[MUD-DEV] Ten Commandments for the next MMORPG

[Mud Imp]

On Tue, 23 May 2000, Andrew Ritchie wrote:

>
>
> Sure. We could collectively pool together and buy some adspace in some of
> the more widely read gaming magazines.  With URL's and telnet addresses to
> the sites of those who contribute to the campaign.  I'm certain that
> between all of us we've got some pretty good media talent which could
> design an attractive full page ad.  I know of several freelance artists on
> my game who would likely be willing to do so for us, if no one else does.

I'm for that. I've already had a few players mention to me about medivia's
add in the magazines. anyone else want to join me in this?

> 
> Agreed that many people find UO, EQ, and other large-scale gaming
> companies to be overpriced, overrated, and much akin to "big-blue"
> inasmuch that they have absolutely zero customer service skills for the
> end-user.  Just as that behemoth was toppled, so to speak, by the David's
> of the '80s, so too is a coup possible among the current RPG playerbases.  

agreed but only if we can get the attention of the players. And since the
majority of them are of the point and click generation, a nice little
client that was point and click on the windows desk top with dedicated
connection to the mud it was for would be very helpful.

> Too, I believe that much of the potential playerbase for text-based games
> is unrealised, simply because no one has marketed to them.  While a
> graphical MMORPG may not appeal to the generation which remembers Fidonet
> and arpanet gateways, there is a very real potential that a text-based
> genre would.

I think that's pretty much because for most of muddings history, they were
the only game in town. Most people that played were college students and
they had unix shells with telnet. All you needed to do for the longest
time was add your game to a list and get the word out. the entire
landscape has changed drasticaly in the last few years and we need to
adapt if we're going to survive. You have to advertise where your
customers are if you want them to visit you.

> A lot of the marketing potential for MU*'s is lost, simply because many
> either fail to market appropriately, or rely upon word of mouth - which
> can be be doubly harmful when a 'new' person visits a MU* for their first
> time. With the large number of servers available, and the massive amount
> of poorly run ones (not saying anyone on this list is guilty of that, just
> a vague generalization - forgive me if it offends you) on the net, I'd
> wager that many players who are open to the concept of a text-based MPORPG
> simply become jaded with their first visit, and group all of them as
> 'poorly run' from that point on.

possibly though there is definately a steeper learning curve to a game
that is text than one that is graphical but from my experience based on a
number of peopel I've dragged off the graphical games and introduced to
the muds, most of them are quite capable of picking up the skills provided
the mud's players dont kill them when they first set foot on it and the
interface isnt' so confusing they can't get out of character creation.






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