Depends on demographics Posted By: Desharei on 05/25/07 at 12:32 PM

For parents of middle school/Jr. High school kids (between 12 and 16 years old, however that fits in european school systems): 1) It encourages literacy, since you have to be able to READ in order to play. 2) It encourages teamwork, if the MUD involves group hunting. 3) If it's a RP-enforced or intensive game, it involves continual use of *attempted* proper spelling and punctuation (grammar is character-specific, heh). 4) It can improve general typing skills. 5) If the game has member forums, it can teach kids how to "get along with others" in an online community. 6) Some MUDs can be educational, especially those which include crafting skills that are based on real-life crafting techniques and political themes based on real-life history and pre-history, or earth-based mythology. 7) (bonus) There are Harry Potter and Spongebob muds now! 8) It is a really terrific outlet for creativity, especially among kids with attention problems. For high school through college: 1) All of the above, plus... 2) It gives you something a little more interesting to read once in awhile, between your Physiology 101 textbook and your thesis research. 3) It gives you a couple of hours to blow off steam without having to get drunk, do drugs, or shoot your next-door neighbor/roommate in the face with an assault rifle. 4) No graphics, means you MUST use your imagination. And that's always a good thing, as any self-respecting porn-reading hormonal teenager will refuse to admit :) Adults past the usual college (uni) age: 1) All of the above, plus: 2) Every 12-year-old wanna-be 1334-speaking Goth freak is playing WoW. You are WAY too mature for that shit, dood. MUDding is the new trend for old geezers like you.

Posted By: Molly O'hara on 05/25/07 at 05:43 PM

To me it is the close-knit community. Even pretty inferior, stock muds often have a strong community. Even Muds that are 100% percent hack'n'slash, with only the faintest trace of RP, have a strong community. (Actually I get the feeling that the Community sense is fostered more by OOC talk than IC, but I may be wrong there). Anyhow, I found the combination of competitive game, virtual world and 'Chat room with Goodies' irresistable when I first starting playing Text Muds myself.

Posted By: Conner on 05/25/07 at 06:24 PM

For the most part, I'll second Molly's position on this with a significant nod in Desharei's direction for a couple of his points too: it does promote literacy/grammar/typing skills; it does force you to actively use your imagination; it is a much better way to spend time than staring at the TV, using drugs (including alcohol); and it is a great outlet for creativity, especially if the mud in question has RP encouraged/enforced.

	Posted By: Nass on 05/26/07 at 04:52 AM
Guys, I've never ever heard of someone who started playing muds and plays muds because it improves their typing skills. What I'm looking for is the real reasons why they do, not the reasons why they "should" :) For example, often it's "friends are here", or "I like pkilling"

	Posted By: Conner on 05/26/07 at 03:11 PM
Sorry, thought I'd covered that too. Largely because it's a game where you _can_ spend your time facing a goal (leveling, questing, whatever) or killing, and where you _can_ get some decent RP time in (the gaming 'fix'), but you also _can_ just chill for a bit socializing too. At least, for me. Plus it's free and every OS comes with a client already installed. ;)

Posted By: Muirdach on 05/26/07 at 04:46 PM

It's like a chatroom and game combined. It has features which are enjoyable when alone (which is sadly too often these days with MUDs), yet you can still chat/interact with others much more simply than in most other games. Plus, "I spent the evening gaming" is much more socially acceptable these days than "I spent the evening hanging around chatrooms". I think that as graphical games take more of the "gamers", the chatroom/interaction part becomes all the more important to MUDs.

	Posted By: Ssolvarain on 06/04/07 at 12:10 AM
No cost, thousands of options, community-based, the range of play-style is covered well (RP, KILLITALLLLLL!, and exploration), and the chance to build something up without any real expertise.

	Posted By: Ssolvarain on 06/04/07 at 12:11 AM
Conner pointed out something I missed. No 3 gb downloads or patches. BOOM! Copy-Over We're good to go!

	Posted By: Conner on 06/04/07 at 03:22 AM
Amen to that one! ;)

	The very things... Posted By: Gavalinb on 06/07/07 at 02:30 PM
...that separate it from the MMORPGs: *More imagination *(Usually) free *Minimal computer/Internet requirements *Less feeling like a number *More feeling like you make a difference

	Posted By: Conner on 06/08/07 at 01:14 AM
Absolutely, that's one of the best things about most muds, especially these days, there are few enough players that when you show up you are making a major contribution and the staff is far more likely to fully consider your input than any MMORPG is. And they're also small enough that you can feel like it's run by real people instead of some corporation that's trying to turn a profit.

	agreed Posted By: Nass on 06/08/07 at 05:06 AM
Yes, agreed, and I think these are the sorts of things that we ought all be thinking about putting out in our propaganda. Ie what I like to do is push marketing assertions that I know full well 'the competition' (in this case MMOs) cannot really compete on, rather than fight battles which might be lost. I'm a coward, I know =)

	Posted By: Conner on 06/08/07 at 08:42 AM
Is that what they call 'truth in advertising'? ;)

	Nostalgia Posted By: Eigaar on 06/08/07 at 06:41 PM
I mostly get 'back into' a MUD due to nostalgia. In my case, a lot of MUDs are constantly revived, and to be honest, a lot of them succeed. The thing is, once you've already climbed the mountain, the second time around it starts to get boring, and that's usually the problem I run into.

And that's why... Posted By: Gavalinb on 06/09/07 at 01:00 AM

...I've always preferred games that focused on the view, not the rush to the peak. ;) MMOs suffer the same problem that get-to-the-top-level MUDs do. Once you've done everything, you've done everything. It falls on the MUD operators to breathe new life into their projects with new content. Personally, I'm happier letting players build on the storylines I've helped foster. It's when they get a firmer grasp on the way things flow that the game gets really interesting.

My ,92 iron Posted By: Zeta Thompson on 01/07/08 at 03:53 AM

Imagination is first and foremost what I "see" in my head is usally far more interesting to me than a standardized graphic. (No chainmail bikinis in MY head that is) As a player I do not have to wait for my antiquated connection type to dl graphics. I can spend my tinme rping, hacking or pking. People. There are a LOT of interesting people out there. Accessability. Many of the muds I play have visually impaired or otherwise physically challenged individuals. Text is easier for speech clients to handle than graphics. Cost. Most muds are free, some are donation a few are still p2p, but the cost of those tends to be less than WOW and no warchest component needed. If I report a bug to a MUD admin, it gets researched and fixed (usually) If I report one to a MPORG company I usually am told it is my system's problem and I have buy something to fix it or my OS or browser or skin or moonphase is not supported. Inventiveness. I have never run across such well thought out quests, environments, items in any game as I do on MUDs. Same for the players in figuring them out, Last, because they are fun.