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Enough with the grammar fight? Sheesh.
Back to the topic at hand, you can legally do all sorts of misleading stuff with advertising. The whole business is based on making a product look good.
Top Mud Sites, however, claims to be a "one-stop MUD resource". It can describe games however it like. The traffic exchange is one (optional-- TMS does not require MUDs to use it in order to be in the databases) portion of the website, along with forums, reviews, etc. It is no more "just a traffic exchange" as it is "just a MUD review site".
It provides name, link, blurb, etc. It also provides a page where games provide information about themselves. Presently, one category includes a checkbox for "Pay-to-Play", with no definition attached. The proposal is to expand and clarify this existing utility with two checkboxes, replacing the old one:
1) Gameplay requires one or more mandatory fees.
2) Gameplay may be altered through optional fees.
Carrion Fields, Armageddon, etc.: n/n.
Achaea, Imperian, etc.: n/y.
Threshold, Gemstone, etc.: y/y.
Every business model described in these threads fit into a combination of the above checkboxes. I haven't seen a MUD owner claim that their game couldn't be described in that way.
Threshold might want to further differentiate themselves from a subscription model, to which I'd propose three checkboxes:
1) Continuous gameplay requires at least one mandatory fee.
2) Continuous gameplay requires recurring mandatory fees.
3) Continuous gameplay may be altered through optional fees.
Carrion Fields, Armageddon, etc.: n/n/n.
Achaea, Imperian, etc.: n/n/y.
Threshold: y/n/y.
Gemstone, DragonRealms, etc.: y/y/y.
I honestly think those three checkboxes would cover every one of the top 20 games without ambiguity. I don't pretend to know every game, so if someone can think of a game that couldn't answer those three questions, please point it out.
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