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the_logos · 08-06-2007, 08:07 PM

I keep thinking about putting together a site that promotes text MUDs in general but doesn't try to siphon people away from TMC or TMS.

What I'd envision would be a site that's designed as a PR tool for text MUDs and as a way to funnel people into them. It'd have to be an attractive site that immediately spells out why someone who doesn't know what a text MUD is should care. Then it should send them somewhere to play them, which is where some of the potential trouble comes in.

I'm not sure that just pointing people at TMC and TMS is the way to go, particularly because they're not really organized to present to people who haven't played a MUD before. That pretty much leaves us pointing at individual MUDs. Obviously that's likely to be a contentious issue as it is not productive to highlight 1000 MUDs or even 50 of them. What criteria to use to pick the MUDs listed would not be easy, obviously.

As I see it you'd need to ensure that if MUDs were listed the individual MUDs had:
1. An attractive website. This one is not hard though. Many MUDs have attractive websites.
2. An attractive client. This one is a lot harder. One of the big problems with attracting new people to text MUDs is that most MUDs have really horrible clients if they have any at all. Asking people to download and install software to play (like CMud) completely removes one of the major advantages a text MUD has (next-to-instant-in....no download and install required!) over most MMORPGs. Think of it this way: If you fired up a game you'd never heard of and were presented with some horrible black and white program what would your first reaction be? I can tell you what most people's first reaction will be! I don't know what to do about this one frankly other than pick the few MUDs that do have decent-looking clients which unfortunately is quite limiting.

I know I can get at least some mainstream games PR around a site like this whether it promotes individual MUDs or not, but I'm unsure how valuable it is if it just points to TMC and TMS, and am unsure how to handle promoting individual MUDs if not.

Suggestions anyone? I'm not currently really planning on this as the idea is (obviously) not fully formed in my head but it's something I've been thinking about on and off for the last 6 months or so.

--matt

08-06-2007, 08:07 PM	#7
the_logos Legend Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Mill Valley, California Posts: 2,305	Re: Ganking MMO*s I keep thinking about putting together a site that promotes text MUDs in general but doesn't try to siphon people away from TMC or TMS. What I'd envision would be a site that's designed as a PR tool for text MUDs and as a way to funnel people into them. It'd have to be an attractive site that immediately spells out why someone who doesn't know what a text MUD is should care. Then it should send them somewhere to play them, which is where some of the potential trouble comes in. I'm not sure that just pointing people at TMC and TMS is the way to go, particularly because they're not really organized to present to people who haven't played a MUD before. That pretty much leaves us pointing at individual MUDs. Obviously that's likely to be a contentious issue as it is not productive to highlight 1000 MUDs or even 50 of them. What criteria to use to pick the MUDs listed would not be easy, obviously. As I see it you'd need to ensure that if MUDs were listed the individual MUDs had: 1. An attractive website. This one is not hard though. Many MUDs have attractive websites. 2. An attractive client. This one is a lot harder. One of the big problems with attracting new people to text MUDs is that most MUDs have really horrible clients if they have any at all. Asking people to download and install software to play (like CMud) completely removes one of the major advantages a text MUD has (next-to-instant-in....no download and install required!) over most MMORPGs. Think of it this way: If you fired up a game you'd never heard of and were presented with some horrible black and white program what would your first reaction be? I can tell you what most people's first reaction will be! I don't know what to do about this one frankly other than pick the few MUDs that do have decent-looking clients which unfortunately is quite limiting. I know I can get at least some mainstream games PR around a site like this whether it promotes individual MUDs or not, but I'm unsure how valuable it is if it just points to TMC and TMS, and am unsure how to handle promoting individual MUDs if not. Suggestions anyone? I'm not currently really planning on this as the idea is (obviously) not fully formed in my head but it's something I've been thinking about on and off for the last 6 months or so. --matt