(Acius took this from http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=allbuu%24aqh%2407%241%40news.t-online.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain)

From: "Richard Woolcock" <KaVir@kavir.org>
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
Subject: Re: Text vs Visual  - Are UO, EQ, and DAoC killing text-based muds?
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 19:59:35 +0200
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"Timothy Timbrook" <tim42ohio@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d7702328.0209100813.ce9f497@posting.google.com...
> Annu@comcast.net (Annu) wrote in message
 news:<815cb783.0209091540.765583d5@posting.google.com>...
> > As a veteran in the mudding world (about 10 years) I have seen the
> > number of players on muds decline and am wondering why.  As other
> > games, including MMORGPs like Everquest and Ultima Online, have
> > come along the MUD world seems to have fallen somewhat out of
> > favor. Though one will see numerous new adds on MudConnector, you
> > have to wonder if people are really still playing MUDs anymore?
> > Are the number of players still increasing or are old players
> > simply mud-jumping?  Has the text-based MUD filled with nicely
> > written areas seen the end of days?  Are people really too lazy
> > to use their imagination and would rather settle for pretty
> > pictures?  Tell me, friends, will all soon be a memory?  What do
> > you all think?
>
> MudConnector shows like 1800+ muds...  You've been mudding 10yrs?
> How many were there 10yrs ago? not even 180, I'd guess.

All of the following quotes come from the google usenet archives,
except for the Mudcompanion one (I couldn't find an accurate number
of muds for 2001 in the google archives):

"With all this [technology] becoming available in the next 2 years I
think real interactive enviroments will be possible. Text only muds
will be swept away by graphical enviroments, many of which will have
first person perspectives I think".
-- Curtis Shenton, 16th May 1995.

"If you are looking for a new mud to play The Connector currently
offers about 181 listings".
-- Andrew Cowan (Icculus), 24th July 1995.

"I am sure that all of you felow MUDers out there have seen the "new"
breed of MUDs. You know, "Ultima on-line", "The Realm", "Meridian 59",
etc.  Games like this are going to put an end to our old-fashined text
based MUDs and it will be a sad day".
-- Matt, 21st October 1996.

"At the present time the Mud Connector has over 580 listings of old
and new muds available on the net".
-- Andrew Cowan (Icculus), 21st October 1996.

"Text is dead".
-- T. D. Pazuzu, 9th October 1997.

"Try searching the Mud Connector (available via www at
http://www.mudconnect.com/ ), it is fully searching and you can
specify many types of "features" you want/don't want in your search.
It will give you tons of addresses, and there are currently over 900
muds of just about every variety listed there".
-- Bobby Bailey, 26th October 1997.

"Why have text adventures (text games) almost completely died?"
-- John Giors, 21 October 1998.

"Looking for a new mud to try? Our database contains over 1250
comprehensive listings"
-- Andrew Cowan (Icculus), 29th October 1998.

"With the development of the online gaming community into one which
can provide fullspeed graphics and sound, head to head and strategic
action, and all the socialization of a text mud; I see the Mud's of
the future as a relatively dead thing".
-- Craig T. Dalrymple, 9th April 1999.

"Looking for a new mud to try? Our database contains over 1300
comprehensive listings"
-- Andrew Cowan (Icculus), 13th April 1999.

"I don't think MU* will ever die. It'll just remain the province of
those who've been into text-based games since they first started
appearing".
-- Lyrker, 7th November 2000.

"According to The Mud Connector, there are 1675 muds listed".
-- KaVir, 9th August 2000.

"I think we'll be seeing less text-based MUDS and more things like
everquest and web-based games. things like asp and .net are making it
easier to write web apps by the day".
-- Scott Lloyd, 4th May 2001.

"Of the 1776 muds listed today on The Mud Connector..."
-- "Coding style" article, December 2001 issue of The Mud Companion.

For the archives, I'd just like to mention that as of 8th September
(when TMC was last updated) there were 1805 Mud Listings.

And I'd just like to save my favourite for last (make sure you check
the date of the quote!):

"I don't think there is much interest in adventure games anymore.
Everyone wants graphical interfaces without text input...basically
TEXT ADVENTURES ARE DEAD".
-- Colin Adams, 1st October 1990.

Suffice to say, every year more and more people claim that muds are
dying out - and yet every year the number of muds (and players)
grows.  True, many of the muds are fly-by-nighters (although when
they vanish they are quickly replaced by another mud) - but those
muds which hang around tend to attract a permanent playerbase, and
the playerbases today are larger than they've ever been.

"Although its really a lame hack n' slash mud, the biggest I've ever
seen is batmud, which has an imposed limit of 150 players at once
on.. and there are often 150 plus people waiting to get on during
peak hours".
-- Matthew A. Mihaly, 14 June 1995.

"There not THAT bad... and not nobody plays them. I got on Realms of
Despair (www.game.org) just to check and just now they have 410
players. And that's just one.  Viva la MUD!!!"
-- SkyPhydeaux, 22 July 2001.

> I wonder when it'll peak out.

The growth in terms of number of muds is starting to slow down a bit,
but I don't think that indicates that text-based mudding is dying out.

> I see the average age of players lowering... I run a mud where some
> kiddies 10-12 play sometimes. The majority of the playerbase is
> under 21.  Actually, I wish the average age of mudders was alot
> higher, like 18+. Maybe the average maturity would be higher then.
> ;)

I've seen the same, and I also agree with you.  The average age of
players is lowering, but there are also a lot of "older" players
getting into the scene - for example, parents who stay home to look
after their kids, who have lots of time on their hands (but can't
really spend that time outside of their house).

> As long as the majority of muds are free, I doubt muds will ever
> die.

I don't think that would make any difference either, to be honest.

--
KaVir.




