMOs, for instance, you'll find that the most popular ones are all those that don't require a big client download).

Beyond that though, those client downloads are free and have pretty graphics to serve as a carrot. Zmud/Cmud costs money, so you're saying to a player, "If you want to play my game well you have to buy a third party piece of software." That sucks, though Zmud/Cmud is developed enough that it's hard to expect any single text MUD company to replace its functionality. Shame that an open source client that's as capable as Zmud/Cmud has never been developed.

Yep, I would agree with that. There's a difference between most players wanting a client they can download once they become a regular player of a game though and telling them that just to try it out they have to put up with either a third-party download or the terrible experience that Windows telnet gives (and it's not even enabled by default in Vista).

None of this really applies to existing MUD players that already have Zmud/Cmud of course. Those people are easy to make happy though as they're already used to dealing with unfriendly text-based UIs, already know how great text MUDs can be once you get passed that initial UI difficulty, etc. Focusing on those people means all you're doing is moving the same players around the text MUD market rather than trying to bring new people into it by making your MUD friendly to people who have never played one before but who may find that they love the depth and closer-knit community that text MUDs can bring.

--matt

01-11-2008, 01:06 PM	#38
the_logos Legend Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Mill Valley, California Posts: 2,305	Re: Graphic Maps Decreasing the 'barrier to entry' is important for getting anyone to do anything, anywhere in life really. Universally, the bigger the barrier to entry the bigger the 'carrot' has to be on the other side of that barrier to get people to go through the hassle of climbing over that barrier. A client that doesn't require an install has a lower barrier to entry than a client that does, and you need to remember that the big fat dedicated MMO client downloads are a barrier to entry (if you compare all the free MMOs, for instance, you'll find that the most popular ones are all those that don't require a big client download). Beyond that though, those client downloads are free and have pretty graphics to serve as a carrot. Zmud/Cmud costs money, so you're saying to a player, "If you want to play my game well you have to buy a third party piece of software." That sucks, though Zmud/Cmud is developed enough that it's hard to expect any single text MUD company to replace its functionality. Shame that an open source client that's as capable as Zmud/Cmud has never been developed. Yep, I would agree with that. There's a difference between most players wanting a client they can download once they become a regular player of a game though and telling them that just to try it out they have to put up with either a third-party download or the terrible experience that Windows telnet gives (and it's not even enabled by default in Vista). None of this really applies to existing MUD players that already have Zmud/Cmud of course. Those people are easy to make happy though as they're already used to dealing with unfriendly text-based UIs, already know how great text MUDs can be once you get passed that initial UI difficulty, etc. Focusing on those people means all you're doing is moving the same players around the text MUD market rather than trying to bring new people into it by making your MUD friendly to people who have never played one before but who may find that they love the depth and closer-knit community that text MUDs can bring. --matt