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Molly · 09-15-2003, 04:58 AM

You know how most players hate changes? They may claim they don't, but all experience tells a different story. They want their favourite Mud to stay JUST the way it is. After all, it IS their favourite Mud, right? So even the slightest change, to remove a bug or balance the game, usually spawns lots of complaints. The Administrators' bug is always some player's favourite feature. And unbalance is only a problem to the ones at the lower end of the scale. The ones at the top love it. So, any little change you make; you can bet on at least half the playerbase complaining about it.

But when it comes to bigtime changes, this is what usually makes the playerbase go ballistic, sometimes to the point where they leave the Mud in scores and dozens in protest. At least temporarily. Some of them may come back again when they calmed down a bit, but generally a big code change leads to the loss of a considerable part of the playerbase.

On the other hand; a Mud that doesn't change slowly dies. Not because of the loss of players. Players come and go all the time, and it more or less evens out over time. The reason it dies is because the Administrators lose interest. The day you stop developing your mud is the day boredom starts setting in. Because it is the creative aspect that drives most of us, Coders and Builders alike. (Babysitting an unruly playerbase isn't all that exciting. In fact it is mainly a pain in the behind).

Now, if there is one thing that players hate even MORE than big changes, it is a pwipe. That is a certain and sure way to upset them totally - and small wonder. After all, they may have 'worked' on their chars for years, developing their power, collected all the best equipment they can find. And in one swift stroke, all is gone down the drain, and they are reduced to newbie status again. No wonder they get upset. Who wouldn't be?

So, knowing all this, we went ahead and did both - a massive Code change AND a pwipe.

Why? Well, the first part was obvious. The new code is so much cleaner, faster and more fun, with tons of exciting new features and the potential of adding even more later. It was an easy decision.

But the pwipe? That decision was a lot harder to make. Many of our players have been with us for years. And we COULD actually have salvaged the pfiles, since the new code was implemented on top of the old one. But that would have left us with an unbalanced playerbase; old players that would have been ridiculously overpowered initially, but at a disadvantage in the long run, because they wouldn't be adapted to the majorly different remort system in the new code.

So we went for the less evil choice, and did the pwipe. It will most likely cost us half our current playerbase. But it's worth it, because it left us with a much better mud. Still, it hurt. For the players it was probably traumatic.

We settled for a sort of compromise. We made a Hero offer for the Oldtimers (a sort of low level imm with no powers, but high bragging value). Then everyone was put back at level 1, but the oldtimers got to keep half the tokens they earned over the years. (Token in our mud is a sort of currency, that you get from Questing, and use to buy features, like crash-proof houses, wedding rings and personalised equipment). The oldtimers got to keep the features they bought too. Which of course set some of the newer players complaining about how unfair THAT was... But that was expected too.

I suppose this is a situation most Admin encounter at least once in their Mud's life. It would be interesting to hear how some of you handled a similar situation.

09-15-2003, 04:58 AM	#1
Molly Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Sweden Home MUD: 4 Dimensions Posts: 574	You know how most players hate changes? They may claim they don't, but all experience tells a different story. They want their favourite Mud to stay JUST the way it is. After all, it IS their favourite Mud, right? So even the slightest change, to remove a bug or balance the game, usually spawns lots of complaints. The Administrators' bug is always some player's favourite feature. And unbalance is only a problem to the ones at the lower end of the scale. The ones at the top love it. So, any little change you make; you can bet on at least half the playerbase complaining about it. But when it comes to bigtime changes, this is what usually makes the playerbase go ballistic, sometimes to the point where they leave the Mud in scores and dozens in protest. At least temporarily. Some of them may come back again when they calmed down a bit, but generally a big code change leads to the loss of a considerable part of the playerbase. On the other hand; a Mud that doesn't change slowly dies. Not because of the loss of players. Players come and go all the time, and it more or less evens out over time. The reason it dies is because the Administrators lose interest. The day you stop developing your mud is the day boredom starts setting in. Because it is the creative aspect that drives most of us, Coders and Builders alike. (Babysitting an unruly playerbase isn't all that exciting. In fact it is mainly a pain in the behind). Now, if there is one thing that players hate even MORE than big changes, it is a pwipe. That is a certain and sure way to upset them totally - and small wonder. After all, they may have 'worked' on their chars for years, developing their power, collected all the best equipment they can find. And in one swift stroke, all is gone down the drain, and they are reduced to newbie status again. No wonder they get upset. Who wouldn't be? So, knowing all this, we went ahead and did both - a massive Code change AND a pwipe. Why? Well, the first part was obvious. The new code is so much cleaner, faster and more fun, with tons of exciting new features and the potential of adding even more later. It was an easy decision. But the pwipe? That decision was a lot harder to make. Many of our players have been with us for years. And we COULD actually have salvaged the pfiles, since the new code was implemented on top of the old one. But that would have left us with an unbalanced playerbase; old players that would have been ridiculously overpowered initially, but at a disadvantage in the long run, because they wouldn't be adapted to the majorly different remort system in the new code. So we went for the less evil choice, and did the pwipe. It will most likely cost us half our current playerbase. But it's worth it, because it left us with a much better mud. Still, it hurt. For the players it was probably traumatic. We settled for a sort of compromise. We made a Hero offer for the Oldtimers (a sort of low level imm with no powers, but high bragging value). Then everyone was put back at level 1, but the oldtimers got to keep half the tokens they earned over the years. (Token in our mud is a sort of currency, that you get from Questing, and use to buy features, like crash-proof houses, wedding rings and personalised equipment). The oldtimers got to keep the features they bought too. Which of course set some of the newer players complaining about how unfair THAT was... But that was expected too. I suppose this is a situation most Admin encounter at least once in their Mud's life. It would be interesting to hear how some of you handled a similar situation.