Why do text based rpg MUDs seem to be timeless despite an age of graphics

XantheAvalon

Why in this day and age of amazing graphical games do text based MUDs still flourish? One journalist, from the online magazine, The Kernel interviewed a few players from their perspective of what keeps them coming back day after day, some having been involved for over 19 years. 

 

http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/headline-story/13506/avalon-neverending-mud/

azzamasin

BECAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.........................wait for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............................

 

 

 

They stress cooperation, exploration, progression and rewarding engagements.  the 4 things that have been dumbed down in modern MMO's to the point where none of it is recognizable.  Make an MMO that stress these 4 things with little to no PvP and you'll have a massive juggernaut!

Greatsword

Because they are not timeless, but a horribly dated relic.

Big.Daddy.Samedi

They are timeless for the same reason that a book is often better than a movie.... It involves imagination. We read the text that is offered and vividly imagine the world. We are not bound by whether it is realistic or cartoony. The limit is simply our imagination.

 

The mechanics of a MUD are far easier to design, in that we do not have to worry about a graphical implementation. There is no need for several artists to design a "Look" to the mechanic. The Coder simply designs it, and offers a description for which we imagine the outcome. This however is not for everyone, as the poster above me shows, just as reading a good book is not for everyone.

Splattr

Flourish may be the wrong term to use. The article cited says there are approximately 100 users online, hardly what would be considered flourishing in any scope of computer games. If I said Pong was still flourishing because 100 people still play it, would you agree.

I think a better question to ask would be, what do MUDs offer that modern games sometimes lack? The article does give insight into that. 

FrodoFragins

Originally posted by Greatsword
Because they are not timeless, but a horribly dated relic.

Yeash this.

 

I played Zork when it was new and I can' t stand those games these days.

Dullahan

Originally posted by azzamasin

BECAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.........................wait for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............................

 

 

 

They stress cooperation, exploration, progression and rewarding engagements.  the 4 things that have been dumbed down in modern MMO's to the point where none of it is recognizable.  Make an MMO that stress these 4 things with little to no PvP and you'll have a massive juggernaut!

Nailed it, though PvP is entirely optional.  With or without PvP, those 4 things alone will increase the longevity of games.

Solar_Prophet

Originally posted by Greatsword
Because they are not timeless, but a horribly dated relic.

Pretty much. Ever read a combat log for one of those things? TPS reports are more exciting. It's just the same three sentences repeated over and over with minor variations. 

I love the world & class design of a lot of MUDs. If only they could transplant those into a modern-day graphical engine and interface...

Games like Zork were great back in the day, but technology has moved on. While I'll still load up Zork once in a while for nostalgic purposes, it's about as much fun as a root canal without the Novocaine. 

KenFisher

My answer:  The people.  They contribute as much, if not more, to the game than the developers do.

 

But it's obvious I'm biased.

 

Pardon, I rewrote this twice trying to say what I was thinking.

Axehilt

They're not unusually timeless.

Any given game just happens to have the diehards who stick with it forever. My brother played Subspace for like 10 years or something.  It was a great little MMO Asteroids title (and the designer went on to create Infantry and Cosmic Rift) but definitely not 10 years worth of fun. To me it seemed like he just wasn't interested in the time it would take to reach that skill level in another game.

Great games are timeless, but MUDs were only good games.  Quite enjoyable for their time, but they pale in comparison to modern gameplay where combat involves meaty decisions.

 

Loktofeit

Originally posted by Axehilt

They're not unusually timeless.

Any given game just happens to have the diehards who stick with it forever.

 

Exactly. The OP is a classic example of being so entrenched in a subgroup that they mistake what they surround themselves with for the norm. 

 

Salvadorbard

And yet it's interesting that a game characterised only as 'good' (Using Avalon as per the article example) spawned numerous imitators and invented features that are now considered staples of the MMO genre: Cooldowns, skill lists, PVP based on skill and decision rather than autoattacking and so on.

 

Timeless is contextual really and while a playerbase of 100 is hardly a drop in WoW or any other MMO's ocean, the sense of community and one player making a difference to the actual game world and ongoing history / narrative is indisputable. Find me an MMO where one great player can potentially alter the gameplay experience (for good or for ill) of handfuls of others? Don't bother citing one asshole trolling by spamkilling newbies - I'm talking about high level vs high level and the MUD challenge being far more than simply who has the best sword or who has grinded out the most reputation. Having to actually put effort into really learning skills, ability interplay, geography without all the handholding offered by (albeit bigger, more popular, arguably more successful) games.

Salvadorbard

Incidentally I understand that Avalon has tried submitting itself to this site's listings a dozen times or more and received no response. I just had a browse through myself and saw Achaea there of all things - I'm surprised Avalon doesn't even merit a response given Achaea is a clone game created by a former Avalon player (Matt Mihaly / Shaitan / Lazarus).

tawess

Well using that logic WoW will also timeless and forever flourishing.

 

 

I think the main reason  they are "timeless" is because 

A: They are small enough that you can run them on the chip that controlls your espresso machine 

B: Have so few users that the datacost is low enough to just leave them running forever. 

 

So in short there is no reason to shut them down, beyond that they are like miniature steam-engines or vintage slot cars (minus any real monitary vale)... A hobby for a aging subset of a genre that hangs on nostalgia... 

 

In 20-25 years that will be true about the few people who still hang on alternative WoW sedrvers after Blizzard sunsets the game... Talking about the good old days... That is stil not a healthy growing community. 

 

MUD´s are done for outside of a small hardcore enthusiastcommunity. 

Axehilt

Originally posted by tawess

Well using that logic WoW will also timeless and forever flourishing.

If you're replying to the OP, the evidence shown isn't really something you'd describe as "forever flourishing".  It's simply a diehard core of players. WOW definitely will have a diehard core of players 10 years from now, but it won't be "flourishing".