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Old 05-29-2013, 12:08 PM   #21
Realedazed
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

I've been playing DragonRealms on and off since credit cards were not required on the MSN Games network (or whatever it was called). I'm a serial free trialer. I like the game, but only pay for it when I forget to cancel (like right now, lol)

I'm a stay at home mom, go to school part-time and have a small business that I'm starting. There are tons of games that are competing for my time and money. There's tons of MUDs that have one or two of the things that I would love in a game, but none have them all. I'd have to build it myself for that to happen, of course. Anyway, DragonRealms has a bunch of stuff that I think I could like. Most of the stuff in the first post, so I'm really going to repeat it.

What would the game have to have for me to pay? I don't mind paying, but I'd rather pay less than $15/month. Come on, you only get one character! But for the full $15 I would like:
Honestly, I'm pretty easy to please. My biggest beef the one character for $15 thing. If the price point when down or the characters per account with up, I'll be happy and possibly continuing paying. Add housing and I definitely would.

Last edited by Realedazed : 05-29-2013 at 12:27 PM.
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Old 05-29-2013, 12:27 PM   #22
Juason
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Nah,, just trying to learn what I can from the community here. I would have expected arguments such as "DR combat sucks, or DR Magic is a PITA to use". But its good to know that cost is a primary concern with so many folks.


>>Realedazed

Good feedback. I'd argue that with the current events team we've been having nightly events for the past 6 months, many of which do not involve any combat. Probably the hardest part of a GMs job is getting the word out that stuff is happening and where. Something we'll continue to work on.

>> Other crafting skills

Aww, I put in 25 hours over the holiday weekend working on Alchemy :P Pushing like mad to get the rest of the systems out so I can move onto some of the other fun mechanics I want to do.


>> Why now?

Well, I've been reading the forums here since even before 2007 when I made my account. Never posted much, but read about and played several other MUDs to further my understanding of things. One day a DR customer asked "Why doesn't Dragonrealms advertise?", and well... they just haven't needed to. But that doesn't mean we can't start trying!

All in all this seemed like a good way to get the word out AND for us to get feedback on what we can be doing better. Thanks!
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Old 05-29-2013, 12:54 PM   #23
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

This thread is a prime example of why mudconnect and tms are low on my advertising list. I post hoping to pick up lurkers only, because a lot of the most visible active posters are impossible to please, insular, resistant to change, cheap, and not my target audience.

-dentin

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Old 05-29-2013, 02:05 PM   #24
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

That's awesome to know. Thanks for working hard and I'm looking forward to trying them out! Alchemy is what I've been waiting for. I've been back and playing super casually for about 2 months, so the RP stuff was from most of my past experiences. I'll definitely look a bit harder to find events.

And dentin, I prefer the term thrifty.

Last edited by Realedazed : 05-29-2013 at 02:14 PM.
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Old 05-29-2013, 11:08 PM   #25
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

I think this is the most interesting comment of the whole thread.

Whenever you see someone here making a comment about what the mudding community thinks, remember this quote.
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Old 05-31-2013, 09:27 PM   #26
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Everyone says that their MUD is the best game EVAR, and that they can't leave for another because no game gives them what their game does. This is because they've already settled into their own game, formed their RP alliances, got all the gear and experience to change into what race/class they want, and they know everyone already. The only thing which separates Dragonrealms from the other MUDs is that people are paying real money for what can be had for free elsewhere. Hundreds of players log on to Dragonrealms? Bully for you. There's hundreds in Aardwolf and I bet Dentin still gets at least 100 in his game on a regular basis.

I admit that I'm probably the most fickle MUDder out there. My interests change frequently, or I get bored, or there's something in particular that I want to try, or I like a game only enough to want to log in and play once in a while. When I see a MUD that I never heard of before feature such things as elves, dwarves, halflings, humans, paladins, wizards, rangers, and clerics--even if they are all given different names--I already know that it's not going to keep my interest very long. Why? Nearly every fantasy MUD has them already.

To me, Dragonrealms just looks like a really bad corporate decision. It's like building a K-Mart among mansions. How in the world they got such a playerbase would be beyond me if it wasn't revealed that people were growing and selling characters to turn a profit. If that business is settling down, there's surely some people who are going to be hanging around anyway--nothing to brag about, for sure.
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Old 05-31-2013, 10:28 PM   #27
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

You...do realize Gemstone and Dragonrealms were some of the first MUDs available back when the Internet was in its infancy, right?

Brief history here...



1987 was quite a long time ago, and Fantasy by today's standards is a different beast. MUDs today are much easier to setup and implement a totally unique style upon. So sure, valid criticism but please realize that when DR was new people hadn't seen such things before.

That being said, we are constantly working to diversify and improve upon the lore and the races. DR also has some unique races such as Gor togs, S'kra Mur, Rakash, Prydaens and Elotheans. I'm not really sure why the name of a Guild/Class matters. Isn't it how they play and what they do and what lore they have that count?

You are entitled to your ignorant opinions I suppose, but like I said before - haters gonna hate

Last edited by Juason : 05-31-2013 at 10:35 PM.
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:22 AM   #28
dark acacia
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Okay, so assuming that Dragonrealms has been around as long as you say it has, there's no excuse for it to get so stale that it looks and sounds like every other competitor on the market. Heck, the website reminds me of a bunch of other MUDs, and even seems to have some WoW influence. You people rake in so much dough that there's no reason why you couldn't hire a staff to keep the place looking far better than anything else out there. Your game has failed to convince anyone not already caught in its spell that it is far and beyond anything that they can get elsewhere for free.

There's a concept of product life where the introductory years are when that product is just starting out, finding its target market, testing its strengths and weaknesses. There's a maturity phase where the product builds itself up to maintain and grow its share of the market. There's a final phase where interest or need for the product fades and the product nears its logical conclusion. Some products last for a long time because its producers are able to keep the product in that long maturity phase, whether by finding new ways to market it or developing new ways to make it better. If the producers don't keep the product going, it'll die; sometimes because of inaction, and other times because that's the way it goes.

What you're telling me is that Dragonrealms is so determined to stay the course that it has no need to change and find ways to improve and make itself credibly above and beyond the hundreds of imitators out there, simply because it was one of the first. And you're still telling me that it's worth however much your corporate bigwigs set the price?

I don't understand how the paid subscription in conjunction with the pay2win features is a system that will work in the long run. Pay2win works with free2play because the game makes money on the people who want to spend while maintaining a large and active playerbase; the large playerbase is more likely to attract people who want to stay competitive and buy that extra edge. What it looks like to me is that people in your game have the opportunity to pay for extras in a game that they're already paying for.

Oh, and are your races all that unique? Some of them have fancy names, but I've seen them as playable races in many places: Elotheans remind me of Eldritch; the S'kra Mur are lizardfolk; the Gor'Tog are the race of laborers who happened to be enslaved at some point; the Kaldar are the tougher men of the frozen North; and the Rakash and Prydaen are your dog- and cat-men to attract the furry crowd.
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:34 AM   #29
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

I apologize, but find myself unable to follow that ramble... so much confused hate Maybe take a walk, bud.

If any folks are interested in having a mature discussion about the game's merits we would be happy to oblige you!
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Old 06-01-2013, 03:54 AM   #30
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Despite never having heard of Dragonrealms at the start of the thread it's clear that dark acacia is now an expert and you should pay close attention to his advice

It's always interesting to me how often people in the MU* community are completely unaware of each other, despite the community's small size.
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:44 PM   #31
dark acacia
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Yeah, insulting people does nothing to make your game look any better. I ignored it the first time, but not anymore.

So you mean that you want to only hear from your sock puppets about how great your game is? Makes sense.

Hello, sock puppet.
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Old 06-01-2013, 01:39 PM   #32
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Usually I just lurk here but I felt like adding in my 2 cents on this one. Been playing muds on and off for about 15 years. My first mud, which I will not name, was custom coded and to this day one of the best I've played. Been searching for a new home since. Anyway the mud started going down hill as soon as they implemented "donation" rewards. Really it was just a front to look like you are helping the mud(make a profit). This completely ruined everything as you could buy powerful items that gave you a significant advantage over other players. Activity slowly dropped over time and now it's a shadow of what it once was. So despite being an amazingly well designed and addicting mud with a thriving community, I simply was not willing to support such a system.

My point here is that DR may be worth that monthly subscription to some. Maybe it's a great mud. Personally though I would never pay anything to play a mud and am in fact fully against any pay to play or pay for perk setup. It changes the landscape of the mud for the worse imo. I think mud creators are in large, a people passionate for rpgs whose success is simply based upon whether or not people are playing their creation. Muds come and go like the wind and even very well designed muds have closed simply because they can't sustain a stable player base.

So this might be the best mud in the world, but there is nothing you could do, short of making it free, that would get me to play it. I'd actually be willing to support a mud I love with donations. But I believe pay to play or pay to win models go against what muds are about.
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Old 06-01-2013, 02:34 PM   #33
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

I would like to point out that you can't just buy awesome weapons, armor or abilities in Dragonrealms with real life money. The majority of what is being offered could really be considered "fluff" or "utility" in nature. Titles, homes, travel jewelry, boats, item hiders, bonding potions, alterations... those sorts of things.

Rare materials and items are often available at festivals and auctions (free and pay) and as prizes for events and quests (again, some free and some pay).

So no worries! You have to play the game to get better in the game.
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Old 06-01-2013, 05:56 PM   #34
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Yes, you can just buy awesome weapons and armor, game coins, potions, the characters themselves, and pretty much anything other than coded changes to the characters. Here's a link to one of a couple dozen websites dedicated to DR sales:

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Old 06-01-2013, 06:10 PM   #35
Juason
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Are you sure you guys have nothing better to be doing on a Saturday evening than griefing a MUD thread?

I meant using the in game store. The company does not profit from these 3rd party sales sites and there is no realistic way for them to regulate sales made on 3rd party sites using untraceable methods.

Methinks you are just jealous because we have "dozens" of players wanting to trade in-game items with each other!
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Old 06-01-2013, 08:12 PM   #36
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Uh - jealous? I left Simu games in part *because* of item, character, and coin sales. You'd be best buddies with a PC one day - and an hour later, they have no idea who you are, because their player sold the character to someone who doesn't know the backstory. Character and item sales are a BIG money-making business. Simu profits, because they collect a monthly fee for each account. The more players want to buy and sell for real money, the longer they keep those accounts open and paid. Rather than just quitting the game, and discontinuing that monthly fee, some players will sell a character to someone. Some buy and sell constantly *because* it's a profitable business. But some do it because they don't want to play anymore.

And every time one of THOSE players sells a character, Simu profits.
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Old 06-01-2013, 10:35 PM   #37
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

If you were *best* buddies with someone, how was it you didn't know they were selling out? Heh.

Using theoretical arguments a person can bash every game in existence today, every business strategy available, hell.. every idea. Words can always be twisted to support any argument. But, why?

I really enjoy developing for the Dragonrealms community and wanted to let other people know about the fun that can be had there. Not get into a gripe fest about money.

For several years I spent $50 / month, and later $100 / month to play on the Platinum server with a dozen of my good friends. I maintained two accounts so I could better run events, go on rescue missions, train up a weapon forger for the server, etc. The game was just that much fun.

Dragonrealms gave me a good reason to work from the time I was 16. I continued to work through college, 2-3 jobs at a time and even ran my own business at one point. DR was cheaper than quite a few other recreational activities I can think of. And hell, a good pair of running shoes costs more than a year of playing vanilla DR. Life wasn't always going the way I wanted and I was able to lean on my friends in the DR community for support, and the deep and complicated mechanics for a healthy distraction.

I have no control over what gets charged for the games. But I do spend a considerable amount of my free time writing deep and varied systems and providing fun events for folks to get lost in. We came here looking to connect with like-minded individuals, and you have made our time posting here miserable. Is that really what you want for this community?
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Old 06-01-2013, 11:32 PM   #38
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

Why do you need to advertise for more players if you already have so many loyal (and paying) players? All of you came here in search of people to feed more money into your game. That's the simple truth.

You and your friends insult and deride every critic and skeptic who posts here because they don't help you get free advertising for your game. If we were posting on your game's forums, we would all have been banned or silenced by now for sure.

Don't give me that "you make the community look bad with your criticism" baloney. It's just an appeal to emotion.
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Old 06-02-2013, 12:28 AM   #39
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

>>If we were posting on your game's forums, we would all have been banned or silenced by now for sure.

Nah, we have conflict sections for these types of discussions. And geez, it really is difficult to avoid offending people when they just hurl themselves into the flame wars like you two have been!

>>All of you came here in search of people

This *is* kind of the Advertising section...

Perhaps some of you will change your opinion when/if DR goes free to play. For anyone else that may be interested and doesn't mind the cost (or would be willing to try it for 30 days free), please send me a PM.

Thanks!
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Old 06-02-2013, 12:34 AM   #40
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Re: Join Dragonrealms today!

You didn't answer my question: why do you need to advertise if you already have so many loyal players?
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