<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership --> <!--X-From-R13: Qnyvona Fverfvnf Rnexybpx <pnyvonaNqnexybpx.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 21:11:08 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 4.1.19990727163049.009f4c10#pop,darklock.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: Marcel-1.46-0727185724-868Ky&5#catling,demon.nl --> <!--X-Reference: Pine.BSF.4.10.9907271451520.21555-100000#shell9,ba.best.com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:caliban#darklock,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="msg00067.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00069.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00067.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00069.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00068">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00068">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00068">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Caliban Tiresias Darklock <<A HREF="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 21:10:24 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#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 03:03 PM 7/27/99 -0700, I personally witnessed Matthew Mihaly jumping up to say: > >Well, I suppose it's possible that mushes and such outnumber muds 2 to 1, >but how many players do these mushes have? When you have some muds that >have 10s of thousands of players, they alone will account for hundreds of >your average mud/mushes in terms of player base. But "player" is a term of some dispute. If I log into some MUD and idle for three hours before logging off, am I a player? If I log in several characters, am I several players? If I log in once a month for an hour, am I a player? You can't rely on a WHO listing to tell you how many players a game has. Some MUDs have a large number of players who do virtually nothing. Some MUSHes have playerbases which may only consist of about 200 people all told, but EVERY player is actively involved in the furtherance of the game -- defining plots, interacting with others, building businesses and locations, writing code. I don't think logons or player records are an accurate representation of the "success" of a game. In my experience, MUSH players tend to be much, much more involved in the actual operation of the game. Does this make them better players? I don't think so. (I *like* them more than I do MUD players, but they're not *better*.) I think the inherent competition aspect of MUDs makes it tempting for builders to sneak in advantages and secrets, whereas MUSHes tend to operate much more on what you do than on what you have. As they say, it is trivial for the civilised man to act like a beast, but next to impossible for the beast to act like a civilised man; if you're a jerk, you can conceal this fact indefinitely on a GoP MUD, but you won't hide very long at all on a more interpersonal game. I've always viewed the difference between a MUD and a MUSH as the difference between a movie and a soap opera. After you play a MUD for a while, it gets old and stale, sort of like watching a movie over and over. But a MUSH tends to go on forever, always changing, sometimes so much that a week or two without logging in is almost like starting over. It doesn't really have much to do with the codebase, just with the focus of the game. MUDs are defined by areas; MUSHes are defined by players. Look at how they advertise: MUDs talk about classes and races. MUSHes talk about settings and situations. I would venture to say that in order for a MUD to remain exciting, you would have to have a constant build and modify process going on. In other words, areas should change. Constantly. It would probably be a good idea to have several people whose entire job is to modify the areas based on what's going on in there. If a lot of low-level players are dying in the same general areas, chances are you need some sort of buffer. If a lot of high-level players are hanging around in the same general areas, chances are the mobs should be tougher there. MUDs rarely react to their playerbase; MUSHes tend to react to it all the time. If this sort of reactive environment is seen as a net positive, the administration should endeavor to provide it. On the down side, a MUD with fifty thousand players doesn't really make it easy to monitor this sort of thing. After a certain point, you just don't normally have effective tools available for administrative statistics; on a MUSH, maybe three to five people will die at most in any given day. On a MUD, you have thousands of deaths. There just isn't any really effective way to monitor what's going on in the average MUD. Perhaps it would be useful to have some sort of statistical tool which could keep track of new characters, short logons, idle deletions, character death, character level advancement, etc... listing who did what in what room of what area. Patterns would start to emerge, displaying potential problems or concentration areas. Hmm, another thing to list in the new features slated for UU. Stat gathering. ;) ----- | Caliban Tiresias Darklock caliban#darklock,com | Darklock Communications <A HREF="http://www.darklock.com/">http://www.darklock.com/</A> | U L T I M A T E U N I V E R S E I S N O T D E A D | 774577496C6C6E457645727355626D4974H -=CABAL::3146=- _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00070" HREF="msg00070.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Greg Miller <gmiller#classic-games,com></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00069" HREF="msg00069.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Matthew Mihaly <diablo#best,com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00065" HREF="msg00065.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Marian Griffith <gryphon#iaehv,nl></LI></UL></LI> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00067" HREF="msg00067.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Matthew Mihaly <diablo#best,com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00067.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00069.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00067.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00069.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00068"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00068"><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>Re: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00043" HREF="msg00043.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Greg Miller <a href="mailto:gmiller#classic-games,com">gmiller#classic-games,com</a>, Sat 24 Jul 1999, 00:51 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00064" HREF="msg00064.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Jay Carlson <a href="mailto:nop#mitre,org">nop#mitre,org</a>, Tue 27 Jul 1999, 17:12 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00065" HREF="msg00065.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Marian Griffith <a href="mailto:gryphon#iaehv,nl">gryphon#iaehv,nl</a>, Tue 27 Jul 1999, 18:01 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00067" HREF="msg00067.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Tue 27 Jul 1999, 23:06 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00068" HREF="msg00068.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Wed 28 Jul 1999, 04:11 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00069" HREF="msg00069.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 28 Jul 1999, 16:33 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00070" HREF="msg00070.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Greg Miller <a href="mailto:gmiller#classic-games,com">gmiller#classic-games,com</a>, Wed 28 Jul 1999, 16:59 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00071" HREF="msg00071.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Thu 29 Jul 1999, 17:54 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00076" HREF="msg00076.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] mud vs. mush membership</A></strong>, Jay Carlson <a href="mailto:nop#mitre,org">nop#mitre,org</a>, Mon 02 Aug 1999, 17:41 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </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>