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Good point. If I want a text based computer game, I'll play http://armageddon.org/ (such a cool game).

A MUD I can't recommend enough is ArmageddonMUD. It combines the hardcoded rules of D&D while hiding it from players so they can concentrate on roleplaying. Having played both D&D and Armageddon, the latter's roleplaying shits all over D&D.

Massive breadth? If by that you mean the sheer volume of games, you are right. If you mean the large number of games with different gameplay experiences... not so much.

Amen.

The MMORPG market has been downright pathetic ever since EQ1 was a success. Before EQ, you could see people experimenting and trying different styles of gameplay. UO in particular was a truly unique and interesting experience for a while after it opened. Today though, the difference between EQ and WoW is cosmetics and a refinement of the whack-a-mole gameplay.

Personally, I hope someone grows some guts and tries something innovative. Instead of making a game based upon getting your users to hit the 'feed crack button' over and over again until they are level 60, it would be nice to see a game with gameplay that relies on fun instead of addiction and a love of watching numbers rise. Well, I can hope at least. Until than though, there is always my wonderful perm death MUD.

ArmageddonMUD. Its currently in the end days of the world as it moves away from the IP infringing Dark Sun influence to a completely original mud set in the same universe but jumped forward 500 years.

In Armageddon the staff allow players to have mud sex (because they don't like the idea of banning it). Now Armageddon is set in a harsh world where 13 year olds and older are considered adults (at least they're suppose to be). Now if two 40 year old players, one playing a 14 year old and another a 29 year old, were to engage in mud sex, would that be child pornography according to Germany?

Then feel free to pay, and if enough people agree with you and like the book, they'll also pay. Those that don't agree, won't pay. This game is completely free, and despite that, it and many like it, will continue to exist. Now I don't have to pay for it, but I can if I wish to, and after a month I'll ask myself "did I feel I played it enough to pay $10?" If I answer yes, I'll give them $10, even though I don't have to. If enough people did it, they'd be able to quit their day jobs. Same thing with books. Let the market sort it out, not some draconian law.

At the risk of repeating myself, since when did "Role Playing" come to mean "leveling and stats". Do yourself a favor and play a REAL Role Playing game without levels. RPG only came to mean "level and stats" because making a real RPG is hard and it is a hell of a lot easier to copy a D&D combat and advancement system almost verbatim then develop a RPG.

http://www.armageddon.org/

May I suggest a roleplaying game like ArmageddonMUD? You'll be trading in the boring pizza errands and graphics true for roleplaying with politics, backstabbing and fun. If you want to do coded things then yes, there is some grinding involved. However to do the "grind"ing you have to have In Character reasons to do it, so its realistic grinding, not mindless grinding. The real part that Armageddon shines is through the roleplaying, not the grinding. You can ignore the grinding if you choose the correct role (such as an aide) and just concentrate on the roleplaying if you like.

I'd disagree that they're a "waste of time" unless of course you consider producing art to be a waste of time. I say that because true multiplayer roleplaying games (not final fantasy, not World of Warcraft) are akin to performance pieces. The spectators just also happen to be the participants. But its every bit a performance piece as a play.

I'm damn glad I don't have to put up with similar shit in games I choose to play

dumb monkeys wii, smart monkeys arm

I do and I would hardly call a game that is being actively worked on today to be "the most legacy of legacy crap."

I loved Firefly. I liked Serenity. But I have serious doubts I'm going to be able to be interested in an MMORPG like this. I don't hate MMORPGs, in fact I love them (although I do define them as an online, multiplayer game where there is an evolving storyline). I originally played Armageddon and loved it. I have since tried the Matrix Online which supposedly had an evolving story and it was completely boring. Absolutely no enjoyment factor whatsoever (thankfully I tried it with a free account).

But that doesn't mean graphical MMORPGs must suck. One that is great will be Myst Online: Uru Live. I say that with such certainty because we already got a taste of the evolving storyline with the original beta in 2002 - 2004, a detailed account of which can be found here in an in-character manner. You can also find a film documentary in several parts here.

The big difference between Uru Live and the Matrix Online was that Uru realized you don't need to go around killing people. They also realised that when you first enter an area it can be very confusing and daunting, and so Cyan Worlds limits it by limiting what you can access at first both because areas aren't open to players, but also because areas need a puzzle to be solved before you can go to the next area. This was a problem I had with the Matrix Online as I was allowed to roam free as I liked in a very large area. Although the maps did help alleviate this, I found they actually did too much and took away the challenge in finding out what to do next and so the only challenge was killing people or stopping someone from getting killed. It became very repetitive, which is something Uru Live realises and avoids. Instead each puzzle is unique and there is no leveling so there is no repetitive gameplay (although there are things you can do more then once such as Ahyoheek).

However the big differences between Uru Live and Matrix Online was that the Matrix Online felt like it was completely empty of other players. I logged on and I saw no other players around. Perhaps I was simply in the wrong area. However Uru Live does away with that problem by having an introduction that explains where you can go if you want to play alone or where you can go if you want to find other players. It also has only a couple of places you can go to at the start one of which has players. The Uru Live beta has nowhere near the amount of players that Matrix Online does (it is after all a beta that has limitations on who can play) and yet it felt like it was the more heavily populated. I remember when I first logged onto Uru in 2003 I very quickly not only found another person, but I found a character being played by someone.

Unfortunately this MMORPG Firefly sounds more like Matrix Online then Myst Online: Uru Live.

As in, curing the latter. Creating addiction centres for the latter. I think people should be encouraged to become addicted to the former. My addiction of choice is ArmageddonMUD where you can REAL roleplaying, not like your local D&D group or MMO.

Wow, I'm really surprised that this article could completely miss online IF (otherwise known as MUDs). Not only are there commercial entities successfully running online IF (such as Iron Realms it allows for a much larger story to be told.

The big problem with IF is that you can't do whatever you want. You're limited to what the creator was able to forsee and program. Not so with MUDs, which are able to have long and rich stories. The reason MUDs are able to overcome this limitation is that they have staff running it all the time, who are constantly adding new code updates and story updates.

An example of a player run storyline is in ArmageddonMUD, which is based on Dark Sun. In it a player playing a dwarf decided to free his fellow dwarves who were slaves in the obsidian mines, and lay seige to the city-state that had kept them enslaved. This was entirely thought up by players, and with the staff's help, done by the players.

MMOs sometimes attempt to be roleplaying games, to enable an interactive story to be told. But they're even further limited by the fact that, you can't do what you want. You can only do what animations have been coded. Again, MUDs don't have this limitation, with any action being able to be provided by emoting. MUDs have the advantage over IFs in that they are multiuser. Whereas in an IF there's no-one but yourself.

So I'm very surprised that something discussing interactive fiction, including it's future (which IMO are MUDs, with more and more being created every day while others continue to be run for over 10 years), didn't feel the need to mention MUDs.

Wow, I'm really surprised that this article could completely miss online IF (otherwise known as MUDs). Not only are there commercial entities successfully running online IF (such as Iron Realms it allows for a much larger story to be told.

The big problem with IF is that you can't do whatever you want. You're limited to what the creator was able to forsee and program. Not so with MUDs, which are able to have long and rich stories. The reason MUDs are able to overcome this limitation is that they have staff running it all the time, who are constantly adding new code updates and story updates.

An example of a player run storyline is in ArmageddonMUD, which is based on Dark Sun. In it a player playing a dwarf decided to free his fellow dwarves who were slaves in the obsidian mines, and lay seige to the city-state that had kept them enslaved. This was entirely thought up by players, and with the staff's help, done by the players.

MMOs sometimes attempt to be roleplaying games, to enable an interactive story to be told. But they're even further limited by the fact that, you can't do what you want. You can only do what animations have been coded. Again, MUDs don't have this limitation, with any action being able to be provided by emoting. MUDs have the advantage over IFs in that they are multiuser. Whereas in an IF there's no-one but yourself.

So I'm very surprised that something discussing interactive fiction, including it's future (which IMO are MUDs, with more and more being created every day while others continue to be run for over 10 years), didn't feel the need to mention MUDs.

And they died a death

Quick! Someone tell these people they're game is dead.

prepare for the armageddon (not the movie!).

How about the game

Regarding griefers, I never experienced that problem on the permadeath mud. Players that caused problems didn't last very long and often moved on to other muds. Additionally, since there weren't levels (Armageddon is a skill based MUD), griefers couldn't recognize and target lesser skilled players without a bit of work.

I want a MMORPG with exciting gameplay - something a permadeath system would definitely provide. Simply being 'high level' doesn't make the gameplay any more exciting - on most MMORPGs level is simply a measure of time.

The question is whether the mainstream market is adequately interested in genuine role-playing to make for a worthwhile MMORPG. MMORPGs are not a fad. I believe that the longer they are around, the more diversity we'll see, and the more room there will be for experimentation on the part of the developers.

One problem with role-play focused MMORPGs is that they would be very high-maintainence, most likely requiring more staff than conventional MMORPGs to regulate player behavior and to keep the game interesting.

There are large, persistent, thematic worlds of genuine role-play that exist presently. They're labors of love, and entirely textbased, which is the only thing that makes them affordable. These are termed "RPI"s or Role-Play Intensives.

In these games, there are no experience points. Everything tends to be purely social (although there is a skill element). "But Roxton, what's the fun if there's no room for advancement?" You've been playing conventional RPGs too long, Kemo-Sabe.

The worlds of RPIs are incredibly rich, complete with backstory and detail to rival the best of sourcebooks. Like real life, position and power are not conferred by some universe-implied system. They are conferred by people in positions of power, or by others willing to support you. There are existing power structures in conflict, with checks, balances, and the genuine possibility of one overwhelming another.

There's no formula to it. Perhaps you can sell your skills and become a hired hand. Maybe your heritage entitles you to noble privileges, if the setting is medieval. As a merchant, you'll be involved in city politics and be in a position of influence. Or perhaps you could be deeply involved in one of the world's many variously flavored churches in matters both internal and external.

When you start these games, you spend a lot of time developing a character, complete with backstory set in the rich world upon which the game is based. These games have role-play administrators who are responsible for verifying the quality of these applications, helping new players, and generally policing the in-character nature. While most of the play tends to be wonderfully player-driven, the role-play administrators support the players and also create a few well-made plots of their own, often including a large over-arching story.

In these MUDs, the playerbase drifts away from the immature segment you find on hack n'slash games. You'll find mostly college-aged students and middle-aged history buffs (often SCA types), as well as some bright and responsible younger folk.

One of the ones I've enjoyed is Harshlands set in the Harn role-playing universe.

A more popular RPI, though slightly more combat-oriented, is Armageddon, which you can learn about here.

Seriously, if text-based gaming is not a serious turn-off for you [And considering the number of CLI-fans in the Linux community, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a great many of you], give it a try. While someday the market will turn its tastes to more sophisticated multiplayer gaming, you can keep on the bleeding edge in the low-tech, non-profit worlds of RPIs.

And it doesn't make you hit rats 50 times with a stick, either.

I hear a lot of people make that complaint. The vast majority of these people don't realize what other options are out there.

For instance, there's a popular series of text-based games known as RPIs, or Role-Play Intensives. In these games, there is no arbitrary point system of advancement. Does that mean there's no room for advancement? No.

You see, the world is incredibly rich, with various power structures and players in a position to confer genuine authority. There's no formula to it. Perhaps you can sell your skills and become a hired hand. Maybe your heritage entitles you to noble privileges, if the setting is medieval. As a merchant, you'll be involved in city politics and be in a position of influence. Or perhaps you could be deeply involved in one of the world's many variously flavored churches in matters both internal and external.

When you start these games, you spend a lot of time developing a character, complete with backstory set in the rich world upon which the game is based. These games have role-play administrators who are responsible for verifying the quality of these applications, helping new players, and generally policing the in-character nature. While most of the play tends to be wonderfully player driven, the role-play administrators support the players and also create a few well-made plots of their own, often including a large over-arching story.

In these MUDs, the playerbase drifts away from the immature segment you find on hack n'slash games. You'll find mostly college-aged students and middle-aged history buffs (often SCA types), as well as some bright and responsible younger folk.

One of the ones I've enjoyed is Harshlands set in the Harn role-playing universe.

A more popular RPI, though slightly more combat-oriented, is Armageddon, which you can learn about here.

-Roxton