[Zugg]

Each year, Zugg Software holds an auction to select which ten MUDs get their icon displayed in CMUD and zMUD. This year's auction ends on Saturday, February 28th, so there is only two weeks left to try and get an icon to advertise your MUD.

Last year, each MUD icon was viewed over 42 MILLION times by players running CMUD or zMUD. With a minimum bid amount of $1000 for the entire year of icon display, that is comparable to a banner ad rate of about $0.02 CPM (cost per 1000 impressions), making it one of the most cost effective ways to advertise your MUD. This is also the most targeted marketing you can buy, since your icon is being viewed by players who are already running a MUD client and who already want to play a MUD.

Zugg Software has been in business since 1996 and has sold more than 70,000 copies of our CMUD and zMUD software. We are one of the few businesses left that is focused on the MUD client market and still actively supporting our products for the newest versions of Windows. Even with the poor economy, CMUD sales increased last month and we continue to get more "oldtimers" who are coming back to MUD playing and requesting their old zMUD license codes. We are still a small family business, and I actively play MUDs to continuously improve CMud. We are doing whatever we can to keep MUDs alive and promote how fun they are, even with the competition from big graphical MMOs.

To submit a bid for your MUD icon, go to and create a free affiliate account. If you haven't used the bidding system before, please be sure to read the instructions linked to the page given above. Bidding works similar to eBay, with a minimum starting bid of $1000 for a year of icon display in CMUD and zMUD. The top ten bids are selected for icon display. As with eBay, bidding gets very fast and competitive in the last few minutes of the auction. But keep in mind that in case of a tie, the MUD that bid first gets the icon slot. So sometimes last minute bidding can backfire. Also remember that when you place a bid, you can also enter a "maximum" bid amount. When another MUD tries to bid for the same icon slot, your bid will automatically be increased in $10 increments to try and beat the competitor, up to your maximum bid amount. This is similar to how bidding works in eBay and allows you to set a higher maximum to ensure that you don't lose an icon during the last minute bidding. Finally, keep in mind that you can only submit a bid once every minute to prevent bidding bots or last minute bid spamming.

The bidding will end at 8:00PM Eastern time (Saturday, Feb 28th). I made this change two years ago based upon feedback from MUDs in Europe who asked for an earlier time so that they could more easily participate. This new time should accommodate MUDs in both the U.S. and Europe, making it more fair for everyone.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at . Also, if you have any ideas on other ways that Zugg Software can help market your MUD and attract more MUD players, please let me know.