@apos said:
Just wanted to add more cents to the pot. I re-arranged based on easiest to most difficult to address.
- Technical barriers for entry. Specifically downloading clients, and then figuring out extremely complicated commands in an archaic command line that's not at all intuitive. I think Ares/Evennia and a client that's much closer to what people would expect from other games would be a world of difference. Right click, drag and drop, and the typing is pretty much all for creative writing, not archaic commands.
For creative writing, all the bells and whistles can effectively be ignored; +phones and coded vehicles are clutter in the way of RP. I think a more important question here is, what is being fixed by making new ‘systems’? What need is being addressed? If it’s the immediacy of RP that seems to only exist in a MU environment, its not really a new or updated MU that’s being created, its somewhere between MU and IRC of some sort, but its something new. There is more being lost than realized I think. We’re going from an environment (MUD) where everything was coded and automatic to this open box of creativity (MUX then MUSH then etc.) but back towards MUD.
- Lack of satisfying alternatives. This is the one I think a lot of people would disagree with me on, but I think minigames and giving players the ability to engage in fun side projects is nearly vital. When you look at games like Firan or RPIs that have a significant amount of coded time sinks people could optionally mess with, it adds a great deal of sustainability in creating an environment where roleplayers are accessible and filling in their time between scenes. With the nature of MU being a game environment with constant up time, I really think that if players are given tools to fill in the dead time between RP scenes, the environment becomes far healthier for it, as players are more consistently available, organic RP happens way more often, and scheduling becomes a much smaller concern. There's significant drawbacks (like to the extreme of people consciously avoiding/shutting down RP because they enjoy a tool way more than RP itself), and risks there, but I think it makes games way more accessible when someone that is having a more difficult time integrating has fallbacks aside from sitting silently in a room or listening to the loudest voices in ooc chats.
Just a historical note, a lot of alternatives have been put in. MUDs gave mobs to begin with for focus, RP was added, many still have alternatives which is probably why they stay so popular as its not the RP (which can be found on RPI MUDs or any other MU or on a forum or any other venue as has been mentioned). Even in MUX and MUSH, from trading economies and ship mining, other things to do have been added and turn out just as you say. Some people focus on that and it creates an imbalance where the person who mines all day has a monopoly on some resources and the RP’ers have missed out.
- Social barriers for entry. Particularly being intimidated, with a lack of organic RP. For every really outgoing roleplayer that's a-okay with grabbing a dozen strangers and creating storylines for everyone involved, there's scores of people that are exceedingly uncomfortable with making the first move. And this is more true the more it feels like an ooc requirement. If people can just show up and RP, or have tools to do this, it is way more accessible to a new person. If we put the onus on a new player in a strange environment to reach out to strangers in order to RP, that's vastly more intimidating and difficult. Mentoring, and just a friendly, welcoming environment is really vital, and rewarding inclusive behavior.
This should be addressed. Honestly, it feels we’re in an age of, if a person doesn’t know you, they won’t play with you. They’ll only do it for some bonus (bonus XP to RP with new players), but otherwise, they are waiting for friends to sandbox their own stories. Half are doing it in google docs. The biggest barrier I have seen lately, and I’ve played on-line RP for over 30 years, is the clique mentality. Every place I’ve tried over the past few years, if people did not know who I was, I couldn’t get a scene to save my life.
I really want to express again, the choice of something new that removes what makes a MU a MU is fine and well depending on the purpose. IF we’re only after immediacy of RP, that works.
My concern is the adaptability and versatility of the news systems. Its going back to the point that the system itself (game system) is being limited to what the developers want. This is closer to a MUD, which is fine and well, but we have to accept versatility is being lost. I haven’t looked much at the new systems because this is my understanding. I mean, really, if I want some other system to play in, how hard are these systems to change? Without learning a new language to code in, a new way to alter it.
If its an update to MU in general, flexibility of the platform to include Admin ability to change how the system works should be taken into account, otherwise it feels like a step back to me to be honest. I don’t mean a change of globals like setting actors or finger notes, I mean the game system itself. FS3 is great and flexible, but in the end the dice pools aren’t much different than other systems. What if I want a system based on SAGA (cards), or WEG dice pools (your difficulty is not ‘per dice’ but the sum of the roll against 1 target number), or Amber/Fudge sans Fate Dice. How adaptable are the new systems to sweeping changes in mechanics? Or, like MUDs of old, are admin level utilizers locked to the game system that is being hard coded into these new systems?
The biggest influx of chars over advertising on Mudconnecter/TopMudSites or directly in various forum based RP environments, is the web-based developments. A handful of new players that I've seen have bridged the gap through Arx, but wanted to try other themes, thanks to said bridge, have drifted into other games over the past year and a half or so.
