[MUD-Dev] Relaunching a MUD?

[Malcolm Tester]

I'll make a few comments here, as I believe I know the mud Kent is
referring to.  I was head programmer there for a couple of years,
and Elder for many years before that.  When I originally started, it
was a german mud, with german documentation, and the admin wanted it
to be english.  The main coders at that time were great guys and had
a lot of talent.  Sadly, they got old *grin* and moved on, to be
replaced by me and a few others.  From the beginning though, all
development was slow because of the person who 'owned' the mud.  He
is in fact, the only german left (a pity, truly :() Anyhow, he had
his ideas of what the mud should have and not have, and if he didn't
like an idea, he canned it.  I coded things anyway just to show him
what they could do or look like and he'd still can them.  Some were,
admittedly, probably not the best, but some were pretty awesome too.
Anyhow...

On Behalf Of Matt Mihaly
> On Sat, 15 Jun 2002, Kent Peterson wrote:
 
>> I recently rejoined an old mud hangout of mine as an elder, only
>> to find that with its ninth year in operation had come complete
>> stagnation, losing all but about five players and a half-dozen
>> login/chat/logout wizards - on average one person at most will be
>> logged in at any given time.  I'm thinking of this a challenge.
>> There are a number of things that have needed doing; this is a
>> good opportunity to do them while pissing off a minimum of
>> players.  What

>> I'm wondering is, once the re-engineering is done, does anyone
>> out there have suggestions for how to best recruit a new
>> playerbase?

>   1. Get rid of all the useless admins (wizards as you call
>   them). If they're not doing anything to improve the world, they
>   don't deserve the power.

In the past 9 years, the only wizards deleted were ones who were
banned.  The 'God' has always said no to deleting useless wizards or
those who haven't logged on in 6 years.  Even when the entire Arch
and Elder councils were unanimous about it.

> 2. Find some competent and dedicated volunteers.

This mud needs experienced coders, and those are few in supply.

> 3. Lead by example. It is crucial to imbue the general
> administrative atmosphere with a hard-working and responsible
> ethic.

I agree whole-heartedly.  One of the problems there.

> 4. Throw out as much stock areas/skills/systems/etc as you
> can. They're generally bad to begin with, and in any case, if
> someone can get the same content somewhere else, you've already
> got a situation where it's easier for them to leave your game once
> there.

Only a couple of those around and they are more for the newbies to
play with.

> 5. Develop new content and systems. The more the better, and to
> some extent, it doesn't matter what they are. Most text MUDers are
> happy just to see anything that isn't the standard stock garbage.

*nod* I am 'retired' from there, and have been for a couple of years
now I guess.  I do have a couple of long term projects I am still
working on though which include a new combat system (mutliple
weapons, better spell handling, integration of curses, poisons,
sleep, blindess, etc) and a better template for the guild system.
Kent is bugging me to finish them off and on :)

>   6. Advertise. If your MUD matters to you, drop a couple hundred
>   on some ads.

If it were Kent's mud, I am sure he would.  But the environment is
such that I don't think he would.  I wouldn't.

> It's really not that hard to get players when you're free. The bar
> is set extremely low by the general text MUD community, due to the
> amateurness of most of them. (Bit of a different story when you
> charge money of course, but I didn't think you were planning on
> that.)

The basic problem is that you have one person in charge who wants it
his way and is not very flexible with most things.  He's been there
from the beginning and is the main reason most of the really good
talent has left.  It really is too bad, but it is why I retired as
well.  I decided that if I were going to code, I should do it
somewhere I like to and create the things I like.  That was the
reason I started developing my own mudlib.  The mud Kent is
referring to was a great place at one time, but with all due respect
to it and the people who have taken enjoyment from it, it's more of
a retirement hangout than a real place to play.  I do think it could
be revived, but not with the current head of the mud.  He won't step
down either, so it's stagnant and will remain so.  Though if anyone
can do it, Kent could.  He's got some great talent in him.  *poke
Kent* He's always welcome to join me soon as I get to a stage where
I could use the help.

--Malc

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