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#1 |
New Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 2
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What happened to Materiamagica???
i was checking it out, read some material on it seemed like an addictive game great features etc, but the playerbase seemed to be lacking??? i notice the content was very good, seemed to me alot of things to do, expecially for new players.Yet the playerbase seems to be set around 100-150 people now.Is the lack of players on mud based games declining? perhaps someone can give me some insight thanks
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#2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 310
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Name: Dave
Location: Oregon
Home MUD: Ansalon.net
Posts: 87
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Lol, didn't we have this discussion in 1996 Scandum?
I think we're actually on the way up! Google - Mud Games |
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#4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Sweden
Home MUD: www.sharune.com
Posts: 359
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
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#5 | |
Administrator
Join Date: May 2005
Name: Derek
Location: Orlando
Posts: 354
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Quote:
On a more positive note, we've seen a lot of WoW players returning recently - it's getting harder for the more casual players to justify that monthly subscription with how the economy is and all that. |
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#6 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Name: Dave
Location: Oregon
Home MUD: Ansalon.net
Posts: 87
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
We've seen that too Lasher, new players even from the WoW world, and old players returning. Apparently it's hard to get the 'depth' of gameplay that some want, in the graphical only world.
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#7 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 310
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Quote:
The 'mud client' search used to be on trends, but is now gone, so I guess general interest for that search has dropped below the inclusion threshold. The 'mud games' trend is sporadic and lower than zMud's. Comparing the trend for zmud vs mushclient it looks like zMud still dwarves all other clients. Not to mention that WoW doesn't cater well to the exploring and socializing player types. Pay for perks MMORPGs are gonna be the next big thing though, and I think we all know that doesn't bode well for muds. |
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#8 |
New Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 23
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Searches for "text game" and "text games" have a consistently strong, stable showing compared to "mud game" or "mud games". I think it's just the term "mud" that has died.
Last edited by Burrytar : 02-08-2009 at 12:21 PM. |
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#9 | |
Administrator
Join Date: May 2005
Name: Derek
Location: Orlando
Posts: 354
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Quote:
Isn't it sad that we hear email is already "not cool" with teenagers because they would all rather text, yet text games are declining. There has to be an opportunity here. Alas I fear I'm too old, tired, busy, uncool, <insert others> to make it happen myself, but the next "huge" MUD will likely be one that does. |
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#10 | |
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Mill Valley, California
Posts: 2,306
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Quote:
I turned down the investments both times (though, granted, partly because I was in the midst of raising a lot more than that for Sparkplay) and we couldn't come to acceptable terms regarding a sale because I fundamentally do not believe that there's a large market for text MUDs on cell phones either in China or in the West. I think that trying to link texting with an untapped desire to play text games on a cell phone is the same kind of mistake that linking kids reading Harry Potter in huge numbers to a desire to play traditional text MUDs is. Just because they're doing one thing in text doesn't mean that they want to do the other. For instance, just because people enjoy looking at pretty graphics while playing graphical MMOs doesn't mean that these same people are going to spend a lot of time looking at post-modern visual art. Yes, they're both in the visual medium, but that's where the similarities end. Similarly, one might posit that the fact that people spend so much time talking on the phone indicates a desire to play MUDs-by-phone but I think that example mainly serves to demonstrate the flaw in linking interest in activities that take place over a particular medium. After all, people have been texting each other via IM programs for years, and I don't think that's led to any great influx of MUD players from IM fans. --matt |
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#11 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 310
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
I'm not sure what Google is up to, but the zmud query just dropped off of the radar as well. The text games query leads to a website offering a text to speech client for interactive fiction games.
Quote:
Reminds me to go through the user comments of this experiment when I'm bored: Play Iron Realms, a free online game on Kongregate |
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#12 |
Member
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
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#13 | |
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Mill Valley, California
Posts: 2,306
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Quote:
--matt |
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#14 |
Legend
Join Date: Aug 2007
Name: NewWorlds
Home MUD: New Worlds
Posts: 1,401
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
We've had this discussion in no less than 3 other threads in the last year. I honestly don't get it. NW hasn't had a decline in players, if anything it is growing. Perhaps it is our environment and style. Not sure. I do not fear the future at all. In fact, I welcome more competition in graphic games like WoW and Runescape to saturate the market and turn more people back to the Book. It certainly can't hurt.
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#15 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 310
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Re: What happened to Materiamagica???
Quote:
I guess it must be significantly more expensive to bring in outside players. Have you ever considered advertising at a text based MMORPG like Utopia? Utopia - Home |
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