[Butler]

If you want to get new players into MUDs, then a smart idea would be to take some aspects of newer games that my generation are used to playing, say graphics and add it as a plugin to the clients, with something like an option to have a "Full Graphical Output", to say the basic Plugins that God Wars II/Aardwolf have, but put a few stages between, so new players can slowly learn about the gameplay and world, and slowly gain confidence. Obviously, since its a MUD, you would want the playerbase to at sometime use the pure MUD mode for their preference, and rightfully so, which means adding a delay to the GUI, which shrinks with the less GUI options you have, meaning you'll keep the game fair in PvP etc. when you have someone using GUI vs pure text. But this is just my opinion, as most people of my generation slag of 3 year old games for having "**** graphics", so a graphical interface of a god quality is only way i can see of getting them. That would pull them in, and the hardcore people will end up going to the text based play, thanks to no delays, while you keep the casual players.

Another way to bring them in more players would be to have a more conventional system for introducing the players to the game; Rules/Terms & Condition at the start, Character Creation, then a very short forced tutorial or safe area for players to gain confidence in the commands, with some printed movement and other basic commands on screen.

I never played a MUD before, but got to grips with Aardwolf controls fairly quickly simply because I've played/owned about 100 games over pretty much every genre, so was used to the usual controls schemes, but when i got my friend to try, who came from the same MMO as me, she got confused quickly, and had to have me explain the controls to her. Some text files/forums on the website of the MUDs would help new players figure out how big the community is, how active and the basics of the game. Wikis are ok, but forums give a feeling of activity.

Adding a GUI is in no way alienating your existing players if you add delays to balance the newbies and vets. If you implement it well, it should keep most of your players (as it would be optional to play with GUI) and preferable to casual players, and be a good intro for players who'll become more serious and go full text. You could treat using no GUI like Aardwolf treats people using Compression: reward them with some gold/Quest points/etc.

As for getting more players, if you added your games to RetroGamer magazines database with a PLAYER and not a DEVELOPER then you may get more players (i could do this as i have a database account). I'm also just about to write to the magazine about whether they can run a MUD article, and If anybodies interested in me naming some particular MUDs, forum PM me before Tuesday. This magazine is the largest and most major one that can niche games genres, and is probably the best bet for gaining new players, since i've seen them cover new homebrew text adventures monthly in the latter section of the mag. You could also add very minimal graphic schemes to the MUDs or just do a system like God Wars II, and show the progress of the graphics on "the spriters resource" forums (which im also a member of), which will probably yield friendlier, higher quality interfaces and a few players.