The Mud Connector is one of the oldest MUD/MMORPG related search engines and community sites on the internet. In a recent interview with its founder and administrator, I asked him about TMC's history, future plans, and his thoughts on the state of MUDs and MMORPGs.

Fans of MUDs and MMORPGs will find the interview very interesting:

The Mud Connector - A Vital Resource in MUD and MMORPG History
 

Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Love or hate WoW, it will end someday. Everythign does.

When that day happens, should there be a huge titanic shutdown event like in Tabula Rasa, or should people just play normally until the day they pull the plug?

I think there should be some kind of huge event to mark the end. But then, I also feel any MMO that shuts down should make the server code available either for purchase ($50 server package) or open source. An old, dead MMO isn't going to truly cannibalize users from a new MMO. But at least people who put years into a game and a community don't have to suffer it being ripped away.

There was a really thought provoking article on WOW.com recently:

Breakfast Topic: How should WoW end?

A satisfactory end and a party would be a lot of fun, but I would like to see a darker conclusion to all of our efforts. What if we become so powerful, that we are like titans ourselves? The ensuing battle is one glorious free-for-all resulting in a cataclysmic event ending all life in Azeroth as we know it. Boom! Game over.
 

The article makes an interesting comparison to possible WoW endings, and the way Tabula Rasa Ended.

The End of Tabula Rasa - Server Shutdown Event
 

Anyway... something to think about.

How should WoW end?

How should MMOs end in general?
 

Originally posted by Locklain

Player housing is going to die off right along with grouping.  The new generation of MMOers would much rather solo their way to cap and then spout off their leet speech while T-bagging a guy they just ganked. 

That's funny but sad. I hope the cynical outlook does not turn out to be the reality.

Housing lets people feel like they own a place in the world. It also gives the developers so many options for item rewards and content. Your house is like another big character to gear up and decorate! :)

What ever happened to this feature? It seems like modern MMOs have totally given up on this. What a shame! I love player owned housing. My wife and I kept our DAoC accounts for at least 6+ months extra solely because of our house.
I wrote a blog post about this recently - focusing mainly on what people want from a player housing system.
<Mod edit>
So what's the deal? Why has this feature disappeared? What would you want from this kind of game feature?
 

Originally posted by KvenTelGhoul

 I would have no problem playing a class that did zero damage but has tons of support or healing.  Bard and enchanter in EQ1 were my favorite classes.  Their damage sucked but they could change the tide of battle with their utility.

There are a lot of people who feel the same way, but modern MMOs are ignoring them. It is good to have hybrid support classes that are solo-friendly as well. But ALL support classes should not be this type of hybrid. There should be pure support as well to provide a gameplay avenue for the people who like pure support.

One of the bigger problems with a MMOs from the last 4-5 years is the way they deal with support/healing/etc. The developers seem to think people don't like these tasks very much, so they are scared to make pure support/healer classes any more.
The problem is, some people actually LIKE being pure support.
So instead, they create these weird DPS/healer hybrids that are virtually impossible to balance. And in the end, people who LIKE support are frustrated as heck.
Here's a blog post where I go into more detail on the theory:
<Mod edit>
Anyone else out there who likes a pure support class?
Should MMO developers heed this, and create pure support classes again, in addition to hybrid support classes?
 

Originally posted by Jimmy_Scythe

This is a rather odd thread to me. EVERYONE I know uses Firefox. MY MOTHER and GRANDPARENTS use Firefox. The security issues with IE are well known and Firefox spread very quickly just by word of mouth alone. I don't know anyone that uses IE anymore and, acording to the OP, there are still people that haven't switched to a different browser!

You'd think that if a person was on the internet they'd be "in the loop"....

Many (most?) most people on the internet use it for very specific tasks. They don't surf around to "learn" about technology.

The people you know use Firefox partially, if not largely, because you have told them about it. Not everyone has an "early adopter" type suggesting things like Firefox to them.

But still, 20% market share is darn good for an open source project going head to head against Microsoft. It is certainly better than desktop linux is doing.

This is not the beginning of the end.

This is the middle of the end.

This is their best attempt to drag things out as long as possible and desperately hope to milk enough subscription dollars to break even (or maybe even fund a desperate third game). At this point, they may as well pump what money they have left into Anarchy Online. lol.

I must say, I predicted this almost 5 months ago. But then again, other people predicted it too.

Bad games deserve to die. Age of Conan wasn't just bad, it was terrible.

Originally posted by FeD135

You mentionned earlier the essential factor why firefox is still holding back to IE. Internet is a pretty abstract technology to a lot of people. Some people need assistance to go check their mails and perform "basic" actions on their computer. Getting an alternate web browser is an operation that is well out of their capacity and of very few intrest to them.

And that is a huge barrier. I have no idea how that will ever be overcome.

Assume an anti-trust judge somewhere forces them to pre-install Firefox. Do you think that will help? Or is that not enough for people to use Firefox?

Assuming the kid's story is true, his little plot to give ret pallies more damage failed pretty badly.

Originally posted by n25philly

Here at work whenever I put together a computer I always install firefox and leave the icon on the desktop.  To this date one user has even tried it let alone use it.  Everyone knows exaclty what IE is and what it does.  Perhaps they need to add internet to the name.

Wow. Seriously? That's surprising. In a way, that is encouraging though. It means the fact that IE is pre-installed is not necessarily the big thing keeping it propped up.

Ok, this article was fun to write.
<Mod edit>
It was really amazing to research the stats and find out how "complete" IE's victory seemed just a few short years ago.
I don't know if Firefox has what it takes to overtake the huge advantage of IE being pre-installed. Maybe Firefox will just clear the way for Chrome.
What do you think?

To what extent is role playing actually enforced?

That's the $64,000 question.

It might not help you, but if you really want some awesome role playing you should check out some muds.

Two great sites for information about muds:

http://www.mudconnector.com

http://www.topmudsites.com

Originally posted by JestorRodo

 MMO companies should wisely chose their path of revenue and stick with it. Double or triple dipping is great for an ice cream cone but not with the MMO customers wallets.

 

Agreed. Pick a model and go with it. Don't try to hit customer swith multiple methods.

The MMO industry really has to get away from the subscription model. People would like to be able to play more than one, but there is not enough time to play multiples enough to justify multiple subscriptions.

There is nothing wrong with microtransactions or virtual good sales.

The problem is when they are combined with subscriptions. Burning the candle from both ends is just double dipping (how's that for a mixed metaphor?).

I am a huge fan of microtransaction/virtual currency business models, but I think combining them with subscriptions is trying to burn the candle at both ends.

City of Heroes is doing this now as well, and it really ticks me off.

Boring zones.

Bad lock mechanics.

But most of all is the "shared" nature of the RvR zones. I could care less about Praag. It isn't mine.

In DAoC, my homeland was my homeland. We had leveling zones in there, we had things related to our "side" out there. I felt a sense of loyalty to it.

These packs are a double whammy.

1) You barely get anything for the money.

2) The content in these are things that used to be given along with the other paid expansions (they are paid, because you pay a monthly fee for this game).

Now you get new content about half as often, and instead they sell these packs. Its a total sham. Are they a microtransaction company or a subscription company? They need to decide and stick with one or the other.