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Jazuela · 01-29-2006, 02:53 PM

A few things will immediately send me running.

1) Forced color. I would really rather not have to go through a lot of trouble reconfiguring my mud client just to turn all that color off. Just like reading a book, I like reading my muds in black and white. With the white being the background and the black being the text. Since muds involve screen scroll which can strain the eye more than a book can, I don't mind a minor adjustment to lighten the text to a nice dull grey or darken the background to a muted ivory. But having to remove forced highlights on specific words and phrases is a pain and it takes more time to do it than it does to walk 20 rooms into the game, so I would just..not walk that 20 rooms and find another game to play.

2) Auto-help files that show up immediately after you log in, and don't START by telling you how to turn them off. If I have to endure 20 minutes of tips being shoved in my face every 15 seconds I'll just find somewhere else for my entertainment.

3) Non-intuitive help files. If I want to know about combat, I should be able to type "help combat" and find a paragraph about it with keywords referencing more detailed files about different aspects of the topic. I shouldn't have to type "help general" then type "2" for skills, then 7 for warrior, then 4 to finally find a paragraph that explains the syntax for engaging in a fight. Especially if I have no reason to know that "skills" is located in "general," or that this process would even lead me to the combat paragraph I'm trying to find.

4) Stupid or badly written room descriptions. Presentation is everything in a text game. If you don't know the difference between "where," "wear," and "were" and reject assistance from a grammar-checker, then please don't be a builder, or expect me to want to play your game. Similarly, I know I am in the room. You don't need to tell me that in your room description. Nor do I need to be told that an NPC is standing before me. If they weren't, I wouldn't be able to look at them, would I? Well, unless they're sitting behind me - but if that was the case, their desc wouldn't read that they're standing before me. Either way, "standing before you" is just one example of the kind of "little things" that just really turns me off about some text games. When they stack up in a single room description, it'll get me thinking I can find better quality somewhere else.

01-29-2006, 02:53 PM	#4
Jazuela Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New England Posts: 849	A few things will immediately send me running. 1) Forced color. I would really rather not have to go through a lot of trouble reconfiguring my mud client just to turn all that color off. Just like reading a book, I like reading my muds in black and white. With the white being the background and the black being the text. Since muds involve screen scroll which can strain the eye more than a book can, I don't mind a minor adjustment to lighten the text to a nice dull grey or darken the background to a muted ivory. But having to remove forced highlights on specific words and phrases is a pain and it takes more time to do it than it does to walk 20 rooms into the game, so I would just..not walk that 20 rooms and find another game to play. 2) Auto-help files that show up immediately after you log in, and don't START by telling you how to turn them off. If I have to endure 20 minutes of tips being shoved in my face every 15 seconds I'll just find somewhere else for my entertainment. 3) Non-intuitive help files. If I want to know about combat, I should be able to type "help combat" and find a paragraph about it with keywords referencing more detailed files about different aspects of the topic. I shouldn't have to type "help general" then type "2" for skills, then 7 for warrior, then 4 to finally find a paragraph that explains the syntax for engaging in a fight. Especially if I have no reason to know that "skills" is located in "general," or that this process would even lead me to the combat paragraph I'm trying to find. 4) Stupid or badly written room descriptions. Presentation is everything in a text game. If you don't know the difference between "where," "wear," and "were" and reject assistance from a grammar-checker, then please don't be a builder, or expect me to want to play your game. Similarly, I know I am in the room. You don't need to tell me that in your room description. Nor do I need to be told that an NPC is standing before me. If they weren't, I wouldn't be able to look at them, would I? Well, unless they're sitting behind me - but if that was the case, their desc wouldn't read that they're standing before me. Either way, "standing before you" is just one example of the kind of "little things" that just really turns me off about some text games. When they stack up in a single room description, it'll get me thinking I can find better quality somewhere else.