[Threshold]

That's the same conclusion I have reached, Lasher.

We add periodic improvements to the , but I think at that point we have pretty much topped out on how much gain we are really going to get from graphics.

The fact that its a flash web client means people don't have to download anything which is probably the biggest obstacle for MUD newbies. After that, how much can you really gain?

As you mention, the MUDs with graphics heavy front ends don't have thousands of people online. Even the ones that do have a lot of users (Batmud, Aardwolf, Threshold) already had tons of users before they put the time into their graphical UIs. I'd venture a guess that the reason for their large userbases is the quality of their games overall, not the graphical UI.

On the flip side, there are many MUDs with graphical clients that have 3 people online.

I'm just not seeing the legit return on investment from the time put in.

Again, as you mention, at the end of the day it is a text game. People are going to ultimately have to embrace that if they are going to remain a part of your community. You are only delaying the inevitable decision with tons of graphical front end enhancements.