[MUD-Dev] attracting players

[Mordengaard]

Adam wrote:

> On Wed, 26 Apr 2000, Mud Imp wrote:
> > [Re: troubles attracting players]
> > I forgot to mention that the mud has been up online for 5 years.
>
> That's a pretty fair amount of time.  Can you tell us what the
demographics
> have been like?  Have there been surges of players here and there, or has
> it been continuously low?
>
> > And what
> > I see frequently happen when I get any newbies at all is they log in, do
a
> > who and drop link or they log in, gossip something igorning the starting
> > room's message that there are no mud wide channels other than ooc and
that
> > they are in a quiet room, then drop link. They never even look at the
mud
> > to see what it has. Its on cyberwizards.com 9000 if anyone wants to take
a
> > look.
>
> Okay, I'm going to give you a quick critique from the standpoint of
someone
> logging on for the first time.  I think this is of general interest to the
list
> - and in fact, I would be very interested to see breakdowns of other muds
done
> this same way (especially mine!) if anyone had the inclination to do so.
> Perhaps it would allow us to focus on some concrete cases, rather than the
> abstract adventures of Bubba and Buffy that we so often refer to.
>
> I'm going to be (excessively) critical here, since you did ask for
potential
> reasons that newbies get turned off quickly.  In other words, if it seems
> like I'm nitpicking, then you're right.
>
> I logged the session, but it's long, so I'll just cut out the relevant
> bits.  My comments are inside #'s.

I'm not quoting the whole thing, and I'm not arguing (*still a list newbie
aura*), but I'd definitely agree with Adam's critique on all points.  I
personally have been systematically logging on to almost every mud in Zmud's
mud list (research, and an attempt to find a replacement for my old RP mud
that I wizzed on a while back).  Practically every mud I've tried so far
(and I'm in the 'F's now) has had more or less the same problems.  Here's a
list of my personal gripes.  Feel free to disagree with me (hell, even I do
sometimes).

- Non-newbie-relevant information overload
While I have nothing against mud admin's telling the existing players about
rules changes/upcoming events etc, it's not a good thing to effectively spam
a new loginee (?) with it (especially when it's three pages long!).  In one
case, there was a BIG splash of information about an in-game festival to
celebrate the ending of a war (instant interest grabber, that).  There was a
map to the festival location, and it was going on at the time I logged in,
so off I went to see what the fuss was about, only to be told that I was too
low-level to enter the area.  I was then promptly PK'd by a passing Paladin
(always an interesting experience, being cold-bloodedly slain by a so-called
"good guy"... but I've already started a thread on that topic, so I'll leave
it for now!).

- Newbie-relevant information overload
This is the "shouting rules at newbies" thing that Adam pointed out.  It
also covers forcing the world history down your newbie's throat, forcing the
newbie to read help files before continuing, and a myriad of other crimes.
If there's something your new players -really- must know, make it short and
concise, use small words and don't assume previous mud knowledge.  If you
simply -can't- keep it short, then "please read 'help <subject>'" is a great
alternative.

- Instant spam
Don't get me wrong, I like lively muds, but I don't want my first few
minutes on a new mud to be filled with the IC/OOC rantings of half the mud.
If the first few seconds are all important for grabbing the newbie's
attention, the first few minutes are vital for their lasting first
impressions.  This is when your newbie is feeling his/her/its feet, reading
help files, and gingerly typing their first few commands.  MUD novices are
likely to be using Telnet or your Java client (if you have one), so they
don't want the results of their actions scrolled past by a discussion on the
finer points of the effects of a recent mudslide on another continent.
Neither, may I add, do they want their information scrolled past by having
large numbers of people walking in/out of the starting room (a lot of LPMuds
are especially guilty of this one).  Comfort your newbie, coddle them, wrap
them in cotton wool.  Teach them the 'who' command at the outset (so they
can see that you're popular), give them a nice quiet place to learn and for
god's sake, don't start them off with sixteen channels of spam all blaring
at once.

- Restricted actions
Taking the previous point into consideration, don't force the newbie to stay
wrapped in cotton wool.  If they want the spam, let them have it, if they
want to ignore your carefully crafted help files (more on this in a moment!)
let them.  Give them instant access to the main world if they want it, and
make it clear if/when they complain about getting killed/robbed/married that
it's not their fault, you should have made the information more accessable,
and you're very sorry.  Players like that.

- "Help" files
I've seen dozens of different help systems.  Some put you into a menu
system, some spam you with pages of useless information, some require weird
syntax (I know of two muds that require you to know the number of the skill
you want help on).  Many help files are written with previous knowledge
assumed, either of mud's in general, the specific mud system, or the mud
world.  Some help files are horribly written, using "big" words, atrocious
grammar, or bad spelling.  Since the help file is going to be one of the
first things your new player encounters, you'd think people would treat them
as less of an afterthought.
-> personal drum beating starts here, feel free to skip <-
I have three kinds of help files on Yhared.  The standard "help <command>"
which works as you'd expect.  I also have an extended help system (xhelp)
which contains more detailed information.  Finally, I have a series of
"how-to"s.  The "help" command gives you a summary of the command/feature,
syntax, and application.  None of my "help" files are more than five lines
long (not including title and formatting).  The xhelp system goes into
detail on the command/feature, providing background where necessary, and
recommending other help files.  These files are normally 10 lines or more,
although never more than 20 lines.  The how-to's are literally step-by-step
guides on common (and not-so-common) actions that can be taken in my world.
For example, I have a how-to entitled "setting up a shop", which covers the
basics of getting a property and opening a store in it.  The how-to's are
mostly IC, where appropriate.  All of the files are spell checked, grammar
checked, and proof-read.  They're also tested out on the few test players we
have atm.
-> personal drum beating ended.  Rant continues. <-
I've seen quite a few muds that have written their help files -after- they
complete beta testing.  Leading your testers around by the nose is not
testing - it's leading people around by the nose.  If they can't figure out
a feature without admin intervention, you need to rewrite your help files.
I'd also like to mention (no names) the mud that was in beta testing when I
logged in... I searched futilely for five minutes for a help file (the mud
wasn't a familiar system for me then), only to be told by one of the Gods of
the mud that there weren't any.  I quote; "Well, isn't it obvious?"...

I could continue on for days, but I have to get back to my code.  Enjoy
(dis)agreeing with me :)

Mordengaard

P.S. I just re-read this post and realised that a lot of it would be obvious
to most of the people I see posting.  Ah well...




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