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Old 10-03-2008, 10:16 AM   #13
Lasher
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Join Date: May 2005
Name: Derek
Location: Orlando
Posts: 357
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Re: Design and Success

These threads all focus too much on code and design of the game itself. Clearly they are very important, but equally important is how you interact with the community. The players are the most important thing a MUD has.

How important do your players feel when, for example, you haven't backed up (and *tested* that backup) their data in months? I played a MUD with fantastic code and functionality, but ultimately left because even though I was never a target directly, I heard the admin berating a player on global channels one too many times.

Advertising, having a name beginning with Aa, word of mouth or whatever else gets people to your site helps, but it's what they see when they get there that counts. If there's a #1 rule for me, it is "listen", but that applies to any service, online or offline.

As a side note, the "aa" effect was never considered with Aardwolf, it was originally put up for players of a mud called "Aardvark" that was dying so the name was appropriate. It was never intended to get as big as it did or even be long term for that matter. If I could go back in time it would be called something else because the name itself is pretty meaningless and almost impossible to build a good story around, but this far in it is well known and not going to change.
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