(Note: This is a slightly edited version of the entry I put on my own
livejournal. I thought interesting enough that some of you might find it
interesting, too)

Batmud player, pooch, posted an interesting article a
number of months ago to his livejournal about the pointlessness of online
MUDs, RPGs and MMORPGs. For the most part, I agree, and have played/betaed a
number of sad, sad games.

However, this article really hits the nail on the head:

http://www.gamemethod.com/archive/214.php

I got it from a link off of Fark.

After reading it, I realize why I like BatMUD so much. There *are*
consequences... and real player interaction. If I piss someone off, chances
are years from now they'll still be pissed off at me. If a newbie pisses ME
off I can certainly whip out the (virtual) double blades and hack them to a
quick, pulpy death. There's real social interaction in BatMUD that all of the
other games I've tried lack. There are real dangers (death can be very
painful) and there are a lot of consequences in game for doing something
stupid. There can also be great rewards.

Ah well. Back to work.