It seems every time developers release a new game, there are new, drastic methods that attempt to immerse people into its atmosphere than with the last game. All games, whether graphical or textual in nature, require some type of fantasy element to appeal to the players’ sense of adventure.

Some MMORPGs continue making the same mistakes as the games before them. Achaea breaks up these problems by tackling them headfirst. For example, NPCs have the ability to freely roam areas, gossip about random adventurers in the game, or even pick up stray things lying upon the ground.

Achaea begins the immersion process begins right from the start with the trial of rebirth. While the process is the basically same from one adventurer to the next, there are subtle differences regarding things like learning how to use the HONOURS command and what color robes were used.

Putting the Players in Charge

A large portion of Achaea, as with all the games produced by Iron Realms Entertainment, are player driven. For the most part players control the cities, houses (similar to guilds) and clans. Players are in charge of setting up their own family bloodlines. And players can even purchase crafting licenses that allow them to create clothing, accessories, or foods in shops that they own and run.

Crafting is just one of the ways that people can use things from real life as an inspiration to enhance the game. But the process of crafting is more than just buying a license. Let’s take for instance the Achaea version of a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin.
 

• The probed description reveals – Lightly toasted to an appetising golden brown, a sliced buttermilk biscuit sandwiches the contents of this breakfast treat. A pair of succulent, fried eggs folded into a square hangs over the edge of the bread and is accompanied by a layer of gooey cheddar cheese, its bright yellow hue complementing the egg whites. Completing the delightful creation are thick, crisp slices of smoked bacon that lie stacked between the sticky cheese and upper half of the biscuit.

• When eaten, you see – As you bite into the biscuit, your mouth is rewarded with an explosion of cheddar that melds with the soft texture of eggs and crisp crunch of bacon. With each subsequent mouthful the cheese oozes out, and you lick your fingers clean.

• The ingredients are – 2 pieces of meat, 1 egg, 1 cheese, 1 ball of dough, and 1 pinch of salt. Meat requires you to kill creatures large that their corpses will survive butchering.

• Gathering is needed for the rest -  Eggs and milk are only available at farms, which require exploring the wilderness area of the game. Preparing cheese takes three sips of milk (collected in vials at farms) and one pinch of salt. A ball of dough is prepared using 1 handful of grain, 2 sips of water, and 2 small piles of flour. And to obtain a pinch of salt, one must first venture into the ocean and scoop up some pure seawater, then use a tinderbox to refine for salt.

If you are a fan of fast food breakfast sandwiches, then this one might have appealed to your senses. As you can see players have the opportunity to make their patterns very detailed. One thing that the administration tries to encourage (if not enforce) a high quality of spelling and grammar.

This is not just with crafting, but with all aspects of the game including descriptions of denizens, items, and the rooms themselves. When you combine the player-controlled elements with real life-inspired, detailed features like weather, dreams, and constellations, it’s easy for people to get lost in the game.

So what are your favorite features in an MMORPG? What helps you become so immersed that whole afternoons go by in the blink of an eye? I’d love to hear all about it!


About the Author:

Freelance photographer Emily Saunders first discovered Iron Realms MUD games when a friend introduced her to Achaea. Whenever she isn’t looking through life through the lens of a camera or spending time with her large family, you can find her alter-ego hunting, questing, and stockpiling gold and credits for the next series of realm-wide auctions.

I'm an avid gamer of all types: card games, puzzle games, board games. But my true love are role-playing games, be they video games or tabletop, like Dungeons and Dragons. So it's no surprise that I've played many MMORPGs in my day: Final Fantasy XI and XIV, Guild Wars 2, and World of Warcraft. I've enjoyed many hours of killing monsters and raiding dungeons with my friends, both in real life and in a virtual world.

I like to think I'm rather creative; though I'm not the best at storytelling, I do like to give my characters a bit of a flair, be it a nervous tic or catchphrase or seemingly unexplained remarks. I also like designing my character's appearance, including his or her clothing, to meet with this style and provide a sense of uniqueness.

This is quite hard to do in most MMORPGs, since there are usually very few choices for the "best" equipment a specific class and race can wear. In Final Fantasy XI, for instance, all other white mages looked like I did. As the game continued, there were more situational pieces, but in general everyone looked exactly the same. Equipment was not an aesthetic choice, it was simply functional.
 

 

In Achaea, though, I get to choose what my priest wears. Every item in the game can be customized for a cost, only limited by one's imagination. For instance, my priest is a member of the Divine Order of Lord Deucalion, the Righteous Fire, one of the god/admins in Achaea. My fellow ordermates and I all dress similarly: greys, whites, and blacks, each with our own small personal flair. It allows us to feel like we belong to something but still individuals. In Achaea, no two people should ever look alike.

This leads me to my second topic: crafting. No people should ever look like because even though items can be customized, there are thousands and thousands of player-designed items that you can buy in the myriad shops in the game. Players can buy tailoring, jeweler, and cooking licenses, allowing them to submit and create designs for clothing, jewelry, and food for sale to other adventurers.

This is completely unlike games like Final Fantasy XI or World of Warcraft, where there are a set number of recipes that you grind away at for hours, hoping to create a piece of gear worth selling (i.e., high-quality or +1 with better statistics) or to increase your crafting skill level. This makes crafting a chore instead of a creative venture, and turns it into yet another grind.

Achaea makes crafting more in line with what most real-life artisan crafters do: they create jewelry, clothing, and other items for the pleasure of doing so, not grinding out tons so they can make a huge profit on Etsy. Come let your creativity flow on Achaea: Dreams of Divine Lands!

MMORPGs and I have a long history. I've played Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, Rift, and World of Warcraft. I originally hated player-versus-player (PVP) combat, which is why I gravitated more to FFXI and FFXIV, which don't feature much, if any at all. I did dabble with it a bit in WoW, though, and I've watched my brother and gamer friends participate. The only game that I've found that has really engaging PvP (including 2v2, 3v3, and huge group vs. huge group!) is the MUD Achaea: Dreams of Divine Lands.

Here's the problem with PVP in MMORPGs: lack of depth. Generally you have a few skills that you spam, whether it be a damage-over-time spell, healing spells, a crowd control spell, or just tons of direct damage. This leads to a very one-dimension and rather boring matchup. Achaea, on the other hand, gives its players dozens and dozens (and dozens!) of abilities that are unique to each class. Each ability is useful in different situations: for instance, my priest would perform the rite of banishment against occultists to destroy their offense, but it's useless otherwise. But the rite of piety, which prevents them from leaving, is extremely useful against them.

Spamming spells points to a relatively unstrategic experience, but many fights in MMORPGs have another problem: a reliance on equipment instead of skills. In many cases, I watched my brother lose a duel despite playing in a smarter manner simply because he had not dedicated enough time to raiding for the best equipment possible. Hours spent raiding are not always enjoyable, and low drop rates can be excruciating.

Achaea has none of this; you can earn credits for some powerful artefacts if you wish, or forge or pay a forger for very high quality weapons or armour, but they do not sway the battle so definitively. Achaea has many kill methods that are instant, given a few requirements, so slightly more health or slightly better armour only provides a slight advantage in combat. For instance, my priest in Achaea can order his guardian angel to rip out his enemy's soul if he is at less than half mana, instantly killing him. You don't see that in WoW.

The last thing Achaea has going for it in the realm of PvP is the reason we're fighting each other. The arena in WoW lacks character: it's yet another grind for gear that is completely done by matchmaking and queuing, completely divorced from the game itself. In Achaea, however, cities raid other cities regularly. The followers of two enemy Gods will take every opportunity to slaughter the opposing side's followers and to destroy the enemy shrines with their corpses. Players can spar in an arena, of course, but the real action is outside, where players fight to protect their friends, their city, their God or Goddess, and their beliefs and way of life.

Join me in Achaea and actually show the world what skills you have!

I'm a pretty avid gamer, as my significant other can attest: puzzle, platformer, adventure, and RPG, I love them all. My biggest love has been MMORPGs, though: I played Final Fantasy XI Online (FFXI) for four years, leveling up many jobs to the max level and spending untold hours raiding, camping monsters, and having fun. The world of Vana'diel was engaging, yes, but after I started playing Achaea: Dreams of Divine Lands, it looked rather pale and one-dimensional. In FFXI, there were lots of areas, but nothing really to explore. The designers had created cool-looking places, and while the story was engaging, you were still playing someone else's story.

When I first started Achaea, I made a sylvan who immediately had an effect on the world around him: he could heal destroyed areas of the forest, and he helped design a library! In fact, if you visit the Sylvans House estate on Achaea now, his rooms are still there! That is having an impact on a game: real, measurable, and immensely satisfying.

FFXI had satisfying moments: getting that final drop, for instance, or finally beating a difficult boss. But that sense of accomplishment quickly fled, and I was left looking for something else satisfying to do. In Achaea, every little event can be potentially satisfying: roleplaying with your friends for an hour can create or dispel drama that lasts for in-game decades to come.

Final Fantasy also had little to no player-versus-player interaction. There were three city-states, but the rivalry between them was at best friendly and at worst pointless. Achaea is completely the opposite: the factions are distinct and in general oppose each other vehemently, creating continuous and compelling conflict, with both the clashing of swords and the lashing of tongues. With over a dozen different Divine in Achaea, the larger factions can be split even further into small groups

My current character, a priest, had his city destroyed during a terrifying event in Achaea. For two months, we've been roleplaying refugees -- those who have no place to go. Our Gods (administrators and game designers) took our suggestions, and now we've started building our new city. We are watching roads being built, and we have to defend our labourers from our enemies who want to prevent us from rebuilding. Nothing like this is remotely possible in a static world; no "area events" like Guild Wars 2, Rift, or Final Fantasy XIV's new FATE system, which are designed to make areas seem less static, are even comparable.

If you love playing games with depth that you can actually make (and keep) your mark on, you're looking for Achaea: Dreams of Divine Lands.

There’s an old saying that sometimes you have to move backwards before you can go forward. This is truth for the MMO industry, which has devolved into something so unrecognizable that you don’t know where to start anymore. We just keep playing the same hyped up amusement park games, and all the sandbox games don’t have multi-million dollar dev teams.

I think we’re past the Golden Age of MMOs, we’ve moved into some 9th level of ADHD Hell where a gamer’s attention span is only on the next release. We’re just grinding in one game while we wait to grind in another.

I’ve pretty much given up on MMOs until something that blows us away comes out, because it’s just the same thing over and over. Grind, loot, arena PvP. Where’s the roleplay, where’s the GM-driven events where players alter the history of the game?

MUDs still entertain me, for numerous reasons:

• Less Company Greed: I find that MMORPG companies are like banks. They are “too big” to fail, so they don’t have to focus on customer enjoyment as much. They can package together the same old concept and put it on the shelves for the consumer to buy. Even though people become aware, there are more people unaware, so the cycle continues and improvement never gets made.

In the most popular MUDs, there is usually a small item shop that keeps the game alive, but most of it goes into just that - keeping the game alive. Many staff members are former players that volunteer their time to keeping the game exciting by running GM events and using NPCs to interact with players.

• Crafting features galore:  One of my favourite things about crafting in MUDs like Achaea is how you are able to customize almost anything you want through text. For example, this shield I designed for my character to wield - I submitted a customisation request, and within a few days the staff approved it.

 
Comprised of a large circle with two smaller circles for ears, this shield emulates the shape of the rodent's head. Painstaking artistic detail has been added to capture the ferocious cuteness of a Jester's best friend. The entire shield is painted a light grey, with black whiskers and a little button nose. It has little bombs with lit fuses for eyes, and it clenches a dagger between its teeth.

• Real Faction Warfare:  MUDs tend to revolve around player-factions being at war with eachother, but not in the Horde vs Alliance way where neither side can really gain the upperhand in the game. Permanent destruction can be caused to cities, shrines to Gods can be defiled to rubble, and player heads can be piked along the road after they’ve been decapitated.

There’s many other reasons to play MUDs over MMOs, but I’ll leave it up to you to actually check the games out for yourself. The text-based interface might feel a little strange at first, but seriously, get involved in the community and experience what its like to actually roleplay a character in a persistent world.

GM driven events used to be a major part of MMOs; from as early as Ultima Online up to very early World of Warcraft, immersive roleplaying events hosted by game admin used to be a staple of the roleplaying experience. Except, for some reason, MMORPG’s lost the “RP” in recent years.

Consider the Matrix Online, which tried to put together elaborate events for players to roleplay their parts as Neo, Morpheus, Niobe, etc. But it was too incredibly expensive for the dev team to keep up with - making sure everything went smoothly across servers and dealing with griefers became too much.

MUDs are a pretty good alternative to MMOs if you’re looking for an engaging experience. The very first MUD I played, which is no longer alive, had 20 players and was set in 16th century Paris, and it had a fantastic 1v1 duelling system. Parrying, lunging and slashing at your opponent was all rendered through text, but the intensity was there.

Created in 1996 with a large population still today, Achaea is popular for its GM events that are driven by player-choices. One of the most recent events in Achaea involved undead dragons coming down from the skies and destroying the entire City of Light, sinking it into the ocean. All of the players inside had to flee for their lives, and now live as refugees in a monastery. The staff is building them a new city, but they asked the players for design ideas. Talk about player appreciation!

Dynamic events where players can impact the game’s history were such an integral part of early MMOs, I’m glad that MUDs have continued to keep them alive where modern games have forgotten them.

 When I read the phrase: You have died of dysentery, in my mind I hear the Oregon Trail midi music signaling that the game is over and in my mind picture the MS Paint-worthy tombstone that reads “Chad Lies Here” in block text. 

The phrase You spoony bard! brings to mind the various silly insults that Tellah shouts at the Bard (who we all by now know is just Edward in disguise) during their showdown in Final Fantasy IV. Another one that sends me right back to my early days of gaming is: Son of a submariner!

And when I hear someone say: "Finish him!" then I immediately feel that slight adrenaline rush that accompanies watching your foe die to electrocution, incineration, decapitation, or any other number of ways the victor celebrates a kill in Mortal Kombat.

Why Respect for Retro is Imperative to the Future of Gaming

So you’ve played Skyrim and beat Alduin, or maybe you’ve attained achievements such as the Winning Team or All Washed Up achievements in Assassin’s Creed 3, and you’re ready to play the next big game. Before you go off to try games like Elder Scrolls Online, Marvel Heroes, or even Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, here are some reasons why you should spend some time in old school retro games first.
 

• Great Storylines – Even Zork, which was one of the earliest adventure RPG games, has a great storyline. After all, it’s quite possibly the only place where you could be eaten by a grue! As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps that’s why each Iron Realms game has an accompanying art contest.

• Immersion – Remember coming in after school with the intention of playing games on your Super NES or Sega Genesis “for just a few minutes”? The next thing you knew, it was dinner time – or worse, time to shower and get into bed because you gamed right through dinner. There’s nothing like getting lost in a game when you need a break from “real life” and retro games, especially games that rely so much on user interaction, are perfect for this.

• Roleplay Value – How much does player interaction affect the outcome of the situation in a game? In retro games, once you get past the boxy graphics and silly puns, interaction could make or break a game. Take Pong for instance. You hit the ball and it bounced back, or you didn’t hit the ball and it sailed right past you, thus scoring a point for the other team. Even compared to boxy graphics in other games it just plain sucked. Now take for instance Zork. It starts off in front of a house. Do you go in the house? Walk up the forest path? No two decisions are guaranteed to give you the same results!

The Best Retro Games are Still Popular Today!

One of the first games I ever played was Achaea. No matter how many headshots take in Call of Duty, what feats of architecture I create in Minecraft, or how many coins I save up to spend in the Cartel Market in Star Wars the Old Republic, I always come back to Achaea. It’s not exactly a retro game, but I enjoy the familiarity.

If you want to be in control of your own adventures, sign into a MUD, like Achaea. It’s free to play, and because the credits are available for purchase via gold coin earned in the game, you never have to spend a penny of your real money.

You’ll find that playing MUDs helps you get back to the basics, and it reminds you of the awesome qualities that keep people logging back in over a period of several years or longer. And in addition to those classic qualities that have held up over time, you will find continually developing storylines along with new additions to the game, like the recently introduced cooking mini-skill.

While you probably won’t hear anyone say, “This is your fault. I’m going to kill you. And all of the cake is gone. You don’t even care, do you?”, what you will find is plenty of chefs willing to whip up a cake from any number of recipes. And features like SMELL and TASTE help you become even more fully immersed. Why not log in and experience the retro flavor of one of today’s most popular text muds now?


About the Author:

Chad Sterling has been gaming since 2007. Prior to discovering Iron Realms MUDs his adventures were limited to what he and his friends dreamed up with graph paper maps and a full set of dice. When he’s not taking classes at the local community college or playing online MUDs, Chad puts his navigation skills to use delivering pizzas all over town.

What makes a video game a success boils down to one thing, and that is immersion. How immersed do the players become while playing the game? What can the game do to help this happen, or better yet help the players increase their own level of immersion?

But what is immersion? Immersion is the spatial presence created by some sort of a fictitious environment or atmosphere. Have you ever found yourself at the end of a movie or after reading the last chapter of a book and thinking about the characters and how real they seemed? That is because you were immersed I the media. MUDs are no different!

So what is it about a text-based game that makes you feel like you’re leaving reality behind and traveling into a fantasy environment? Psychologists have actually studied how this happens. Their research revealed that immersion requires a balance of factors that are both preset and decided upon by the player’s actions within the game.

Finding Just the Right Balance

When these two factors are balanced at just the right proportions, which could be as unique as the different players in the game, it increases the spatial presence which in turn encourages players to become more involved, thus further immersing them into the game itself.

Because Achaea is a MUD, players form mental images of what they read on their computer screens. Check out this infographic that explains the ways that the developers of Achaea, a text-based game produced by Iron Realms Entertainment, enrich the environment to encourage player immersion.



A Logical Approach to Total Immersion

When things in the game behave in a logical manner, it helps players to have a constant, believable experience. From using a shovel to dig for treasure beneath the surface of the ground to gathering ingredients and refining or preparing them for use by chefs to cook recipes, no detail is overlooked.

Crafting skills, such as cooking or tailoring, allow players to draw parallels between Achaea and real life while roleplaying, which leads to a deeper immersion. Can’t afford those Louis Vuitton boots? College student budget doesn’t allow for bling? Just create virtual versions in Achaea!

By encouraging these features, hosting world events and contests on a regular basis, and limiting things that remind people that they are only playing a game Achaea continually immerses a large player base daily.

About the Author:

Seth Grayson spends his evenings working as a barista at the coffee shop on the campus of the university where he attends classes. When he’s not brewing up espressos or creating images in foam, he’s usually hanging out in the dorms where he plays his favorite Iron Realms MUDs between study sessions.

One of the biggest complaints among gamers today is the lack of roleplay opportunities within MMO games. Even Skyrim only offers so many choices in creating your own adventure before it begins to sound like a broken record. Players feel that all they do is grind from level 1 until they reach the cap, and then start over with another game. How boring!

Graphic-heavy games are appealing for several factors. They give a short term boost in the form of an adrenaline rush. We can play with our friends despite gaming consoles being in different locations. The games are addictive. But when you cap out at the highest level, the only thing left to do is start over or move on.

Things are a little different in Iron Realms MUDs. Players get so immersed into the game that instead of a short burst of adrenaline, often they experience a full range of emotions from elation to frustration and everything in between. When they aren’t playing, they are perusing the game’s forums to debate their preferences and choices.

Out with the Old

Towards the end of 2012 Achaea, one of a quartet of games produced by Iron Realms Entertainment shook things up with an event like nothing their players had ever seen before. In the past, players were introduced to foreign creatures and an eclipse that lasted several real-life months.

Creating a new event to top all others was no easy feat. Here are some details that people within the game are still discussing, even though the largest portion of the event wrapped up weeks ago.
 

• It began with a portal to a place called Krenindala. Achaeans who journeyed there were met with instant hostility from the draconic Dala’myrr who resided there.

• About six months later, during a Dragon ceremony in Caer Witrin, the Dala’myrr thundered in uninvited and murdered Ashaxei, the Mother of Dragons.

• The Flame of Yggdrasil, responsible for restoring life to fallen mortals and holding the power to change their race, began to wane, its power weakened in the aftermath of Ashaxei’s death.

• New shrines to an evil force called Bal’met began rising across the lands, molded from the existing shrines to gods that Achaeans had known and worshipped for centuries.

• Various gods began challenging Bal’met, thinking their immortality would act as a shield. At the shock of the mortals, as well as one another, a good many gods and goddesses met one unfortunate end after another.

•  With no gods to protect them, citizens of Shallam, the Jewel of the East, soon found the buildings within their city crumbling, the once-radiant domes soon under water.

Challenges for Characters Leads to Player Immersion

Killing off immortals? Destroying one of the oldest two cities within the game? What other game goes to these lengths to hold their players’ interests? Games produced by Iron Realms Entertainment are always finding ways to challenge the characters inside their games, and it is these types of opportunities for the characters that cause the players to become so immersed in the roleplay environment.

And where are the characters that once lived in the city? They are refugees, holed up on an island waiting to learn their ensuing fate. Even a poor, waterlogged humgii escaped and sits at the harbor, waiting to know what happens next.

Player-Driven Dynamics for the Win

Another problem with big-named, graphics-heavy video games is that what the players want often gets lost in the big picture of what marketing strategies result in bigger profits for the company. Iron Realms solves this problem by giving their players a broad range of methods to share their ideas, from the message forums to literally a command in the game called IDEA.

When it comes to events in Iron Realms games, one thing that people might not realize is that the results are almost always player-driven. From details such as a denizen that offers hints to participants to players working together to solve a quest or some other problem, these are the types of things that not only make players feel like an integral part of the game, but also evoke emotions that help immerse us into our favorite online text-environments.

 

About the Author:

Rick Williams is a college grad who spends weekdays playing his favorite Iron Realms MUDs at his desk job. However on the weekends you can find this sports enthusiast always trying out a new real life adventures. In 2012 he learned how to brave whitewater rapids in a kayak, and in 2013 he plans to enter a Spartan Race.

Iron Realms produces MUDs that are steeped in roleplay and immersion. Here is some recent concept artwork from Iron Realms lead artist, Chris Bourassa.

In order, from top left to bottom right:

Kelki Mage, Troll Blademaster, Goddess of Light, God of Oblivion, Khodon Deathknight, Sylan Summoner, Dwarf Teradrim, Horkval Bard.

 

Player Artwork Competition:

Iron Realms also regularly hosts artwork competitions where players can submit game-related artwork and receive prizes in-game.

 - Haunted Thera, by Milenka of Achaea

 - Elder Goddess, by Fania of Lusternia

 - Orc Warrior, by Sekhir of Imperian

 

For their efforts, the players received substantial prizes in-game, and the contests are held monthly.

 

If you have a flair for creativity and enjoy deep, immersive roleplaying games, give Iron Realms a try!

MUD games offer an enormous environment where friends and foes alike can adventure through both predestined and open ended situations. Its unique blend of players, admin that also act out in-character, Divine roles, and NPCs work seamlessly to create an atmosphere like no other.

There is no need for graphics because the high standards that the mortal builders follow for creating room, NPC, and item descriptions encourage people to imagine their surroundings in a way that cannot be done with digital art.

Playing a MUD, like Achaea produced by Iron Realms, is not like reading a book. It is more like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book that not only saves your progress, but also offers a seemingly endless amount of choices for a new ending each time you try a different adventure.

The beauty of it all is that unless you decide to stop playing or “suicide” to permanently end your character’s life, the adventure never ends! Each time you log in you character’s progress in regards to overall experience level as well as house and city rank pick up where they were the last time you played, regardless of whether you log in tomorrow or six months from now.

Another reason that players keep coming back is because of the level of immersion offered by IRE games. Here are some of my favorite ways:

• WEATHER – It lends an extra level of realism to the game if I keep getting messages about rain, snow, or blizzards. In the case of the latter, they could void the LOOK command altogether for the duration of the storm.

• DESCRIPTIONS – As previously mentioned, the written descriptions in the game are amazing. Lack of spelling and grammar errors make it easy to get lost in the atmosphere of the game. In the event that a typo or other error pulls you back to reality, the TYPO command allows players to report the problem which, in turn, allows the admin to address it more quickly.

• EMOTIONS – The preset emotions are different for each game. For example Achaea has nearly 700 that cover everything from “applaud” to “ziplip”. And if one of those doesn’t cover what your character is feeling, they offer the way to EMote an original emotion or TMote which is an original emotion that targets a specific player in your location.

• CRAFTING – Can’t afford those Louis Vuitton shoes or longing for a way to memorialize your favorite pajama trousers? Crafting licenses allow players to create jewellery, clothing, and culinary recipes in Achaea. Other IRE games, such as Lusternia, offer ways to create furniture for your character’s home and even journals or scrolls.

• WORLD EVENTS – Ogres invading cities? Entire races poisoned by unknown diseases? World events force players to work together while staying in character to find a solution to what sometimes seem like very big problems – like an eclipse that affects how plants grow, which in turn drives up prices for forestall herbs and other healing concoctions.

I never saw myself becoming so immersed in a text game, but when I’m playing the text seems to fade away and in the back of my mind, I’m actually “seeing” it. Not only do I finally have an outlet for my overactive imagination, but I can also put my creativity to use through Bardic and Artisanal contests.

Head over to the Achaea website where you can enter some basic information and click CREATE CHARACTER. There are multiple games from which to choose. Already have a character? Maybe it’s time to roll up a new alt!

 

About the Author:

Annie Foster is a college student who dives into her favorite Iron Realms MUDs where she can take on any number of roles from Guild Leader to total newbie.

I love a game with a good emphasis on the roleplay. Character immersion is a priority for me, I want to feel what my character is feeling. MMORPGs come close, but usually they're limited to player-interaction roleplay. Very rarely can you leave a real, lasting mark on the game world.

 

Smaller niche games like MUDs have a much deeper emphasis on roleplay and player-driven events that are furthered by game staff. Achaea is a MUD game that is one example. Recently in Achaea, an entire city was blown up, and all of the players that lived there are now homeless refugees.

 

Because the game is in text, players were able to read and connect emotionally with what was happening on the screen to their beloved home as huge winged beasts invaded, crumbling their buildings to rubble. The entire event was very well-written and received favourably by the players. Pulling off an event of such magnitude in a game like WoW would be near impossible. Lining it up across all the servers, executing the event and staying lag-free? Not in a million years.

MUDs offer a superior experience:

• Deeper Roleplay - Commercial MUDs are able to take their profit and put it back into the game, which means hiring the coders and staff writers to lay out the fantastic roleplay events. In Achaea, some players are accepted into a volunteer program where they can play mythological god characters, allow players to join their religion, and start wars with other gods.

• More Customization - MUDs offer the feature of being able to customize many things about yourself. Want to turn that plain longsword into a mighty longsword of epic flames? Submit a customization request, wait a few days for the staff approve it and show off your new, custom-designed weaponry to your friends.

• Dedicated Playerbase - A MUD is considered large when it has 400 players, but the smaller community is usually tight-knit and helpful of newbies. It's easy to see everyone online and ask for help, and many players have been playing for years. Heck, I've been playing MUDs since 2001, and have made many friends over the years.

 

Come play a MUD if you're into roleplay and don't mind sacrificing graphics for an immersive experience. It's like reading a book vs watching the movie. You know the book is going to be better, because the movie cuts out all the scenes they couldn't afford. With the book, you're getting the full-ride experience, you're in the story with the characters because the author is compelling you there. And now I'm compelling you to give a MUD a try, at the very least!

It's really easy to pick up an RPG game from the shelf in a store, pop in the disc and take up a character for a few hours, but we don't get to leave any lasting, personal mark upon that world. This is where MMORPGs are king - they give the ability for players to affect the world they play in.

Giving a player something to get invested in will ensure you retain their interest and keep people coming back, and spread the word about your game. There are a few ways, both inside the game and out, that a developer can achieve this.

 

Making Players Feel Important

• Player involvement in storyline events.

All players love to "oooh" and "aaah" when the developers add fresh content. New areas, challenges, and lore are great for keeping a game world vibrant. What really engages the players is offering a chance for them to be involved in the introduction of new content. It gives the characters stories to tell for years after, and maybe they can even get a mention in related news articles afterwards!

 

• Indulge their creative talents.

A quick look around websites like Youtube, or DeviantArt will show you that players love to take inspiration from the games they play: to write, draw, or even create physical items that pay homage to the game. As a developer, think about ways to encourage this level of involvement, and even incorporate the best of it into the game itself. The popular MUD Achaea, for instance, holds monthly bardic and artisanal contests, where players submit their written and creative works in order to win the virtual currency of the realm.

 

• Allow players to add to the game.

Allowing players to design and customize items in the game will help you draw and retain a crowd whose interests lie beyond just the normal trappings of games. When a player sees their creative ideas brought to life in ways that can be seen, used, and even traded with among other players, it invests them in the game in a way that's difficult to match.

 

• Give players a voice!

While everyone has the tendency to disagree on the internet, players are in your game everyday, and often have insights regarding what works, what doesn't, and suggestions for things you might not think of yourself. A carefully moderated forum for ideas can allow all players an avenue to express and discuss different possibilities, and help keep a game world evolving in terms of playability. It also helps players feel like they matter, and so long as the virulent hate that often pervades forums is kept in check by moderation, an ideas board can really generate change for you.


A playerbase is made up of myriad talents, and a community working together can create amazing things, allowing you to build your game into something that might rival the most immersive MMOs. A game developer would be remiss in ignoring such a rich and willing resource. Some of the above ways are just a few measures that can be taken to make players feel like they matter and can make a difference. Appreciation and even just acknowledgement are key in keeping players returning time and time again.

 

About the Author:

Nicola Newton has played one of the world's most popular MUD game for years. She has contributed in a myriad ways, and worked as a volunteer for the company. When she's not dedicating herself to making her favorite game more enjoyable for others, she can often be found playing a chaos-wielding zealot.