"Daniel A. Koepke" wrote: > > > ... are actually causing the vast populations of potential players to > > skip my mud, simply because it's the same brand as theirs? > > Maybe. I don't think so. On the surface it seems like a fairly logical > assertion. Beneath that, I doubt its validity. People, if they're > interested in trying something, will try it. If they have a bad initial > experience with one element of a vast array, they'll probably try another > element and another and another, until they find something that hooks > them. People do, however, tend to give up if they keep trying and fail to find something. There comes a point when anyone will say, "I've had enough, there's nothing but garbage out there." After enough bad experiences someone who sees a new CircleMUD claiming to be the best thing since sliced bread will at best say, "I'll look at it when I get around to it.", and at worst say, "It's just another garbage CircleMUD, not worth my time to check it out." Taking this into consideration, someone who wants to develop a popular MUD must create it to appeal right from the get-go. It must draw the player in within 5 minutes and hook them by the end of the day. Any MUD that does not appeal within 5 minutes will inevitably be discarded as, "Just another garbage MUD", no matter how good it gets later on, simply because, "later on" is never gotten to. Considering this, I keep the following guidelines in mind while continuing to develop my MUD: 1. Give the new players at least one attractive goal to reach in the game: - Possibilities can include fancy commands and abilities that are not realized in other games, allowing the player to contribute to building the world (ie. they get a planet or country, or ? to play with when they reach a ceartain level), allowing them to be placed in a position where they lead other players in the game such as a clan leader. 2. Give the players a clear path to follow to reach the goal: - Clearly defined steps towards leveling, good documentation, and even step-by-step instructions to get them through the first one or two levels are all things that should be considered in this. 3. Player Interaction: - IMHO, there is only one thing which can truely hook a player into a game so that they will stay through whatever you throw at them. That thing is other players. I have seen it time and time again where someone will gripe about how bad a game is they play, the game has grown boring and the staff have made no indication that they intend to ever make more improvements. When asked why they continue to play in such a game the answer is almost always the same, "because all my friends are there." What does this tell me? It tells me that you can have the most garbage game and it will remain popular as long as player interaction is good. Here's what I recommend to improve player interaction: - Encourage communication, don't limit it. Don't require players to sacrifice in order to communicate, make communication easy and readily available. - Hold events which will involve groups of players, advertise these events ahead of time so that players will all be on at once to participate in them. - Encourage players to hold thier own events. Give them the resources and the resoning to do so and make them attractive. - Force interaction at ceartain levels. You can make levelling requirements that require the cooperation of other players from various other levels. The above is by no means an all-inclusive list, or even a how-to guide to making a popular MUD. Ceartainly a good MUD must have other things as well, those are simply what I have identified in my limited experience as being the most essential things that make a popular and lasting game. Regards, Peter -- +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | FAQ: http://qsilver.queensu.ca/~fletchra/Circle/list-faq.html | | Archives: http://post.queensu.ca/listserv/wwwarch/circle.html | +---------------------------------------------------------------+
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