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KaVir · 12-17-2004, 05:47 AM

I think it really depends on how you define "roleplaying". I certainly don't recall ever playing a mud in which I had to create an online version of myself (although that would certainly be interesting), so from that perspective I'd say that every mud I've played has involved at least some form of roleplaying.

However if you mean muds in which you are specifically expected (or even forced) to remain in-character, I'd say that only a minority of muds really fall into that category.

One of those browser-based strategy games provided part of the inspiration for the Gladiator Pits codebase I entered into the 16K mud competition. However the real difficulty with such a pure-PK game is retaining a regular playerbase - if there's nothing else to do, and not enough other players to interact with, there's nothing to keep people online. And if they don't stay online, the next player to come along will run into the exact same issue. It's not so bad with a browser-based game because each person doesn't have to be on at the same time - but with a mud you typically need to hang around until another player connects.

However I suppose you could extend the mud so that you log on to configure your stats, items and combat options, and the battles are then automated (with battle reports posted on the website or available in the mud). I'm sure some people would complain about not being able to control their character manually during the fight, but it works well enough for web-based games - maybe it'd work for a mud as well.

Perhaps you even could get around peoples dislike of "lack of control" by portraying it in such a way that they themselves don't appear to be the ones fighting. Maybe the players represent kings in the mud, while the battles take place between their armies - or maybe they are gang leaders, and gang fights take place between random gang members in different parts of their territory. Or perhaps the gameplay is focused in PK between various futuristic races - one player might be a human commander, ordering his ships to patrol certain locations, or squads to defend certain objectives, while the other might be an aliens-style hive queen, ordering drones around to perform the same sort of tasks.

You'd probably end up with something more like a mud version of the web-based strategy games, but I still think it could be fun (and fairly original for a mud) if handled properly. Ideally you should also add extra activities for players to do while online, rather than limiting them to just configuring their troops. It could even work well as a subgame (godlike players commanding their mortal worshippers around? Hmm....)

12-17-2004, 05:47 AM	#6
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	I think it really depends on how you define "roleplaying". I certainly don't recall ever playing a mud in which I had to create an online version of myself (although that would certainly be interesting), so from that perspective I'd say that every mud I've played has involved at least some form of roleplaying. However if you mean muds in which you are specifically expected (or even forced) to remain in-character, I'd say that only a minority of muds really fall into that category. One of those browser-based strategy games provided part of the inspiration for the Gladiator Pits codebase I entered into the 16K mud competition. However the real difficulty with such a pure-PK game is retaining a regular playerbase - if there's nothing else to do, and not enough other players to interact with, there's nothing to keep people online. And if they don't stay online, the next player to come along will run into the exact same issue. It's not so bad with a browser-based game because each person doesn't have to be on at the same time - but with a mud you typically need to hang around until another player connects. However I suppose you could extend the mud so that you log on to configure your stats, items and combat options, and the battles are then automated (with battle reports posted on the website or available in the mud). I'm sure some people would complain about not being able to control their character manually during the fight, but it works well enough for web-based games - maybe it'd work for a mud as well. Perhaps you even could get around peoples dislike of "lack of control" by portraying it in such a way that they themselves don't appear to be the ones fighting. Maybe the players represent kings in the mud, while the battles take place between their armies - or maybe they are gang leaders, and gang fights take place between random gang members in different parts of their territory. Or perhaps the gameplay is focused in PK between various futuristic races - one player might be a human commander, ordering his ships to patrol certain locations, or squads to defend certain objectives, while the other might be an aliens-style hive queen, ordering drones around to perform the same sort of tasks. You'd probably end up with something more like a mud version of the web-based strategy games, but I still think it could be fun (and fairly original for a mud) if handled properly. Ideally you should also add extra activities for players to do while online, rather than limiting them to just configuring their troops. It could even work well as a subgame (godlike players commanding their mortal worshippers around? Hmm....)