[MUD-Dev] Simutronics' premium server

[Michael Dekker]

At 11:57 AM 1/28/02, Matt Mihaly wrote:

> Does anyone know whether Simutronics' premium server does well?

It does well enough that they continue to support it. (They actually
call it Platinum, as premium refers to enhanced services purchased
within the instance of the Prime game). The price had been $80/month
since inception.  Last October, they decided to drop the price to
$40/month, which is when I joined.

>  Any idea what kind of max # of players online they get?

At $40/month we are seeing a peak population that exceeds 60 users
in DragonRealms.  I do not know what they are seeing in Gemstone 3
Platinum.  There was an initial influx of twinks with the pricing
change, but peer pressure has mostly succeeded in keeping them away
and/or reforming them.

The Platinum service is only successful for Simutronics (IMO)
because the marginal cost of running and maintaining and extra
server is very low.  Also, note that the service is something of a
head-ache for the volunteer staff that develop for the game, as they
now have to make sure that all changes are implemented twice.
Platinum has often gone months before a 'GM' notices that something
implemented in Prime is still missing in Platinum.

Simutronics has also recently announced plans to launch a 'PvP'
server for DragonRealms, called DR: The Fallen.  Nothing firm is in
place, however.

p.s. Last July, Christopher Allen asked about the 'bloodlust'
feature Simutronics announced a while back. Bloodlust, which is an
opportunity for players to control mobs, was tested in DR Platinum
and turned out to be a complete failure.  Having learned from
initial mistakes, and re-coded a lot of the combat systems involved,
Simu is planning to re-release bloodlust sometime soon, (reportedly
early this year.)

Michael (Simutronics' customer)

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