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Old 01-10-2009, 12:07 AM   #16
Kleothera
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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Re: Looking for Suggestions

Well. Ok. My argument why a multiplicity of MUDs in the end hurt the community goes something like this.

a. if its bad, it makes finding anything decent difficult in the ocean of other similar average MUDs. Independent reviews would be nice, but we also know they arent going to happen on a significant scale. TMC had attempted them some years back, but they didnt go very far- for a lot of reasons. Speaking as a MUD (in whose previous incarnation) we had undergone a TMC review, there were factual errors/errors based on a newbie perspective and I guess there was a strong slant for reviewing from a RP perspective in a mud that was NOT RP Enforced. In the end, a lot of people felt it was kind of biased. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder and in that case, it becomes the perception of one individual reviewer based on his or her own previous MUDing experience (reviewing based on what he/she thinks is good, based on what he/she has been playing). If you HAVE to have independent reviews, they must atleast be a team effort, so the game doesnt end up being dependent on the POV of ONE person.

b. There are lots of games- of various quality- out there. The shrinking playerbase gets divided into a plethora of games under development driving per MUD number down. Unlike the number of people in the category "book readers" (using the example in a previous post), the category of "MUD players" is finite. Yes, independent new MUDs obviously would continue to get created for the reason that there could be MUCH better new MUDs than what we have already, but my only submission is to first attempt to bring the existing MUDs to the standards of exceptional quality (and not have one average - old- game with players that still looks for additional content developers- and a potentially exceptional game without players). If the search for potential games to improve FAILS, then go on to build an indepedent one. I am not saying dont start a game, but give a shot to trying to prevent a MUD with an existing playerbase from going down under. A lot of new games also shut down because they dont attract players; if you start with a game with existing players, you have crossed one barrier already.

c. Playing a MUD (good, bad or ugly) involves considerable investment of time and people get attached to their own game passionately. When a GOOD game closes down without reaching completion or soon after completion, it is a disappointment. I cant seem to find the link of the article by Richard Bartle (is on Gamasutra) where he says the time people are ready to invest on a second MUD tends to be lower than the first (and progressively lower subsequently). My point is, in this case, after a mud you like shuts down- there is a lot of nostalgia on the part of players who go on to seek something similar- something that may not exist (and is impossible to find in this ocean of games with 1-2 players if it DID). There is also less probability to invest time in another untested game after one has experienced that the place where one has spent MONTHS building up your character has just disappeared overnight. Again, my point is for MUD developers combine forces to prevent disappointment to players instead of allowing good muds to disappear into the dark. This would happen when wannabe MUD developers are ready to build on existing foundations, NOT start their own projects. Yes, that may entail the MUD in question not being ONLY the new developer's project and there are probably going to be personality clashes between admins about the direction the game should go (not to mention turf issues- this is MY game, who are you newcomer that you are to tell me how to do things), but it would help the players in the end.

Anyway, LONG note. Doesn't really help answer the question of how to code a game if one has made up his/her mind to make one's own.

Last edited by Kleothera : 01-10-2009 at 12:15 AM. Reason: Typos squashed.
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