Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - Do MUDs need to be "brought into the 21st century"

plamzi · 04-18-2013, 08:55 PM

I find this a pretty revealing post. Now imagine that we had a few dozen really strongly promoted "gateway MUDs" that take full advantage of all modern means to promote an online game. And that also present interfaces that "feel like" familiar browser-based games, only they manage to deliver the complexity that only MUDs have reached.

I understand Threshold's reservations fully, but the bottom line is that if you play the 0-sum game of going after MUD vets for your game, then you are not introducing new players to mudding, and so you are effectively contributing to its slow death.

Posting a glorified online telnet window is not likely to bring in anyone except people who have played MUDs in the past. I have yet to see a MUD GUI that doesn't assume, on some level, that the user already knows how to play a MUD. Even my iOS GUI does that when it comes to some sophisticated gameplay actions, just because there are too many commands to pack visually.

But, again, the steepness of the mountain should not deter us. It is do or die.

04-18-2013, 08:55 PM	#39
plamzi Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Home MUD: bedlam.mudportal.com:9000 Home MUD: www.mudportal.com Posts: 292	Re: Do MUDs need to be "brought into the 21st century" I find this a pretty revealing post. Now imagine that we had a few dozen really strongly promoted "gateway MUDs" that take full advantage of all modern means to promote an online game. And that also present interfaces that "feel like" familiar browser-based games, only they manage to deliver the complexity that only MUDs have reached. I understand Threshold's reservations fully, but the bottom line is that if you play the 0-sum game of going after MUD vets for your game, then you are not introducing new players to mudding, and so you are effectively contributing to its slow death. Posting a glorified online telnet window is not likely to bring in anyone except people who have played MUDs in the past. I have yet to see a MUD GUI that doesn't assume, on some level, that the user already knows how to play a MUD. Even my iOS GUI does that when it comes to some sophisticated gameplay actions, just because there are too many commands to pack visually. But, again, the steepness of the mountain should not deter us. It is do or die.