[MUD-Dev] FIrst LOgin REview (was attracting players)
Ola Fosheim Grøstad <o.f.grostad@notam.uio
Ola Fosheim Grøstad <o.f.grostad@notam.uio
Wed May 10 22:01:41 CEST 2000
FILORE aka Login Review Weekly:
I guess this is a form of think-aloud-method. The technique is better
used if you sit down with a friend and make him play your mud, without
assistance. Then try to make him "think aloud" continuously. "Why did
you do that?" "What are you thinking?" "What made you stop and think?"
etc. Used with success in user interface design.
adam at treyarch.com wrote:
> 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.
*evil grin* My thoughts are in [[[ brackets ]]], I am the stupid.
ola 18>telnet mud.dusk.org 7000
Trying 216.98.250.25...
Connected to dusk.org.
Escape character is '^]'.
[[[...]]]
b l o o d d u s k m u d v0.00.07
http://dusk.org/BloodDusk
imp Adam Wiggins (Athelstane)
based on CircleMUD and Diku gamma
[[[ I'm mean, I'll kick ass, let's get rid of the splashscreens...]]]
Enter your account name, or 'start' for a new account: Wimp
Invalid account name.
[[[ HUh? Oh, I see... ]]]
Enter your account name, or 'start' for a new account: start
Welcome to Blood Dusk! Unlike some muds you may have played, we require
that you first create a player account. This account will be used to
control all of your characters. ONLY ONE ACCOUNT PER PERSON IS ALLOWED.
E-mail verification is currently not necessary, but if we discover
players
using more than one account, then it may be implemented. Please don't
let
it come to that. Thanks!
In choosing an account name, keep in mind that it is NOT your character
name. It's more like an email account; you can use your first name, or
your last name, or your first name and last initial (eg, 'johns' or
'janem'), or an alias, if you prefer to remain semi-anonymous.
[[[ Boo, lots of text I don't want to see this until I have seen what
your MUD looks like. Most MUDs sucks, so this is waste of time, but I
will skim this hoping that this is it... ]]]
Choose an account name: Wimp
Enter a password for this account:
Confirm password:
Account created.
[[[ Oh yeah, let's kiLL! ]]]
Blood Dusk makes use of VT100 codes to increase the readability of its
output.
Most modern telnet clients, mud clients, and terminal programs support
these
codes. If you're not sure, answer 'y' to this question. If you see
strange
characters on your screen during gameplay, you can always toggle it off
by
typing 'config vt100 off'.
(Note: there is currently a problem with tintin++ v1.75 due to its use
of
GNU readline. You may want to connect with an older version of tintin
or normal telnet to avoid problems.)
(Also, certain problems have been reported with ZMud.)
Does your system support VT100 codes? (y/n) y
VT100 codes enabled.
Use this ruler to judge your screen width if you don't know how wide it
is.
(80 is the most common width.)
[[[ Oh man, I guess this is neccessary?? I just wanna have a peek
dammit. ]]]
0----+----10---+----20---+----30---+----40---+----50---+----60---+----70---+----
How wide is your screen? 79
[[[ Hmmm, is that 79 or 80? If 79 is ugly, then I'll quit! ]]]
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
What is the highest number visible on your screen? 24
[[[ That one was easy. Short easy question. Fun!!! ]]]
Blood Dusk can use ANSI color to highlight important phrases.
There are four levels: off, sparse, normal, and complete.
The 'off' level should be chosen if you either do not want color, or
have a system that can't handle ANSI codes (most can). If you would
like very light use of color (only very important phrases highlighted),
you should choose 'sparse'. Most users will want the 'normal' level.
If you want the mud to be as colorful as possible, try 'complete'. You
can change your color level at any time by typing 'config color
<level>'.
[[[ Man, this is worse than installing windows. What the hell is ANSI,
and is it going to be ugly or eyestraining like his website?? (please
steal ideas from BBS if possible, they just ask you whether you can see
this or that...) ]]]
What color level would you like? (o/s/n/c) s
Account configuration complete.
Now you will be taken to the account menu. From here you can browse the
help
files, change your account configuration, and read the message boards.
Once
you're ready to play the game, use the 'start' command to start a new
character. (Your account can own as many characters as you like.)
Please read 'help overview' and 'help blooddusk' for general information
about the mud. If this is your first time on a mud, please also read
'help
newbie.'
Good luck!
[press enter to continue]
[[[ blah blah blah. "help newbie", I got that one, I'll memorize 'help
newbie' and hope the rest isn't needed... ]]]
Blood Dusk Account Menu
Commands are:
Start - Create a new character
List - List existing characters
Delete - Delete an existing character
Config - View or change account configuration
News - Read news
Message - Message boards
Help - Access the help database
Quit - Exit from Blood Dusk
Type an existing character's name (partial match okay) to enter the
game.
Command: h newbie
Invalid option or character name.
[[[ ?? Why is the H capitalized? ]]]
Command: help newbie
newbie
Fresh blood, eh? Welcome to the enthralling and addicting world of
muds.
Although originally MUD was an acronym for 'multi-user dungeon', the
genre grew into much more than that. Hence, these helpfiles refer to
'mud' in the lower case, meaning the type of game you are about to play,
without standing for anything specific.
At first glance, muds may look like an old-style single-player adventure
game,
such as those made by Infocom. Although the text representation of the
world and command structure is similar, the game itself is very
different
due to its multiplayer nature. There are no specific goals, persay: no
pre-made storylines to unravel, or linear puzzles to complete.
Instead, a mud is a simulated world, complete with creatures, an
economy,
combat, guilds, social interaction, and much more. You create a
character, an alternative persona who may or may not be similar to
yourself in real life, with which you explore the world and interact
with others.
You should take note, at this point, that Blood Dusk is intended to be a
mud
targeted at somewhat advanced players. The world is dangerous and
harsh, and it may be frustrating for a new player. You may want to
consider trying a gentler mud, perhaps by searching on the mud
connector at http://www.mudconnector.com.
[[[ It hasn't beem addicting yet. Is he playing games with me? He put me
through this torture just to tell me to go somewhere else????? To HELL
with him! I'm staying, and I'm going to kick ass! And make his life
miserable. MWhahaha....]]]
Invalid option or character name.
Command: help
Valid commands while paging are RETURN, Q, R, B, or a numeric value.
[[[ QRB ??? Very helpful, indeed. ]]]
However, finding a good mud is difficult. Blood Dusk strives to be of
extremely high quality and hopefully a good deal of fun. If you
don't mind struggling a bit at the start, you may find playing Blood
Dusk
to be very rewarding, and in fact you may have trouble downgrading to a
run-of-the-mill mud after playing for a while!
It is highly recommended that you browse the help files in great detail.
Learn how to navigate around the world via the {movement} section, and
communicate with your fellow players via help on {communication}.
Learn about joining {guilds} and learning {skills}; and also what to do
in the case of {combat}. Explore your world with {informational}
commands,
and you may find yourself an experienced mudder before you know it.
Good luck!
Blood Dusk Account Menu
Commands are:
Start - Create a new character
List - List existing characters
Delete - Delete an existing character
Config - View or change account configuration
News - Read news
Message - Message boards
Help - Access the help database
Quit - Exit from Blood Dusk
Type an existing character's name (partial match okay) to enter the
game.
[[[ Oh great, RETURN did the trick, I got rid of all the annoying text
]]]
Command: l
liost
list
List
Start
Quit
^]
telnet> quit
Connection closed.
ola 19>ping mud.dusk.org
PING dusk.org (216.98.250.25): 56 data bytes
[.......zzzZZZZ]CTRL-C
[[[ What the hell??? ]]]
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