Would you rather...

[Peppwyn]

After reading through all the information about Simutronics F2P model, I can't help but think they totally missed the point. I am curious about starting a project and wanted to know some opinions. It looks like a lot of people have tried to create games before, but they are either not running anymore or aren't very appealing to me. I think a lot of it has to do with lack of funding and lack of professional development experience.

Would you rather play a free to play text game that allowed you to purchase things like houses, custom character modifications, etc. (things that dont give you an advantage in game) or a game where you pay a monthly fee and all things can be obtained in the game somehow?

Would you rather play a game that required you to download a client, run a Silverlight/Flash client on a browser or use an existing client like Mushclient?

What features draw you to Gemstone? Is it the combat systems, crafting systems (hahahah), nostalgia, time/money you've already spent, volume of content available? I don't think any game out there right now can compete with Gemstone on the nostalgia or volume of content ... but their combat/magic/crafting systems are mediocre at best in my opinion.

[Astray]

I'd rather have a game with true F2P, rather than being prompted to buy an item to improve on mechanics that are standard to a subscription.

That's where they fucked things up. Had this been a legit F2P with subscription restricted Cash Shop items and not a limited, restricted, and nickle diming operation, the reception would be almost entirely favorable. The only people who would be bitching up a storm would be the ones who disagree with Exp boosters.

[Jhynnifer]

I'd rather have a game with true F2P, rather than being prompted to buy an item to improve on mechanics that are standard to a subscription.

That's where they fucked things up. Had this been a legit F2P with subscription restricted Cash Shop items and not a limited, restricted, and nickle diming operation, the reception would be almost entirely favorable. The only people who would be bitching up a storm would be the ones who disagree with Exp boosters.

I'm curious which F2P model you've played where you're not prompted in any way to upgrade your account or buy items to put you on par with subscribers. I've never seen one that doesn't.

[Latrinsorm]

I'm curious which F2P model you've played where you're not prompted in any way to upgrade your account or buy items to put you on par with subscribers. I've never seen one that doesn't.

I think I can speak for Astray when I say Guild Wars 2.

[Warriorbird]

I think I can speak for Astray when I say Guild Wars 2.

Path of Exile also.

[lichyen]

I think I can speak for Astray when I say Guild Wars 2.

Technically Guild Wars 2 is "Buy-to-play" starting at $39.99 or cheaper on a steam sale. But the box price is a part of the revenue stream, where as Gemstone has no box price. This guarantees that for each new person playing the company is guaranteed a certain amount of revenue. That said, I'm not sure what benefit the current system has, other than to give established players something to explore. As it currently stands, I don't see how a "long term" MuD such as gemstone can offer this model in a better way without a new instance to quell the complaints of imbalance (which would defeat any purpose of bringing new players into existing instances). I think the point was to give people a taste so they'll reactivate characters, it worked on me!

[Androidpk]

For me it is generally the combat system that brings me back. Similar to a hack and slash game like Diablo, only in text form.

[Silvean]

I played a lot of MUDs back in their heyday and I never found a combat system as sophisticated as the one Gemstone uses. Most of them were focused on dealing damage and didn't have the system for injuries that GS uses. As I think I mentioned the last time we had a conversation on here about the Top Mud listings, a lot of MUDs used the same code as a base and were pretty silly. You'd run around killing smurfs and whatnot.

The big distinction, as I recall, is between MUSHes and MUDs. MUSHes often allowed you to design your own rooms and either give powers directly to your character or let you petition GMs for powers based on roleplaying. They were more explicit venues for running heavily story/RP focused games like Vampire: The Masquerade. I used to like playing mortals in these games because it was a nice contrast to the flood of gritty tough guy posturing that passed for RP in GS3.

If you're going to put a lot of effort into a project like this, I would recommend making a single-player text game like Zork or other Infocom titles. If it's creative and especially well written, I could see something like that generating a little internet buzz. It would be a much more manageable project than trying to break into an extremely limited market for MUDs.

[Androidpk]

WH40k MUD

[Astray]

WH40k MUD

Yes.