[MUD-Dev] Re: Mud reviewing

[diablo at best.com]

On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Andru Luvisi wrote:

> On Wed, 27 Jan 1999 diablo at best.com wrote:
> [snip]
> > We keep detailed stats on our usage, and over half of it comes from
> > characters who have played at least 200 hours. 25% comes from characters
> > who have played at least 500 hours, and 15% comes from the hardcore
> > addicts who have characters who have racked up at least 1000 hours.
> [snip]
> 
> I presume the 15% is part of the 25% is part of the >50%?

Yes.

> 
> When you refer to your usage, are you measuring it in players or in hours
> played?  That is, are you saying > 50% of the hours played are played by
> players who have played at least 200 hours, or are you saying > 50% of
> your players have played at least 200 hours?  Also, does this include
> everyone who's ever played on your mud, or only the people who currently
> have active characters?

I'm saying > 50% of the hours played are played by characters who have
played at least 200 hours. 


> It would also be interesting to know if this has any relationship to being
> a pay mud.  It could be that among players who have played, say, 20 to 40
> hours on a completely non-pay mud, you will find many more players who
> aren't yet sure if they want to keep playing for a really long time to
> come than you will on a pay mud where they may have already decided long
> before then whether it's worth paying for.

This is quite likely the case, although we disguise the fact that you
really have to pay to get anywhere significant. I'm just looking at a
player now who has played 171 hours so far and hasn't paid us a dime yet.
Chances are though that soon he'll realize he can't progress much further
without paying and either leave or commit to becoming a better person and
pay us.

 
> argh.  That's not as clear as I hoped it would be.  I think I'm asking if
> players on a pay mud end up having to make their decision about staying or
> leaving earlier than they would on a non-pay mud.  If this is the case, I
> would expect it to change the demographics of the mud significantly,
> though I'm not entirely certain how.  To me, the most likely effect would
> seem to be that you would have fewer players who had been there for a
> while but weren't really into the game.

This seems likely, yeah, though if someone isn't into a game, I can't
imagine why they'd stay for 200 hours anyhow. There are certainly lots of
free worlds out there.

--matt