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Old 06-07-2008, 04:02 AM   #101
Disillusionist
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

Agreed, and I expand my suspicion to the same behavior in player reviews, especially those that attack the poster of a negative review, rather than comment on the review itself.
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Old 06-09-2008, 02:20 PM   #102
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

While this is not something that would make me quit outright, it does annoy me enough to often make me log out. I really hate when I ask a legitimate question on a help channel or on a forum, and I get some un-helpful but funny (at least to the person who posted, I guess) answer. Then my question gets derailed into bantering back and forth while I never get an answer. I really didn't ask a question, so I could be subjected to a subpar comedy routine.
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Old 06-10-2008, 06:21 PM   #103
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

This one is huge for me on forums. I can't stand when people derail a serious thread. I derail stupid threads on purpose but I don't think I ever purposefully derailed a serious thread.
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Old 06-18-2008, 11:02 PM   #104
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

I don't play any MUD that runs on an open-source codebase (Aside from a couple of modified beyond recognition LP Muds). Other than that, I'll give anything a chance.
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Old 07-14-2008, 05:15 AM   #105
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Thumbs down Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

Okay. I've been playing the MUD I play for four years, put a lot of time and effort in to both game and characters, made a brilliant lot of rp-buddies. But I'm about to abandon ship (for which I have an odd seperation anxiety, anyone else get that?) despite my loyalty to the game's community, because it's to the point where the things that get up my nose outweigh (or heavily put a damper on) the fun I'm having. So (deep breath) here goes:

1: Constant and intrusive admin plots.

Do we really NEED to be told what and when to rp, or have to face yet --another-- war/disease/national crisis/invasion every other week? I'd really prefer admin to bugger off, and let us create in-game tensions for ourselves. The ones we do build hardly get time to buid momentum before they're interrupted (and a deal of rp is simply wasted). Once or twice, fine-- as a standard practice? Nah.

2: Inconsistent/invisible/pulled-out-of-ass rules and policy/gameplay changes.

For example, it makes me head-desk violently when a race's essential characteristics are changed overnight and with little warning (really, set them the hell up properly to start?), and moreso when this happens a lot.

Also, rules that give admin free reign to act like player-hating assholes, as long as you've minutely trangressed some rule or other. Rules that are not written. Rules that absolve admin from all blame, ever. Rules that allow admin to decide severity of punishments based on thier own levels of like/dislike for the player.

Being punished for minute transgressions by being put in a punishment-room for what could be weeks, with no visible date of release, and no way of knowing how long you're in there, and making it illegal to try and find out.

3: Player-is-the-enemy admin mentality.

The assumption that everyone but the folks who suck up hard or passively drift along ingame are there to cause trouble, or be an inconvenience to the coders/rp admin/status quo, and being treated that way.

4: Having rp vetoed without explanation/waiting interminable periods for rp approval.

Seriously, it is NOT OK to say "no" and leave it at that, or to leave players hanging two to ten weeks waiting for rp/rooms/items to be approved. Momentum is lost, player interest wanes, the iron grows cold -- and so does my interest in staying there.

It is REALLY not OK to rip ideas from players, then use them-- after turning down the player's rp w/o explanation or suggestions for improvement.

5: Stupidly-placed, over-aggressive mobs.

Yeah, putting masses of aggressive, hit-for-a-bajillion mobs on every main thoroughfare so that newbs/low stat players have trouble exploring and roleplaying (without a hugely pricey/rare protective item) is a really great idea. If you don't like players.

6: Badly/irregularly managed OOC channels.

If a game MUST have an ooc channel, it should have consistent rules and calm moderation, or at least some firm policy on what can happen there. Swinging between utterly draconian/lax to the point of nil moderation only creates resentment and confusion.


.... so, there's like points 7 though 50 but that's all I have the energy to type. For now.

except 7: Admin characters who are immortal/uber powerful/unkillable and that rule whole nations forever, and the admin behind them refusing to acknowledge any rp that challenges the status quo.

and 8: Having ONE admin responsible for approving major stuff and whose word is final, so can say no on a whim even though the rest ofstaff are supportive of the concept.

9: And having too few staff, with not enough responsiblity delegated so things get backlogged horribly.

And one more:

Telnet games (which I play now and then) -- newbie-coddling is a good thing. For those not used to all that code, an in-game newb area that's super-kind and also interesting to play/not ooc really helps new-to-telnet folks not feel like such scaredy morons, and therefore less likely to run away.

k. I'm done.

Last edited by Tenebrae : 07-14-2008 at 05:35 AM. Reason: venting feels good
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Old 07-14-2008, 08:55 AM   #106
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

What do you mean by Telnet games? If you mean "games that can be played via telnet" then most text-based muds fall under that category. There are very very VERY few text-based games that are -only- available via browsers or -only- available via their own unique front end game client. And, most of those game-client-specific games can have a work-around to access via telnet anyway.
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Old 07-14-2008, 09:44 AM   #107
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

Yups, I've been playing some of those very, very, very few browser-only games. I think there's... five or six, all told, up and running. If they can be loaded by telnet, I don't know anyone who does. It's the format I learned to rp with, so that's what I know, mainly, and I do like it very much. The coding is far simpler and rp fills in the gaps (or is supposed to, I haven't found one coded or run in any way satisfactory to me, even though I like the format too much too abandon it). I am hoping to build a better, faster, stronger one, but that's what they all say I suppose, lol. Still, worth a shot-- there's a number of players who do enjoy that style of game.
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Old 07-14-2008, 07:25 PM   #108
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Re: Things that make you NOT play a MUD

I'm extremely picky with my muds so I've only played a handful for any significant length of time. Beyond the things that I'm personally nitpicky about, here are some main factors that will deter me from a non-RPI mud, in no particular order:


- Annoying playerbase. Can be anything from immaturity to cliquish behaviour and newbie hostility; if the playerbase doesn't consist mainly of the kind of people I'd associate with in real life, I won't play there. There's enough of that in real life for me to want it in my hobby as well.

- Poorly written game world. I want immersion; it doesn't have to be on the level of RPI muds where everything has to be perfect and greatly eloquent, but if the descriptions and NPCs aren't written in a serious and consistent manner, I can't take the game seriously. When writing a room or an NPC's description, write what it looks like. When writing an object, put more effort into the description than "this sword glows and it's really sharp."

- Lack of theme. I refuse to play on a mud that consists of a mainly stock version of Midgard, with a smurf town down the road and a Disney amusement park over the hill. As much as I admire many aspects of muds like Aardwolf, I cringe at the thought of playing in an environment that is randomly slapped together with no reason or realism whatsoever. Likewise, some sort of coherent lore would be nice.

- Ridiculous ANSI and combat echoes. I like it modest and I like it customizable. Give me default client color for all but room names, PCs/NPCs, items and communication, and I'll be happy as a clam. I also don't need to <+<+<+<DeVaStAtE>+>+>+> anyone with my [*[*[-Slash of Godlike Überness-]*]*]. I like my muds tasteful and plain in that regard.

- Race and class choices. Please don't give me thirty of each. It makes the game unfathomable and takes forever to learn, and most of the time there's only a handful that are worth playing anyway. I am more than happy with half a dozen races and classes, maybe with some subclasses I can pick and choose from later on when I've actually learned the game. I'd also much rather play an elf or a dwarf than a zcuflz'kraxx or a bluzütskræ demon. Warriors and clerics over heretic half-dragon deathknights from the seventh layer of Hell.

- Lack of nice pace and reasonable goals. I don't need to get a level every five minutes to stay interested, and what does it matter when the maximum level is 1500 anyway? You know what's the absolute main selling point of most games? That sense of achievement that we get when we accomplish something, the sweet rush of joy we had in Everquest after spending half a day getting a level. You take that away when you have me level up every few kills, and you cheapen the goal when there's another thousand levels ahead of me, each one interchangable and without any noticeable difference. I prefer a maximum level somewhere around 50, and I don't mind spending four or more hours getting each level if I can feel the improvements when I do. Also, please do not build your mud so that there is no end goal in sight. If I know that I'll never cap out and never reach the end of the road, there's no goal to motivate me and I know I'll never be among the best. Such muds tend to favor whoever has played the longest and completely leaves out the more casual players.

- Unfair equipment schemes. I want it to be challenging to get the best, but I don't want the next best to be useless. Build your game to be fair to those who can't or won't struggle to remain among the top. Casual players shouldn't expect to become the best, but they deserve the possibility of achieving competence. Give those who can play for 8-12 hours a day an advantage, but don't give them utter dominance and automatic victory if it's a PvP mud. Also, I prefer that the equipment increments are tastefully done and don't end up with weapons that are 25d300 +75/+75 - don't go the Everquest route of mudflating your game to death.

- No pay-to-play, pay-for-perks, donate-for-stats or bribe-for-advantages of any kind whatsoever. It never leads to anything good except for whoever gets paid. I do not want to involve my RL economy in any way other than possible donations for nothing other than my appreciation of the mud. I don't mind cafepress stores, but leave it the heck out of the game itself.

Last edited by Throttle : 07-14-2008 at 07:38 PM.
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