[MUD-Dev2] [REPOST] DGN: Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution?

[Tess Snider]

On 7/11/06, MUD-Dev2 Admin <admin at mud-dev.com> wrote:
>   - Text MUDs should no longer require any kind of previous
>   knowledge with the genre. As a new player, I should be able to
>   start the game instantly and never feel as if I'm lost in some
>   arcane activity of which I have no clue where to go next.

That pretty much rules out the entire family of roleplay MUDs, since
their social customs are pretty damn arcane, before you even get to
the formalized rules, such as they are.  I think a lot of people have
historically been scared away from these games, because of the high
social barrier of entry.

However, even for these, your point is not lost.  While I think that
most graphical MMOs are horrible places to try to roleplay, and I
usually don't bother, I also find that the barrier of entry for
roleplaying is relatively low.  When you're dropped into the world,
you immediately know what your role is, and people who look at you
immediately have some notion of what to expect from you.  Many races
already have a well-established patois which can be easily mimicked.
There are plenty of other things to do, aside from roleplaying, so you
won't be ostracized, if you haven't really hit your stride with the
small talk yet.  It's much easier to ease your way into roleplaying a
bit at a time, rather than deal with being thrown into the deep end to
sink or swim.

The interesting question is whether it's possible to provide the
higher accessibility of this  experience, with the higher
signal-to-noise ratio of a purist text RP MUD -- or whether it's an
unavoidable tradeoff, in the end.

Tess