Tavern of the Blue Hand

Shao_Long · 09-10-2003, 04:29 PM

I'd say, our rating at TMS dropped when some of our player-base lost interest=)

Grey · 09-10-2003, 08:15 PM

Realedazed · 09-10-2003, 09:57 PM

Dumb question time. What happened to them?

Terloch · 09-10-2003, 11:11 PM

I believe they disappeared from general contention when there was the huge influx of P2P games on the boards in general, the return on the system became much less for them (and many other former high ranked sites on here as well) and they stopped putting any effort into trying to stay high ranked (or ranked at all for that matter).

Other sites just completely removed their vote buttons all together.

09-11-2003, 03:21 AM

With all due fairness, Thoric created a very good codebase and it is with great sadness that I occasionally go to the official SMAUG site and see that, just like the last month I checked, it still says "last updated Dec. 29, 2000". I once played at Realms extensively, and for a time was among the best there as far as non-pkill hack'n'slash went. Thoric sadly is really basically just a figurehead, last I knew the MUD was run by Blodkai. Realms had alot of true magic, though perhaps it just seems that way to me because it was my first MUD (back in like 97). Unfortunately the administration is somewhat of a staggering beaurocracy... they can't be entirely blamed for that, it's part of the price of a huge playerbase. What I think was one of Realms' main problems was a flaw in its philosophy in code updates... they decided to let the game and codebase basically stagnate for literally years then release all the changes which occurred during those years at once. So for a good quarter of a decade Realms was the fortress of conservativism, where if you made a simple suggestion like "make bloodstains red instead of green" you would be attacked visciously for your radical visions.... which is not a bad thing. However, this continued so long that the majority of the playerbase was the type of person who LIKES this sort of conservativism and stagnation. Then overnight, bang, HUGE "code port". If they'd done it a bit at a time, I think things would've been alot better. Compare it to a bunch of fish in a pond which has uniform temperature with absolutely no deviation for years... then suddenly changes temperature drastically. They all die.

All is temporary... even Rome fell... dust in the wind, and all that. I am sad that the Olde Realms, with old clans et al, is gone, but there is no use reminiscing over it. Just urge new MUDs to learn from the prior generations.

During the later years that I played at RoD it was the people, not the code or areas, which made it stand out. The population model of a MUD is a peculiar thing... a MUD can be top of the line code and totally original, but if it has only 15 players, it likely only ever will have 15 players; a MUD can be a 'has been' as far as new code and areas go, but if it has 300 players, it will be a cold day in #### before they ever go away.

Shao_Long · 09-16-2003, 12:05 AM

vedic · 09-16-2003, 01:39 AM

Out of curiosity, what did they do that so offended everyone?

John · 09-16-2003, 02:35 AM

What were some of the changes?

09-08-2003, 05:51 PM	#1
Ike Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Georgia Posts: 62	#1?

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09-10-2003, 03:01 PM	#2
Ike Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Georgia Posts: 62

09-10-2003, 04:29 PM	#3
Shao_Long Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: belfast, UK Posts: 505	I'd say, our rating at TMS dropped when some of our player-base lost interest=)

09-10-2003, 08:15 PM	#4
Grey Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Stony Brook/Chestnut Ridge, NY Posts: 68

09-10-2003, 09:57 PM	#5
Realedazed Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: AZ Home MUD: Armageddon Home MUD: Harshlands Home MUD: DartMUD Posts: 157	Dumb question time. What happened to them?

09-10-2003, 11:11 PM	#6
Terloch Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Chicago, Illinois Posts: 152	I believe they disappeared from general contention when there was the huge influx of P2P games on the boards in general, the return on the system became much less for them (and many other former high ranked sites on here as well) and they stopped putting any effort into trying to stay high ranked (or ranked at all for that matter). Other sites just completely removed their vote buttons all together.

09-11-2003, 03:21 AM	#7
erdos Posts: n/a	With all due fairness, Thoric created a very good codebase and it is with great sadness that I occasionally go to the official SMAUG site and see that, just like the last month I checked, it still says "last updated Dec. 29, 2000". I once played at Realms extensively, and for a time was among the best there as far as non-pkill hack'n'slash went. Thoric sadly is really basically just a figurehead, last I knew the MUD was run by Blodkai. Realms had alot of true magic, though perhaps it just seems that way to me because it was my first MUD (back in like 97). Unfortunately the administration is somewhat of a staggering beaurocracy... they can't be entirely blamed for that, it's part of the price of a huge playerbase. What I think was one of Realms' main problems was a flaw in its philosophy in code updates... they decided to let the game and codebase basically stagnate for literally years then release all the changes which occurred during those years at once. So for a good quarter of a decade Realms was the fortress of conservativism, where if you made a simple suggestion like "make bloodstains red instead of green" you would be attacked visciously for your radical visions.... which is not a bad thing. However, this continued so long that the majority of the playerbase was the type of person who LIKES this sort of conservativism and stagnation. Then overnight, bang, HUGE "code port". If they'd done it a bit at a time, I think things would've been alot better. Compare it to a bunch of fish in a pond which has uniform temperature with absolutely no deviation for years... then suddenly changes temperature drastically. They all die. All is temporary... even Rome fell... dust in the wind, and all that. I am sad that the Olde Realms, with old clans et al, is gone, but there is no use reminiscing over it. Just urge new MUDs to learn from the prior generations. During the later years that I played at RoD it was the people, not the code or areas, which made it stand out. The population model of a MUD is a peculiar thing... a MUD can be top of the line code and totally original, but if it has only 15 players, it likely only ever will have 15 players; a MUD can be a 'has been' as far as new code and areas go, but if it has 300 players, it will be a cold day in #### before they ever go away.

09-16-2003, 12:05 AM	#8
Shao_Long Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: belfast, UK Posts: 505

09-16-2003, 01:39 AM	#9
vedic Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 39	Out of curiosity, what did they do that so offended everyone?

09-16-2003, 02:35 AM	#10
John Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 252	What were some of the changes?

Tavern of the Blue Hand

Anyone remember 'Realms of Despair' ?