Sunday, September 6, 2009

Why text based games?

With there being so many graphical online games out there why would someone still play a MUD or other text based game? In the world of gaming MUDs seem rather archaic. Why are MUDs still thriving? Why are new games being built every day? Why are new players finding these games?

From where I'm sitting as a MUD veteran, I can see several really good reasons why MUDs are still popular.

The first thing that comes to mind is that MUDs are very portable gaming. Mudding is for serious gamers that want access to their game nearly anywhere. Anywhere you can access the internet, you can access a MUD. Some games have java or flash clients on their websites that you can access. For the hardcore mudder, any number of MUD clients (which in my experience don't take up much space) can be saved and run from a flash drive. Since MUDs are text based it is far less obvious that all that scrolling text is actually a game. Phones with net access, netbooks, laptops, and public computers will all run MUDs successfully.

MUDs don't require a lot of system resources to run. MUDs have been running on computers for years. Even older computers will successfully run MUDs and any special software that may be required or used to enchance text gaming does not take up much memory on a computer at all. Those with older computers or slower internet connections from around the world enjoy online text gaming as sometimes their only multi-player internet option. MUD updates happen on the game server and no update downloads are needed by players.

Most MUDs are free. There are MUDs out there that charge monthly fees or have pay for perks systems but the vast majority of the games are free. I'm not talking about cheap gaming but absolutely free gaming. Let's face it, it can be really expensive keeping up with most console and computer gaming. We aren't even talking about the software or the monthly fees, but also upgrading to a new console or computer system to run the latest games.

MUDs are very accessible. Blind, sight impaired players, and deaf players can easily play MUDs and get nearly the same gaming experience as everyone else. With no sound or graphics, MUDs level the playing ground.

Finally, the reason I am playing MUDs after all these years is for the better social gaming environments they provide. I have never seen a larger graphical game successfully create a roleplay enforced environment. Most staff on online graphical games chose not to police their players and the game environment greatly suffers for it. Players are MUDs are generally kinder and better behaved than those on the graphical games and MUD administrators are more apt to remove disruptive players. Social interaction is a large part of online gaming and that interaction is only worthwhile if it is positive.

The bottom line is that MUDs are still around and thriving. For these reasons above and more they've kept me captivated and entertained for years.
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