[MUD-Dev] Business models for commercial text games

[Emil Eifrém <emil.eifrem@windh.com>]

I'm giving more and more serious thought to the crazy notion that I
might actually be able to code muds for a living. I'm out of the loop
after a few years in the so-called 'real world' (pteh), but my basic
plan is to take a half-year leave from my current job, live off of
those darn stock options that were worth so much more before
everything crashed ;), and basically finish off that Java-based server
I started with over 4 years ago.

As far as technology goes, I can come very far in 6 months dedicated
to full-time coding with no distractions such as meetings, mentoring,
operational responsibilities, meetings, phone calls, meetings and did
I mention meetings? But, as Matt Mihaly just pointed out, in the end
technology doesn't really matter all that much for a commercial
text-based online rpg.

What matters, IMHO, is high quality content, intelligent
administration along with a healthy business model. Content is the
hard part, but here I have the slight advantage of being the "owner"
(if not the current operational administrator) of a fairly successful
mud that has built up quite a lot of unique material over the past 7
or so years, all of which (thankfully) is legally owned by
me. Granted, all of it ain't up to professional standards, but it's a
nice foundation to build upon and content isn't the big worry right
now.

The "business model," OTOH, is another story. Firstly, the phrase
really sounds too fancy for me. I'm not looking into making the big
bucks here. I'm aiming for a life where I could do what I love the
most for a few years while I figure out what to do next, preferably
without living off savings.  The base source of income in the
"business model" would be, in rough priority:

   * Pay-to-play. Incentive would be (1) in-game advantages such as
     artifacts, money or skill practices, (2) access to "value-added"
     (sorry) services integrated with the web site and (3) a
     banner-free environment [see below].

   * Ads / banners. This market is not by far as nice today as it was
     just 3 months ago (cf Yahoo) but with directed banners, a
     medium-sized pbase and a decent hit rate on the web site, they --
     however evil they are -- might produce a few silver coins as
     well.

   * Sponsorship. Local fantasy book stores, game companies, etc. No
     clue if this is realistic, but I do know that much of the player
     base consists of a demographic (mostly teenage males) that is
     attractive to the consumer-oriented enterprise.

   * Sales of components. After my journey into the commercial world,
     I realize that much of the code in the mud world I came from are
     up to -- and in some cases, way above [1] -- professional
     standards. Basing my server on a standard server-side component
     architecture (EJB) might produce a few opportunities to make some
     bucks by selling high-quality generic components for a
     competetive price.

That is my main line-o-thought at the moment.

Pay-to-play is my preferred choice, mostly because (A) it's the method
that allows me to focus most on what I really want to do (create a
kick-ass mud) rather than talk to banner people, look for sponsors or
be tech support for Java components and (B) I feel better knowing that
I get money because my players value what I do rather than because I
expose them to a bunch of annoying ads.

The main problem I see is that of practicality. I think I can create a
good enough mud that people are willing to pay X amount of dollars per
month to play it. But *only if it's easy for them to pay me*. I'm sure
I could make them pay 10 or 20 bucks per month if I could charge them
in the super market before they bring their groceries back home. But I
doubt I'll be able to hire staff in every super market in the world.

How do people in the low-end commercial games area do this? Is credit
card payment the end-all-be-all solution? The above-mentioned
demographic might be comparatively rich (or, rather, willing to spend
a large percentage of their available money per month on games), but
they're also quite low on VISA cards. The general trend (looking at
for instance Avalon, Achaea, Fed, etc) seems to be offering credit
card payment as well as cheques... are there not better ways? Over
here in Sweden you can do similar payments via the phone -- dial a
number, confirm, and bam, your next phone bill will be 10 more bucks
-- but I'm not sure if it's available in the US and I'm certain that
it's not availble for an international audience.

Or maybe it isn't a problem? Maybe commercial text games have a more
mature player base, for which it isn't a problem to beam your card
number over the net once per month. Or do they? This is my main worry
since I know that the pbase of my current mud would probably be
willing to pay a few bucks per month for playing (at least if the
quality improves to the level I'm currently aiming for) but I also
know that (just guessing) 90% of them will not do it if it requires
stealing their parents' VISA cards.

Comments? Are these the main sources of incomes for other text-based
commercial muds? Is the practicality issue something to worry about?

TIA,

-EE [emil at eifrem.com]

[1] It helps quality if you can work on stuff until you're satisfied
with it rather than until you must release it before time-to-market
demands it.
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