[MUD-Dev] Text Muds vs Graphical Muds

[Anderson]

From: Kwon Ekstrom [mailto:justice at softhome.net]

> So was I, but the question was why.  I was explaining why I
> thought individual muds were smaller than individual MMORPG's.
> There's simply a whole hell of alot more of them to dilute the
> playerbase in.  Some are extremely successful (as far as text muds
> go) others less so.  Most text muds I know have a high amount of
> "player churn" and even the stable players who stick around often
> play and try out a variety of other muds.

The question I would have, is why do so many seem to hit a limit?
I've found quite a few "good" text muds when they started, they grew
fairly steadily up to an average of 75 people online on one mud,
around 200 people online on another, around 150 online on
another.. and they all seem to have stopped growing.  Other smaller
muds grow, but somewhere between 100 and 200 people generally, text
muds seem to stop growing.  I'd really like to understand why this
is, so perhaps I can prevent it on my own.

My guesses:

  1. Too few areas.  Most muds grow extremely fast if they have nice
  code, and then suddenly you feel like you're always downtown, even
  in a far away forest.. you can never get away, and leveling is a
  chore.

  2. Admins getting bored.  After 2 or 3 years, most imps seem to
  slow down quite a bit, imping less new code, etc.  If they don't
  trust others to take over a lot of the work, it can stagnate.

  3. Older players scare away youngers.. people like to join new
  muds, not many people want to join games where people are already
  established.

  4. All games after 2 years stop getting "piles" of new players.
  Even graphical muds may stop growing after a couple years perhaps?
  Maybe this has to do with #3, or people just not wanting to join
  an "old" game.

Any other ideas why text muds seem to stop growing at some point?
The servers aren't slowing down, it's not like the box can't handle
another few hundred people.

Dave

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