Jul 18, 2015, 6:12 PM

Hey,

Glad you read the article...

  1. We do actually have an editor so I passed along those concerns to him.

  2. I addressed your retro concerns right here in the first 2 paragraphs and point out retro is a style of presentation which is very popular right now and that is a good thing for us.
    @Jeshin / Optional Realities said:

What Text-Based RPGs Do Better Than Everyone Else

  1. I only mentioned diku once and specified like diku. I actually had quite a bit more on this subject but as the original article was 3000+ words we tried to parse it down. I'm sorry it seems I'm obsessed with diku while only referencing it once?

As to restrictive licenses, the majority of MUSHes willingly use established tabletop RPG systems which preclude them profiting off of their games and any text-based games set in an existing IP also passes up the ability to monetize. Now you can argue (and you'd be right) that people are willingly choosing not to pursue a profitable path. You could also argue that due to the nature of our community we don't really encourage people to monetize their games. So there's no real demand or motivation for someone to risk doing something different (despite some of the successes we've had).

  1. Past efforts does not affect current situations. Why is it that games with 20 players or less that want to grow and have players and staff that love them don't take any time to consistently advertise and instead do brief one-shot bumps and just hope players will someday find them by word of mouth? This portion isn't even about making money but many games would do well to have at least some kind of ad presence especially if they're looking to grow.

  2. There is plenty of proof that by keeping people engaged in your community (not your game) you increase the odds of them playing your game again. For example let us say I do not play League of Legends but I enjoy watching it. Maybe while watching it I'm talking about it with a friend and whammo I'm back online playing with him because he asked. By having activities which build community and give pathways back to playing you increase your overall player retention and your chances to draw someone back to the game. Obviously I'd prefer just playing the game!

  3. The article is less about saying oh you're doing it wrong but more to bring up different aspects of improving our genre. I don't think anyone can argue that the majority of players think text-based gaming is "healthy" and they have "high hopes" for it going forward. Anecdotally a lot of people think we're dying off or at least stagnating. The article is meant to encourage people to have more faith and to try. I never said there are no successful text-based games simply that they are not widely successful. None of the games I listed are on Steam for example.

I do encourage anyone interested in debating this topic (and not just my article which is far from being an authority on this) to check out http://optionalrealities.com/forums/index.php?topic=221.0
I could have pretty easily split this article up into a series where I preached at people for 5 weeks about this topic but wanted to start a discussion. That also means I'm not married to all the exact positions I took in the article either, it was just where I arrived after my research.

EDIT - The discussion thread has already surpassed my article in terms of value to readers and I'm not ashamed or disappointed in that at all. The article served its purpose and I think it's passable (not great).