Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - From MUDs to MUSHes: FAQs, etc for the players

Milawe · 10-06-2009, 11:44 PM

Thanks, Liosliath. I had my eyes opened when some of our hardcore RPers started playing heavily on a MUX. Thankfully, these players still stayed on our games and let me know what drew them to MUXes and MUSHes even with their 10-year mudding histories. It's something I've never really tried myself except for doing historical research to aid a friend's RP.

Ultimately, it often seems that it's the content that draws them. Most MUSHes that are very successful seem to be centered around the works of authors where the world is fully detailed and known by almost all the players before they even enter the game. I think that's what allows for cooperative play so well. Almost everyone is starting off on the same footing knowledge-wise because everyone has the same access to the lore. The discovery comes in the individual characters that are created rather than exploration of the game world. Setting the scenes become really important to get everyone on the same page, and thus, cooperative play (even in opposition) becomes a necessity.

With MUDs finding things out about the world is usually a vital part of the game regardless of whether or not there is RP involved. You're discovering where each piece of gear drops, which monsters are hardest to fight, what piece of gear sells the best in the current market, what recipes craft which items, how many seconds you have to wait between this ability and that ability, and the list is endless. So, yes, you could essentially play for hours with the game world itself without ever talking to another player, and part of the thrill of playing is learning about the game and the world itself. Knowledge is power, and you've got an advantage over other players if you know something about the world that they have yet to discover.

In a MUSH, I think the discovery comes when you're playing out a scene to see how specific characters would possibly evolve in a very established world that is usually loved before a player ever gets online. You get a lot of purists who want to uphold the integrity of the world lore, and everyone operates with the same end goal really. Sometimes, you do get the super twinks on a MUSH but not as often as you do on a MUD because in a MUSH, players are 95% of the content of the game. (Obviously, I'm generalizing a bit because there ARE successful MUSHes that are not based on the works of Tolkien, Lucas or some DnD world. They're just not as common as the successul MUSHes that ARE based on someone else's writing.) Alienate enough players, and you really don't have a game to play. Thus, pre-planning a time and scene makes a lot of sense to me.

Anyway, rambling again. I think for a certain set of players, moving between MUDs and MUSHes can be pretty natural and painless.

10-06-2009, 11:44 PM	#96
Milawe Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: USA Home MUD: Threshold RPG Home MUD: Stash Home MUD: Archons of Avenshar Posts: 653	Re: From MUDs to MUSHes: FAQs, etc for the players Thanks, Liosliath. I had my eyes opened when some of our hardcore RPers started playing heavily on a MUX. Thankfully, these players still stayed on our games and let me know what drew them to MUXes and MUSHes even with their 10-year mudding histories. It's something I've never really tried myself except for doing historical research to aid a friend's RP. Ultimately, it often seems that it's the content that draws them. Most MUSHes that are very successful seem to be centered around the works of authors where the world is fully detailed and known by almost all the players before they even enter the game. I think that's what allows for cooperative play so well. Almost everyone is starting off on the same footing knowledge-wise because everyone has the same access to the lore. The discovery comes in the individual characters that are created rather than exploration of the game world. Setting the scenes become really important to get everyone on the same page, and thus, cooperative play (even in opposition) becomes a necessity. With MUDs finding things out about the world is usually a vital part of the game regardless of whether or not there is RP involved. You're discovering where each piece of gear drops, which monsters are hardest to fight, what piece of gear sells the best in the current market, what recipes craft which items, how many seconds you have to wait between this ability and that ability, and the list is endless. So, yes, you could essentially play for hours with the game world itself without ever talking to another player, and part of the thrill of playing is learning about the game and the world itself. Knowledge is power, and you've got an advantage over other players if you know something about the world that they have yet to discover. In a MUSH, I think the discovery comes when you're playing out a scene to see how specific characters would possibly evolve in a very established world that is usually loved before a player ever gets online. You get a lot of purists who want to uphold the integrity of the world lore, and everyone operates with the same end goal really. Sometimes, you do get the super twinks on a MUSH but not as often as you do on a MUD because in a MUSH, players are 95% of the content of the game. (Obviously, I'm generalizing a bit because there ARE successful MUSHes that are not based on the works of Tolkien, Lucas or some DnD world. They're just not as common as the successul MUSHes that ARE based on someone else's writing.) Alienate enough players, and you really don't have a game to play. Thus, pre-planning a time and scene makes a lot of sense to me. Anyway, rambling again. I think for a certain set of players, moving between MUDs and MUSHes can be pretty natural and painless.