Indeed.

What do people think of text-based roleplay (as opposed to rollplay) games in this increasingly graphics orientated day and age? Are they still a valid method of storytelling, or should they go the way of the dodo?

Graphics look better, and people want a more pleasing game. Of course there's still some nerds who would buy a text-based RPG, but they're just not as fun, any way you look at it. We've stuck with graphics because they sell better.

I am a big fan. I've found that the communities in text-based RPGs are a lot better in every way, and more immersive. Also, you can DO a lot, usually a lot more than in graphics-based games. The only problem is that most of the good ones have a monthly fee that is higher than those of a graphics-based game.

I disagree that playing text-based games is any more nerdy than playing graphical games. Compare a MUD player who plays one hour a day vs. a WoW player who plays every free second he has...yeah. Not to mention games without graphics can be more fun because they have to focus on the gameplay rather than fancy graphics.

As for me, I don't play MUDs anymore but I've gotten involved with Interactive Fiction (the fancy-pants name for text adventure games these days, though with some of them out there I think it's really a fitting moniker). I also play Dwarf Fortress, which is ASCII based but I suppose that might still count as graphics.

Haven't had much time to play MU*s recently, due to school and girlfriend... but I enjoy them, as well as IF. I think it's mostly because I enjoy reading... for those times I don't want to just read a book, but I want to be in one.

MU*s and IF are actually more popular than people realize (check the link in my sig).

I played a MUD quite regularly a few years ago. The only problem I have with text adventure games is that it's really easy to get lost if you're not paying attention.

I was playing the Discworld MUD a year and a half ago; I quit playing all of a sudden and never resumed.


Best roguelike ever. Sort of a SimCity version of Angband.

Wow... that certainly sounds like something I ought to check out. (And waste the next 57 days of my life, no doubt. Computer games with depth tend to do that to me!)

*grins* And a little late, I know. I'm a big fan myself, love coding for them. MUSHCode is a bit tricky to get into, but once you get it it's good fun. I hang around on Otherspace: The Farthest Star these days (www.jointhesaga.com:1790), if anyone's interested.

I find that it can be very difficult, because all of the ones I've played aren't really following a storyline. It's just you choose where to walk, and then you see an item, pick it up. You don't have any idea where to go, and I find that confusing. But they aren't bad.