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DonathinFrye · 01-10-2006, 12:28 AM

I know that in the week or so after joining these forums I was called immature, communistic, intolerant of "poor people"(like myself, i suppose), stupid, and high-horsing... so I'd agree with the latter part of the statement. The former part of the statement has you assuming to be the voice of anyone not on these forums.

The common use of the word 'free' is not your use of the word 'free'. The percentage of text-MUDs who use a different definition of the word 'free' than IRE's is probably much higher than those that do use IRE's definition. However, it would be difficult to prove as much without a poll.

All of the games in your listing of examples are graphical in nature, and therefor exist in a largely different community, with different standards of what 'free' infers. The argument here is not over legality, or backwards twisting of the dictionary definition to suite your purposes - I do not disagree that under your point-of-view, IRE games are free. However, what the term 'free-to-play' means for most MUDs that use it is something completely different than what it means for IRE. Your graphical game-examples do not resonate as relevant, as the graphical MMO community is very different in many ways from the text MMO community.

Beyond that, Achaea's website does appear to go somewhat out of its way to be somewhat vague about its own credit system, certainly not telling its players just how important credits are for significant skill-level growth in the game.

Honestly, though, at the end of the day, you can use misleading advertising and twist words around to make it look like you are being 100% honest; it's your call, and your game. I won't like it, as many people won't - but there are some people who certainly won't care.

I believe my argument was always geared towards the fact that this website resource should not be as vague as some MUDs' advertising, and not that the MUD's were illegal for using misleading/vague advertising. The players deserve to have clear-cut knowledge on the resource site of whether or not a MUD is 100% free, pay-for-perks, or pay-to-play.

01-10-2006, 12:28 AM	#4
DonathinFrye Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Name: Donathin Frye Location: Columbus, OH Home MUD: Optional Realities Home MUD: Atonement RPI Home MUD: Project Redshift Posts: 510	I know that in the week or so after joining these forums I was called immature, communistic, intolerant of "poor people"(like myself, i suppose), stupid, and high-horsing... so I'd agree with the latter part of the statement. The former part of the statement has you assuming to be the voice of anyone not on these forums. The common use of the word 'free' is not your use of the word 'free'. The percentage of text-MUDs who use a different definition of the word 'free' than IRE's is probably much higher than those that do use IRE's definition. However, it would be difficult to prove as much without a poll. All of the games in your listing of examples are graphical in nature, and therefor exist in a largely different community, with different standards of what 'free' infers. The argument here is not over legality, or backwards twisting of the dictionary definition to suite your purposes - I do not disagree that under your point-of-view, IRE games are free. However, what the term 'free-to-play' means for most MUDs that use it is something completely different than what it means for IRE. Your graphical game-examples do not resonate as relevant, as the graphical MMO community is very different in many ways from the text MMO community. Beyond that, Achaea's website does appear to go somewhat out of its way to be somewhat vague about its own credit system, certainly not telling its players just how important credits are for significant skill-level growth in the game. Honestly, though, at the end of the day, you can use misleading advertising and twist words around to make it look like you are being 100% honest; it's your call, and your game. I won't like it, as many people won't - but there are some people who certainly won't care. I believe my argument was always geared towards the fact that this website resource should not be as vague as some MUDs' advertising, and not that the MUD's were illegal for using misleading/vague advertising. The players deserve to have clear-cut knowledge on the resource site of whether or not a MUD is 100% free, pay-for-perks, or pay-to-play.