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Text Based MMORPG's
Angryllama
Member Posts: 30
Cant believe people still play these things. Were kinda in the 3d age. If you want an update, after text, we also passed Side Scrollers, Diablo, and Everquest, were in the World of Warcraft age now. In my opinion, im a modern gamer, these things are way in the past and arent fun at all. Im not into original games.
Physics is like sex... sure it has some practical benefits, but that's not why we do it.
- Feinman
Comments
games arent all about graphics, ive played a text adventure and they were very fun and addicting, and yet no one ever plays them anymore because theyre too caught up in pretty graphics
just goes to show how shallow people are getting these days
98% of the teenage population does or has tried smoking pot. If you're one of the 2% who hasn't, copy & paste this in your signature.
Text-based MMORPGs are still fairly popular, despite the multitude of graphical games out there.
Think about it like this...graphic games will always be limited by the very technology that everyone is so amazed by. The pictures are beautiful, the effects are stunning. Yet because of these very factors they eat up huge amounts of memory, require top of the line pcs to operate, and frequently require large cash outlays in software, updates, upgrades, and perks. In contrast, text base MUDS are almost unlimited in the number of zones they can put in, the number of people they can accomodate, and any amazing effect that can be imagined because ...well, text does not take up the space or cost what graphics do. The adventures in a text base game like Medievia are limitless, and because MUDs are constantly growing, changing, and adding new things they will never have the constraints placed on them that graphics do. A text base mud is only limited by their implementors imaginations, not by the amount of space on their hds or the amount of memories in their computers.
Soleil
Goddess of the Sun
Medievia.com, Inc.
Majormud at majormud.com is still my best memory of staying up all night partying with my local friends at fplanet.com "telnet".
I started playing there with NO HARD DRIVE a 300 or a 400 baud modem.
I still have an account at fplanet.com and sometimes pop in to say hello and go kill a black dragon or 2 or 50.
Mooooo
we are in the world of warcraft age u say , u mean back to everquest one graphics u mean
Most text based mmorpg are more community oriented then anything else. I've played quite a few and let me tell you this. The communities are much better and less childish then those graphic like MMORPG that most kiddy play. This may seem harsh but I've played WoW, Guild Wars and I couldn't help on noticing the childish behavior of most players I saw, I mean not all players are like that but theres alot.
Why do peoples play text based mmorpg? Ever heared of 56K? I mean come on, not everyone has top notch computers and connection to play mmorpgs. Nor do everyone have the time to play and the will to waste money per month when they have to work most of the time. Kids have the time to waste, but most young adult and adults don't.
Peoples play most of the text based mmorpg, because #1 They Enjoy it #2 No Monthly Fee (usually) #3 Browser based, No download. #3 They have a 56K Connection #4 They're looking for a more involved community, to get to know ppls and make friends.
My point is theres plenty of reason to play them just look around.
we are in the world of warcraft age u say , u mean back to everquest one graphics u mean
WoW is right up there with L1 and L2, i think WoW is in second place, L1 in 3rd. And i would agree about it being the WoW age, at least in America. It has taken America by storm, it has achieved insane popularity with people who have or haven't played a MMORPG before.
In my opinion, im a modern gamer, these things are way in the past and arent fun at all.
Maybe because you haven't found a good text game yet (they've actually been dwindling out). There are many different types of text games. The two best out there (imo) are Gemstone IV and ADOM. Still, if ADOM were multiplayer, then I would consider it better than GS (though they are two very different games). You also might want to try out MAngband (Multiplayer Angband - Angband being a former single player dungeon crawl game).
Though if you play MAngband you might want to wait for the Easy-High-Speed-Mang server to come up. That's my favorite server because you don't die as often (and there is perma death) as in other servers (it's down most of the time though). I've got a level 27 high elven mage on EHS who can create stairways and doors, teleport himself and others, turn walls of stone to mud with a single cast, shoot out magical bolts (of fire, frost, light, etc), and I've got a house with a few rare items in it (and plenty of more rare items on me lol).
ADOM still has better gameplay than MAngband, but it's not multiplayer so it's not quite as fun. In ADOM I've got like a level 17 Drakeling Ranger who can search for herbs to eat in the wilderness, can eat corpses of his fallen enemies too, can spit acid, is invisible, has turned chaotic and has grown horns from it, is cursed, etc. I've been to places in that game ranging from randomly generated caves to a fiery tower, the wilderness, an underwater cavern, towns, and so on.
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
The one thing that most of you are forgeting is that graphics limit the amount of things you can do in a game. With text, you can describe any action. With graphics, there has to be an animation already made up for the action. Even if MMOGs let you define your own animations, the odds are that they would line up just right to the action around you. Text games aren't just for people that have low system specs and crappy internet connections. I have 2Mps cable internet connection and I still play on MUDs now and then.
Text based games are mostly for people that like to "role Play", that is, play the role of a different person in a different world in various situations. Social situations, intellectually stimulating and tense situations (trying to figure out a puzzle while lava slowly fills the room sort of thing), tragic situations and heroic situations. Not just violent situations. Yes, you can have role playing in WoW, but your ability to emote would be severely limited.
But what the hell do I know? Go play glorified MMO Gauntlet and whine about how boring it gets after a month. Play mindless fetch / kill/ craft quests and then bitch about lack of content. Be happy, be free. You have EXACTLY what you've been asking for.
The one thing that most of you are forgeting is that graphics limit the amount of things you can do in a game. With text, you can describe any action.
Sometimes limitation is a good thing, though I largely believe it's not. I know that many MUDs I've come across allow you to type in your character description. To me that's lethargy on the developers' part, and it subtracts from the gaming experience. I like a set number of character appearance options, but with a very wide variety so no one character is the same in appearance.
GSIV has a very large number of character appearance options for each race that you can choose from. MAngband and ADOM though I think randomly generate your character's appearance (which is another thing I like sometimes - it adds a little more to the RP effect, and gives me something to be proud of when I view my character's stats and biography).
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
Jimmy is right about the role playing aspect....and it's true, you get far fewer immature players on most text-based MORPGS than is usually the case.
If you want a great example of how they can really create a great atmosphere, check out the intro to Castle Marrach at:
http://www.skotos.net/games/marrach/
Obviously, this type of game is not going to appeal to harcore PvP'rs, but it's still pretty cool.
Auryx
Not sure if I would enjoy a text based MMORPG or not.
Go into CompUSA, or many major game stores. Diablo is still being sold! So we are still in the Diablo age! EQ is still being sold. So we are still in the EQ age. The "Diabo age" has never ended. The "EQ age" has never ended. If they never ended, then we are still in it. WoW has nothing revolutionary in it, WoW has not defined anything. All its game features have been done years ago in other games. Its graphics do not take full advantage of modern technology. WoW has 2 claims to fame:
1. It has TONS of players.
2. It has further built on what SWG did in terms of being a magnet for drawining in many gamers who have never ever played a MMORPG before - and never would have started playing a MMORPG. This in the longrun increases the player base for ALL mmorpgs. When those new mmorpg players get tired of SWG and WoW, they will be curious about what other mmorpgs are like.
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What age are we in right now? Call it the Age of Choices! Never before have computer gamers had sooooo many choices on what games to play, types of games to play! Never.
You left out one thing on your poll, Never played them but think they are kewl, which is what I would have picked.
I don't wanna put you down at all, but WoW is an EQ clone. I love it and still do play it from time to time, but most of the commands from EQ work in WoW /target /attack /tell /reply plethora of others plus the combat system is about the same minus the billion special attacks you get in WoW. If you can't accept that WoW is an EQ clone then you probably haven't played both or are just being stubborn.
So therefore, WoW being an EQ knock off, we are still in the age of Everquest. And as other people have pointed out, Diablo and countless other games are still being bought and sold in popular retail outlets.
WoW is a great game, but it owes its success to its similarity with just about EVERY game ever.
I've never played a test based/MUD but I remember back in the day when Zork and all those other text based games were out and people swore by them. I think the imagination will always have the best graphics. Like when you read a book, no movie could ever compare. So I think text based games will always have merit, much like the written word.
Don't knock it till you've tried it. Kinda like someone saying "Movies rock man! Books are DEAD! Books are sucky and take too much effort and we're in the Movie age now how could you read a book? They suck!" The book will always be better than the Movie, anyone who's ever read the book and seen the movie will tell you. Are text based games always gonna be better than graphical games? I doubt it, but I'm certainly open minded enough to accept the possibility.
Ah, Zork! One of the most atmospheric games ever played. In fact, I can still remember the cool opening text from Zork III...
"As if in a dream, you see yourself tumbling down a great, dark staircase. All around you are images of struggles with shadowy opponents and diabolical traps...."
Ah, Zork! One of the most atmospheric games ever played. In fact, I can still remember the cool opening text from Zork III...
"As if in a dream, you see yourself tumbling down a great, dark staircase. All around you are images of struggles with shadowy opponents and diabolical traps...."
I love Infocom! I stil have a bunch of their games sitting in a box somewhere, but my Macintosh Plus hasn't worked for years. Like..umm..15. Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Enchanter, Planetfall, I had tons of them. I'm pretty sure they're why I got so into MUDding, too.
The terrific thing about MUDs is that they're so inexpensive to run that you'll find a MUD on nearly every subject. Like Pokemon? Well, there's at least one Pokemon MUD. Like playerkilling? There are at least two entire codebases (Godwars and RoT) that were written specifically for pure-pvp purposes. Star Wars? David Eddings? Vampires? Lions, tigers and bears, oh my?! They're all out there. Some have terrific code and wonderfully descriptive areas, some are junk, but there are thousands of them. The best part of all, though, is that it's possible on most of them to work your way into a staff position. If you hate the way some areas are written, you can become a builder. Based on the type of MUD, there might be administrative positions, roleplaying positions, questgiver positions, etc; quite often, you can get on-the-job training if you've been a considerate, consistent player in good standing for awhile. It's entirely possible to help change the way the game is made, if you're motivated enough.
In my opinion, a well-coded, well-written, well-maintained MUD is just as good as a graphical MMO with comparable characteristics. Furthermore, most MUDs (excluding big pay titles like Gemstone) are small enough that someone who's been playing a week will gain some name recognition. Communities are much tighter, because you're not just one of the nameless thousands.