Too often comparisons between WoW and other MMORPG's and Bat fly about, but do
we really understand what the comparison really amounts to? Sure, Bat is free
of charge, which is a huge benefit to the average player who doesn't want to
spend money to play around online. And to supplement that difference, with
the pay, MMORPG's have pretty pictures. But what are the two games really
competeing for? The answer is time. Gamers make a decision on what to do
with their time. Some may choose to split it, and some may choose one over
the other, but what Bat is really competing for is time.

Over and over in newsposts I see mortals insisting that there are vastly fewer
players online now than in just the last year, and over and over again I see
immortals denying it in a thousand different ways. There are no new players.
Face it. We have a crop of newbies playing a game that's been whacked with a
tunepole against the highbies so many times it's almost impossible to play as
a newbie. Who is the new Qurp? How many new Blaykes, Ewiges, Cutters, and,
yes, Huppus, have we created? The simple fact is we haven't. Show me enough
players that have hit lvl 100 in the last year in their FIRST year ever of
playing and I'll believe your assurances that the game with survive with the
new players we have coming in. The sad fact is, we haven't rebuilt the high
level player base yet with new players. We've got a defrobbed Ewige kicking
ass, but.. he's been around awhile. Nazrix has managed admirably over the
last year, but that's with a very solid understanding of how the game actually
works. Any Delveling can grind exp, but can a newbie do it in today's Bat?
Sure, it's good and expected to see those famous names retire, but it's with
the understanding that new players are around to take their places, and that
simply isn't the case.

Immortals aren't paid for their time and effort into making this game what it
is today, and frequently they get nothing but bitterness for their efforts.
But the time comes with even the immortals need to stop and think about what
they're building for the future of the game. Of course archwizards are
always right, but what's going to happen to that helpfile in three years? How
long will they insist newbies will replace Bat's lifeblood without owning up
to the fact that we aren't winning the time competition with MMORPG's? Will
Bat have a 20th anniversary party with any new faces that have actually made
an impact on the game as players? Will we even have a 20th anniversary?


--Malicat 'Mariska' Magrelant

Maybe, just maybe, we should consider the possibility, that the time of the
elv.. MUDs has come to an end? Nothing lasts forever, you know.

--
Ggr

I also have concerns about the decline in players. I don\'t feel the mud is
dying (yet) and I also think that the MUD format is something that will
continue to be attractive to new players, if somewhat smaller in number
than before.

However, I do think that Bat suffers from a, possibly unavoidable, problem
which, as far as I can tell, is common to almost all RPG style games. This
is the fact that these games need to cater for both new and pretty old
players. I would actually say that Batmud has done pretty well at supplying
new content, challenge and general balance for older players at the same
time as being fairly accessible to new players.

I feel that the range of player/character abilities is probably larger than
ever
before. We do now have level 100 eternal characters with a fair amount of
exp and gold (and tps) that would take somewhat more than 1 year of pretty
heavy play to get even close to (which is probably a good thing).

I can\'t help thinking that, especially if new players are a bit thin on the
ground,
Batmud will struggle to retain new and newish players if fairly large amounts
of game time are required to reach some kind of middle/upper status where
a player gets to feel involved and less of a beginner. Ok, this point is not so

clear cut, but take a look around at discussions, new features and general
play of the game, it\'s easy to get the the impression that game envolvement
really starts to begin at a certain level (of exp etc). This point has crept
slowly
higher, even though it\'s easier to gain exp for a newbie these days.

Maybe this is because there just aren\'t enough newbies to keep the
population of players balanced in some way? I\'m not sure. In managing to
stave off the loss/retirement of older (elder, ancient, eternal?) players, and
keep the whole mud (I\'m loath to say community) alive, I think Batmud has
done well, but set itself a hard task.

I don\'t have any real answers, but I am interested in how Batmud can be
kept as popular as possible.

Tim

Date: Mon Aug 04 23:31:44 2003
Subject: Yo Idiot
--------------------------------------
You should work on your people skills. I realize, judging from the name, that
the only way to deal with people that you know is by using intimidating the
weaker but you should put it in your thick head that a nice word goes a long
way!!! You attacked me without even waiting for my response to your tell,
which by the way was in some unknown to me language! Then you didnt even try
to apologize! Well I can tell you be careful because from now on you are my
enemy. What that means you will soon find out until then, well you might want
to go and take some people skills classes!

Ahh, also no wonder you are here, probably you have no real life outside
BatMud, meaningless life, no friends, definitely no girl friend. Yeah I pity
you! In this place you are trying to find something different but your
horrible personality betrays you even here. So go download some dirty pictures
and jerk off, hopefully it will release the pressure off you.

Sincerely Tannim

what i\'m tring to say is that where is tannim now with his \'idle threats\'
and how come the date backs to the very date i\'v blogged few pkills by savok
and after he, with single coment, retired himself from the argue and hom this
speedwhoere malicat after some 5min reinced to catfolk and i was summoned into
reaver catacombs, how original, and how she fled the battle for i have the log
and i\'ve got the pics on wich malict and flirt so proudy pose naked all, but
tiny pantie on aress toward as savok takes a picutre of them having bat
tattooed in lower back. did you get the eps for promotin batmud task? did you.
vudkin pudkin gasphron i jerk off with thos piccs currently and fatnasize about
the attack i never did. for only player i\'\'ve ever attaced is bakura. so
there

If you're trying to say you haven't ever pkilled any other character than
bakura, you're just blatantly lying.
I clearly remember you pkilling a newbie friend of mine just because he
happened to be at the same area as you.

For the record Arafat, there were no naked pics of Malicat and Flirt. I
suggest you get your facts straight before posting any rubbish like this
again. Also an uptune to your english and grammar skills would help too.

In addition, attacking people on a personal level is extremely childish. It
is much more effective to use facts.

-Kelly

what do yo know about the corrupt administration of batmud is what you got in
sauna. you fucking narc

I don\'t post much, so I don\'t know how much weight my opinion is going to
have, but I think Malicat makes a very astute observation. Games -- like
chess, monopoly, BatMUD or tag football -- are all diversions for people. I
use the word \'diversion\' specifically, because it is something *to which we
turn* for amusement, pleasure, or fantasy; we divert our time, our attention,
our efforts. We cease being pencil pushers or students or labor lawyers or
whatever else. We become gods, or heros, or villains! And, in the context of
that alternate reality, we don\'t mind the inexorable struggle that conquest
entails, sometimes overcoming, sometimes dying, but we are always *engaged* in
the game. The second that the amusement turns to boredom, the pleasure into
annoyance, or the fantasy into frustration, *that\'s* when we lose interest.

While MUDs are essentially an antiquated medium to begin with -- after all,
this is like \'Net Angband\' -- the market is larger now than 10 years ago.
The draw to a text-based internet \'diversion\' is a tough sell. Someone
interested in eye candy is not going to play a MUD, to be sure. So we must
ask: what differentiates us from \'eye candy.\' The answer needs to be:
creative variety and substance. MUDs cannot compete visually, so they must
appeal to the mind\'s eye. Well-designed areas, clever quests, diverse
monsters and items: these are the things that will sustain a community.

Now, there will always be the \'instant gratification\' player -- the one Bmoa
bemoans regularly -- who wants to be level 100 in a day. That person will
never last because that person will never learn. However, the diligent
player, the one who comes with an opened mind: he or she needs to be received
by helpful newbie helpers, needs to find that the game is intuitive while
complex, needs to find a good balance between challenge, struggle and reward.


Now, for my part, I like this continent idea, but I\'m high enough level, have
access to a boat, and am reasonably MUD-savvy. I understand that this new
environment could be intimidating to a smaller, less experienced character.
The notion of having to hit 400 commands in order to get to an area to be able
to kill a \'small, black fly\' is not encouraging. So, I want to applaud the
wizards for the new continents for giving something new and fresh to the MUD
community, but to gently suggest that some new commands are in order to make
navigation in the outerworld more reasonable and less intimidating to those
newest players.

Lastly, the most important thing to preserve is *community*. When I first
started playing seriously in May of 2005 until May of 2006, several
higher-level players -- Malicat, Savok, Malacoda, Blackstar, and a few others,
like Presence, Solarhawk, and Garou -- really took me under their wing. They
didn\'t so much as get me exp, they taught me how to get exp. They didn\'t
get me eq, they taught me how to value eq. They helped me to enjoy more
facets of the game than a four-page help file possibly could. They were
available for questions, advice, commiseration, whining, and so forth.

After a certain level (like 45), this MUD relies on partying for
accomplishment. Very few quests, very few decent eq mobs, very few mid-level
areas are reasonably doable by a single individual. And a lower unidle user
level makes getting parties harder. The LFP command was a great addition and
I hope it gets used more, but as fewer unidle morts are around, fewer will
return. So, also gently suggest that wizards consider some sort of bonus for
parties commensurate with the size of the party, maybe modifying exp pool so
that solo exp bonus is smaller than 3-man exp bonus, which is smaller than
6-man exp bonus, and so on.

Perhaps this is just part of a cycle, but it seems that the pendulum has swung
to a smaller number of unidle morts. There is a critical mass, though, and if
we don\'t see the pendulum swing back (and perhaps push it back), there may be
even more loss. For what it\'s worth, I don\'t think I\'m going anywhere.

Just my two mowgles.

Nemesio