[MUD-Dev] (fwd) Confusing?

[J C Lawrence]

With the gracious nod to Keegan of course (Holly, dig up Keegan's
article on JOMR):

From: Holly Sommer <hsommer at micro.ti.com>
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.diku
Subject: Confusing?
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 13:24:08 -0500

I suppose this could be an ad, but not quite.

With all the talk of "stock this and stock that is crap",
you'd think that people would come out in THRONGS to try
something new and different. 

Well, Grok runs on what I suppose could be called a "rare"
codebase (one of maybe 2 servers running it - NiMUD). We
have a little trickle of players, but not many.

Feedback from those who have visited is that it is "confusing"
so they don't stay, or keep a character.

Now, I'm completely used to the codebase (working on it
for about 3.5 years breeds familiarity to the point of
comfort :), so naturally, it is difficult to ascertain what
is "confusing." Most of the staff has been with the MUD
for at least a year, too, so they also have varying
degrees of comfortable familiarity with the game.

We've done all our building from scratch, except one area,
but it's only "stock" in the strictest sense of the word (it
came with the server, but again, you'll only find it in one
other game out there, and likely it doesn't look the same
as ours). We have an area for players to gather their wits,
and gain some familiarity with how the game feels (no MUD
school, but the same basic purpose - get some cheap armor,
and at least a level to save), with lots of signs in the
rooms, and descripts which encourage you to look at the
signs.

We've got helpfiles for days. There is almost always sn
immortal on, to answer questions. There is a public channel
for asking questions (gossip), etc. etc.

And yet... it is "confusing." So, this frustrates those of
us who are there, as no further specification is given.

The only thing I can think of is that "confusing" == "no 
Midgaard" || "confusing" == "!merc !rom !envy, etc."

So, I was wondering if some of you seasoned players wouldn't
mind dropping in and looking around, to help give us fresh,
yet experienced feedback on how we can do better for player
retention. (Spare the "nobody stays because nobody is logged
in" argument - that's a Catch 22).

The game's permanent home is grok.envy.com 8000, but they are
in the process of moving to a fiberoptic feed, so Grok is
running at a temp site of mugs.net 8000 (206.109.172.154 8000).

Use of idea, bug & typo commands, email (grok at envy.com) and
the boards (read help notes) is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Holly (Newman at Grok)

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...

--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.