<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Mud reviewing --> <!--X-From-R13: <qvnoybNorfg.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 13:17:03 -0800 --> <!--X-Message-Id: Pine.BSF.4.05.9901271312470.29901-100000#shell9,ba.best.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 3.0.5.32.19990126204429.008c0330#earthlink,net --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Mud reviewing</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:diablo#best,com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00307.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00309.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00302.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00298.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00308">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00308">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00308">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Mud reviewing</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Mud reviewing</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 13:16:55 -0800 (PST)</LI> <LI><em>cc</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On Tue, 26 Jan 1999, Andy Cink wrote: > At 02:59 PM 1/26/99 -0800, matt(diablo#best,com) wrote: > >> >Perhaps there should be some way of showcasing new, original muds, like > >> >a mudlist in which an imp would submit her mud, and a volunteer would > >> >evaluate the mud for uniqueness and non-stock-ness, and write a short > >> >review containing his first impressions. > > > <snippage pertaining to mud reviewing> > > > >I think one problem with reviewing any non-stock mud is the time required > >to get to know the game in any depth. Unless you play for at least a > >couple hundred hours, your review is, imho, akin to reviewing a movie > >without bothering to watch the whole thing. > > Most movies I know of are nowhere near 100 hours, let alone 200 hours :P > Even the Godfather series isn't THAT long <g> You have to figure, with > the number of muds out there, that there's virtually no reviewers who > are going to have that kind of time to spend on a review. I would consider > 4 hours a good amount of time to spend reviewing a mud. I guess it depends > on what you consider non-stock, too, though. I don't see how people can > discern between who deserves 4 hours, who deserves 12, and who deserves > 100. Sure, obviously I realize that, but the analogy still holds. You don't review a movie without having seen the entire thing, regardless of whether it is a 20 minute short or an 8 hour extravaganza. I don't even see how it is possible to review anything as complex as a mud in 4 hours. What you will end up doing is reviewing a very tiny portion of the mud and extrapolating your review of that to the entire mud. This may be efficient, but it does not constitute a review of the mud as a whole. > Hopefully reviewers are going to review more than one mud, so I think it > is reasonable to expect that they'll not stay for more than a few hours. > I also think that supposing each reviewer does have biases, if people > can read all of the reviews, hopefully one of the reviewers preferences > match their own. If a person happens to like hack 'n slash, perhaps the > review by the hack 'n slash liking reviewer would best tell that person > if they'd enjoy playing on the mud or not. Just like real life, you can't > really expect that everyone is going to like your game. Some people want > a graphical game, some want text. Some want to kill mobs, some want to > kill players, and some want nothing to do with killing at all. Keeping > this in mind, having 2 or 3 of 4 liking your mud is actually pretty darn > good. It's not whether they liked them or not that concerns me. They're not my customers and I haven't had any customers come tell me "I came to Achaea because I read a positive review on X". I'm just putting the idea out there that reviewing muds in 4 hours is like reviewing the entire sundance film festival in 4 hours. It cannot be done without being such a shallow review as to be useless. --matt </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00302" HREF="msg00302.html">[MUD-Dev] Mud reviewing</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Andy Cink <ranthor#earthlink,net></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00307.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: combat</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00309.html">[MUD-Dev] Subdue</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00302.html">[MUD-Dev] Mud reviewing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00298.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00308"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00308"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00289" HREF="msg00289.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 26 Jan 1999, 18:15 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00292" HREF="msg00292.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, David Bennett <a href="mailto:ddt#discworld,imaginary.com">ddt#discworld,imaginary.com</a>, Tue 26 Jan 1999, 21:02 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00297" HREF="msg00297.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, diablo <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Tue 26 Jan 1999, 22:59 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00302" HREF="msg00302.html">[MUD-Dev] Mud reviewing</A></strong>, Andy Cink <a href="mailto:ranthor#earthlink,net">ranthor#earthlink,net</a>, Wed 27 Jan 1999, 04:48 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00308" HREF="msg00308.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Mud reviewing</A></strong>, diablo <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 27 Jan 1999, 21:17 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00298" HREF="msg00298.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, Matthew D. Fuller <a href="mailto:fullermd#futuresouth,com">fullermd#futuresouth,com</a>, Wed 27 Jan 1999, 01:15 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00300" HREF="msg00300.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Wed 27 Jan 1999, 02:00 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00293" HREF="msg00293.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, Bruce Mitchener, Jr. <a href="mailto:bruce#puremagic,com">bruce#puremagic,com</a>, Tue 26 Jan 1999, 21:06 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00453" HREF="msg00453.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: META: list "peerage"</A></strong>, Sayeed <a href="mailto:yu219121#YorkU,CA">yu219121#YorkU,CA</a>, Thu 18 Feb 1999, 18:07 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>