[MUD-Dev] Pay Muds & Free Muds - working together, or against each other?

[Christopher Allen]

Just FYI, as it is a bit premature for us to say a whole lot more, but given
the context of the current conversation we thought it was appropriate to
preannounce.

We thought you should know that we have a started commercial company called
Skotos Tech that is building a commercial text-based mud system that will
have some graphic-enhancements. We have been in business since February,
have already acquired commercial rights to the proven DGD driver from the
former iChat, we have hired Mud-Dev member Par Winzell <zell at skotos.net>,
and we are in the process of building a new mud-lib on top of DGD that among
other things will make game development alot easier.

We believe that there are a number of things that a graphic mud can't do, in
particular, emotional context (try to get your UO character to bow
sarcastically,) game worlds of enormous size and vitality, game worlds where
all the players can play in the same "game" rather then autotomous instances
of the game, and where the game size and number of players is actually
relevant to the game play rather then being a nasty side affect. We plan to
focus on those advantages as that is one place that graphic muds, due to the
amount of time it takes to create unique graphics, can not compete.

We plan on recruiting a number of programmers and game designers in the fall
to work on three "flagship" muds, and we will also make our tools available
to independent "associates" that want to use our system to create their own
games under our quality-control standards and receive royalties. If things
progress as we hope, we'll have betas for our flagship muds next spring and
will release product to the public in September 2000. We also hope to have a
new basic mud-lib for DGD based on our work that we will make available for
non-commercial Muds that don't want to make commercial product but want to
play with our tools.

This list is probably not the right place to talk about business models, but
I am open to talking with others about our business model for doing commerci
al muds. We've done alot of research in this area but are quite open to
learning from others and sharing what we've learned so far.

Skotos Tech
PMB 353
1563 Solano Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707-2116


The following is oriented toward explaining Skotos Tech to those that don't
know what MUDs are, but you might find it useful to understand what we are
up to.

About Skotos Tech
-----------------
Skotos Tech is an exciting new game company determined to bring an entirely
fresh paradigm to the world of online gaming. Quality stories will be the
key to
the Skotos experience, not gory special effects. Through high-quality
graphically-enhanced text-based games, Skotos plans to create a virtual
community of gamers and storytellers from all over the world. Besides
providing
its own games, Skotos will also offer tools and services to world designers,
authors, and programmers, so that they easily can create their own games and
offer them to the Skotos online community.

The central goal of Skotos is to produce a core set of games, forming a
storytelling community. These games will be the natural evolution of MUDs
and
other text-based games, but they will be richer, with more consistency and
integrity than anything currently available, and will feature a level of
advancement that is only possible with the full resources of a professional
company. Graphical clients will round out these games, providing a more
immersive experience without overdominating the text. These core games will
run
the spectrum of genres, helping Skotos to create a wide and varied
community.
>From romance to science fiction, Skotos Tech will cater to a variety of
interests.

The world of Skotos Tech will be much larger than just a small collection of
core entertainments. Skotos will also feature games playing out specific
story
lines, with definite beginnings, middles, and endings. Events will intrude
as
players interact with each other to accomplish their own goals. These
fixed-duration games will combine the best features of Live Action
Role-Playing
Games (LARPs) and text adventures in a way previously unseen in the online
world.

And that's just the start of Skotos' online gaming experience. Skotos Tech
will
also offer tools for creating online games and will act as a service
provider to
developers. These games, produced by external developers, will be available
through the Skotos servers. The best storytellers, game authors, and
programmers
will be invited to become associates at Skotos Tech, offering their games in
exchange for a percentage of revenues. Externally developed games will be
rigorously tested to ensure that they meet Skotos' standards of quality
before
they become part of the Skotos family.

But, Skotos is doing more than just creating a nexus of online games. Skotos
Tech is creating a true community. Skotos users will be able to interact
with
each other not just in the games, but also in other online forums. They will
be
able to register e-mail addresses and web pages, both for themselves and
their
characters in the various on-line games. Skotos Tech gamers will be able to
share the accomplishments of their characters, as well as their own
interests,
drawing together the players of all the Skotos Tech games into one community
of
storytellers and gamers.

Skotos Tech is currently in its initial stages of development. Its initial
funding is through Alacrity Ventures, and is being incubated at Alacrity's
management center. The initial release of Skotos Tech is planned for
September,
2000. Watch www.skotos.net for more information. If you are interested in
joining our team or becoming an associate, mail jobs at skotos.net.



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