Anyone see MUDs dying out completely any time soon?

[Jorlain]

A buddy of mine once described a H&S MUD I used to play as "The Matrix". He didn't understand it at all. Too much text, too fast. He was all about the latest and greatest.

Well, here I am, still mudding. He's so bored of his video games that he doesn't play them anymore, MMO or otherwise.

I could never get into MMOs. The only one I got into for a while was DDO, and I think that's only because I had friends to chill with, and the obvious D&D flavor was easy to associate with.

MUDs will always be home for me. But like someone else had mentioned, it's a niche thing. Not to mention, pay-to-play, as Brytta mentioned, is sucky.

[SMuz]

It takes big money to make a "good" MMORPG.  This means pay-to-play.

Pay-to-play means no permadeath. enforced roleplay, or negative account notes.

Not really. I could probably code a good one if I had the time. I could also code a good MUD if I had time. MMOs are generally more profitable because they appeal to a larger audience.. which means that the ads should be able to pay off the costs. If the coders and artists work for free, it's just as cheap as any MUD.. except maybe in terms of bandwidth.

[Roh]

It's a bit off topic but I always hear people thinking of rping in muds as a story. Especially mushers. I see it differently. I see it more like taking on a life and actually being able to somewhat experiencing things you would never be able to in your normal life. That's not a feeling I get from any graphical game. Sure I play plenty of them. But it doesn't have the same kind of depth and meaning I get from a good MUD.

[brytta.leofa]

I could also code a good MUD if I had time.

There's a community-specific joke here begging to escape...

[MarshallDFX]

I still do black and white film photography, in a darkroom.  That's because nothing will ever quite replace the experience.  Same with Muds.

[Ampere]

Of course they will die out --- but barring apocalypse, or incredible new technology, it'll be awhile.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[jcljules]

MUDs can never die so long as we still play!

[shadeoux]

I've played almost every MMORPG there is and find myself back here time and time again, I play them to get away from this I think, losing a heart felt character and taking the time off to get another concept.

[naatok]

Game companies which put out MMOs are interested in one thing:  Money
The people who conceptualized ArmageddonMud, and those who staff and play it are interested in the game world.

There has never been, and will probably never be an MMO or a graphical interface roleplaying game like Arm or anything close to it.
As soon as you try to sell an idea, the point ceases to be about the idea and becomes 'the moolah'.  It's sad, but there it is.

[DustMight]

It depends on what you mean by "dying." There are still people that love their Amiga computers - but in all real sense, those platforms are dead dead dead though their adherents would not admit it in a moment.

Muds are dead. We're just refusing to act that way because, as was pointed out, there is no better RP than text RP with people with whose mindset and style you can only guess at.

[UnderSeven]

Yes.

People said the telegram would never die, and handwriting, and radio, and other things that we don't do anymore.

But did they die or evolve?  The technology of telegram, handwriting and radio died, but we have im and email, television and internet radio and keyboards.  Similarly I think the concept behind a mud will persist but eventually the form will change and I'm pretty sure Marauder Moe would agree that ractors would be too much fun.

[LoD]

It depends on what you mean by "dying." There are still people that love their Amiga computers - but in all real sense, those platforms are dead dead dead though their adherents would not admit it in a moment.

Muds are dead. We're just refusing to act that way because, as was pointed out, there is no better RP than text RP with people with whose mindset and style you can only guess at.

I'm not sure that's an entirely fair comparison.  MUDs still provide a unique experience that is far superior to that any other medium has been able to provide, despite the increases in technology.  People who still love their Amiga computers do so out of a sense of nostalgia, but I doubt that anyone would make a claim that these old machines are in any way superior to the current computing standard.

However, MUDs continue to provide an experience that peaked at a certain level of technology and likely cannot and will not be replaced until technology is at such a level that the experience can be elevated far past what is possible today (i.e. extremely powerful and savvy virtual reality).

Until that day, I don't think MUDs are in any danger of dying and still provide a unique and superior experience that cannot be replicated or reproduced by any of the technological improvements made thus far.

-LoD

[MarshallDFX]

Basically, all the "mudders" are still alive, so no, it won't die out.  The trick might be to promote MUDs with the youth of today.  That way, when we all die, there will still be people mudding.

It's like the sport of squash.  Will it "die out"?  Probably not, but unfortunately the -bulk- of the players are all getting older, meaning squash organizations globally have been launching promotions aimed at college levels, and so on.

[eska]

What are MMORPGs and are there really graphical games out there?

I've been on Arm for a good while and whatever other game I played, I just got bored of it and quit playing them. MMORPGs my ass. I think they gotta remove RP part from it. As for quitting playing Arm, I will only do it when they make a graphical game as realistic as Arm.