[MUD-Dev] Advertising Thread

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Rayzam wrote:
> From: "Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery at 3DProgrammer.com>

>> Given that there's a 35:1 difference between expenditure on
>> consoles and well-known online games of all types, what kind of
>> player numbers would you like to put on "unknown MUDs?"

> I've lost the plot on the point[s] you've been trying to make in
> this thread, as they seem to jump around. Is it MUDs don't
> advertise, MUD advertising doesn't work, MUDs are a tiny niche,

All of these points.

> MUDs aren't of interest to game designers,

MUDs are 1% of what a game designer could be interested in.  Even
MMOGs do not currently command the dominant discourse of game
design, let alone text MUDs that nobody knows about due to their
advertizing.  Ergo, it is foolish to complain about MUD reviewers'
lack of knowledge, that they shoulda known X Y Z P D Q about the
history of MUDs.  People don't know because MUDs don't command very
many people's attention.

> MUDs aren't necessary for designing MMORPGs,

A deep knowledge of the complete history of MUDs certainly isn't
necessary for designing a commercially successful MMORPG.  As much
as some people might like to believe in a cult of expertise, the
commercial reality is it depends on marketing, eye candy, business
model, finance, the milk toast taste of the buying public, and the
PC technology of the day.

> all, none, or some of the above? :)

All of the above, with clarifications.  I believe I've made all
these points before, but I understand if in following a long thread
over time, it gets lost.

> Ah, but the point here was game designers who are attempting to
> make graphical muds or next-generation graphical muds.

Originally, this thread started with someone complaining about how
so-and-so did such a lousy job reviewing MUDs, how they didn't know
their MUD history and they shoulda.  For some reason in the original
author's HO.  Which I've debunked: it's pretty clear why most people
don't know anything about MUDs, and why they're not gonna.

Quality does not win!  Marketing wins.  If more text MUDders
understood that, they might get more people to play their games.

> So, a game designer with experience in single player games, even
> crpgs, is now tapped for doing a MMORPG, because the execs have
> seen Sony's revenue numbers. Do they just rework it with network
> support, or do research? Of course, they do research. In doing the
> research, they should end up on those places where mud advertising
> *does work*.

Why do you say "of course" they do research?  Just because you
personally do research?  What if some guy feels like "hey, I know
enough about games and databases and networking technology."  Sure
there will be an ugly postmortem in Game Developer 4 years later,
doesn't mean they won't be a rousing commercial success.

>> This doesn't help The Mudconnector get a larger audience.  It
>> doesn't make anyone more aware of MUD history.  It makes people
>> more aware of Star Wars and Warcraft, whatever they implement in
>> their own MMOGs.

> 2 different points here. First, I think it does get a larger
> audience to muds. Anytime more people know what an online rpg is,
> then there's a larger audience available to play the games.

What % of people do you think try a 3D graphical MMORPG, then hear
about text MUDs from some random online buddy, try out a text MUD,
and say "Wow this is so much cooler than the 3D MMORPG I was
playing!"


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.



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