[MUD-Dev] Text Muds vs Graphical Muds

[Kwon Ekstrom]

From: "Jeff Lindsey" <Jeff at nextelligence.com>
> Philip wrote:

>> It seems to me that graphical muds have 1 to 2 orders of
>> magnitude more players than even the most popular text muds (I
>> can't think of a single text mud with even 1000 players). Is it
>> better advertising, or perhaps that there are just more people
>> who's preference is graphical over imaginative?

> Both. While advertising would definitely boost text MUD
> populations, I think current gamers have higher and higher
> expectations about how games should look, and anything that
> doesn't meet them is seen as "old" or inferior somehow.

I disagree, I think if you take the "total" mmorpg and the "total"
text-mud population... (overlap aside) you'll find that text muds
actually have more players than graphical muds.  There's simply alot
more text muds out there to distribute the population over.  Most of
them are free, and there's an abundance of systems you can play
with.  There may be 25 here, and 100 there, a few hundred here, 50
or so there.  But take a look at TMC, you'll find thousands of muds,
granted most of them fall under 10-20 players, but alot of them run
a good 20-30 simul players (est 250-300 total playerbase) and the
large ones over 200 simul players (and probably a 1000-1500
playerbase if you consider the "seasonal" players who only drop in
when they feel the urge).  There's simply alot more competition
amung text-muds and several web sites have been popping up to build
an inter-mud community, which further increases the "player churn"
of various player bases.  Alot of people find out about muds via TMS
rather than searching the lengthy TMC listings, or participate in
the slew of discussion boards with mud topics and hear about what
other muds are doing and get curious.

I don't doubt that people view graphical systems as "superior" but
that's what flashy graphics do for you.  On the other hand, I've
heard alot of my friends complain about the lack of community on
MMORPG's and state that as a reason why they continue to play text
muds.  I've run across a few text muds whose systems greatly exceed
that of any graphical mud I've seen, and I'd even bet that most
stock muds are more flexible than graphical muds (due to necessity).

-- Kwon J. Ekstrom

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