I'm sure tons of other folks get this, I just wanted to see your views.

When I play this during breaks at school, or when I tell other people about it, about 95% of them go something like "Oh you can't see wot yor doin'! Vat's crap, bruv! Yu play crap games!" I then either confuse them with long words, or just glare at them contemptuously, at which point they normally leave. Basically, why is it such a tiny proportion of the world that have a high enough IQ to not get stupid cravings for blocky graphics, that they can't be bothered to actually read some text for a game. It just really appalls me there are so few people that appreciate MUDs. Sure we like graphics, but we don't see text as a waste of bytes.

Your thoughts?

I have yet to see a Graphical game hold my attention for over a year, as Lusternia has clearly done. Although, I did play tRO for over a year, that was for money and to compete.
Love-mimi

I know exactly what you mean. My friends who play World of Warcraft can't grasp my love of Lusternia. They think "I can't kill it if I can't see it", which is, of course, nonsense. I've seen a few try Lusternia. They kind of sit there, dumbfounded, because they are so used to pushing "up" and watching their character run, that they can't understand typing commands and reading what's going on. It's quite sad, I agree.

Pllus, they are wasting $15 a month on a game with mostly shallow RP and no delicate balances, while I, for free, am so immersed in the RP environment of Lusternia that my mood sometimes depends on how Everiine's feeling. I see my side of the fence as much, much greener.

Now, just picture those Monotheists in a Pagan culture that say, I worship a god that I can't make an idol out of.

Revolutionary thinking often confuses the masses

But eventually it catches on!

Definitely. I keep pushing and pushing, and one day, I'll hook as many people on Lusternia as the friends in HS I got hooked on LOTR, Muahahahahaa!!!

I had a good friend in high school, who used to play Exile, another MUD. He'd sit there, and type away, with his brightly colored letters flying by the screen.

I told him the game looked retarded, and asked who the hell would play a game made of words.

*twiddle*

It seemeth the human being knoweth not what it shall doeth when it finds true enlightenment...eth... or something

heh, I was just going to mention the irony of his statement.

When I tried to explain the game to my mostly computer illiterate dad last time I visited him, and he kept asking how it could be a game if we were all in the same chatroom. He just didn't get it, and I just couldn't explain it sufficently no matter how hard I tried

He likes it better when I play graphical games, because then he at least understands what the heck I'm doing.


I personally think that MUD is a much better format for a game, but I have two problems with them compared to graphical games: 1- I am a very visual person and process information much better when it's in multiple forms, not just all on the command line, and 2- MUDs have much lower budgets than graphical games, and thus tend to have much worse support.

So, to me, both are fun in their own way, it all depends on what you're trying to do. Roleplay though? Heck yeah, textual games are by far the best for MMO play

What I love in a game is realism and complexity.

Lusternia has LOADS of both. No other game can offer something like this ('xcept maybe The Elder Scrolls games, but still can't be compared).

Lusternia is the first, and only MUD I've ever played. Addicted.

And yes, 100% of the people I've told about it:

I admit I too am addicted. Sometimes though, with all the reality and complexity, it's possible to become too emotionally involved and end up screwing yourself over. Which is why I'm glad I can stand up and say "It's just a game", take a break for a few days, and hop back in. No other game I've played has come close, and none of them were MUD's.

Eventually I got ye flask, and ye addicted. Ye gods!

If I don't get my daily dose of Lusternia, I curl up in a ball in the corner muttering paranoid thoughts. aka I'm addicted.

I just started playing Lusternia. It's been a bit hard to get over hurdles like the combat system which is foreign to how I normally have fought in MUDs and MMPORGs. I adore the RP and world though.

I played ShadowMUD, a MUD that recently died It was quest and grinding focused. RP was a bit dodgy at times or just non-existant. I currently play WoW. I purposely choose a server without RP. I find it awful to RP when you have to stare at characters just standing around.

Both have pros and cons. If I want to PvP I'll play my undead shadow priest in WoW. If I want to get epics (shiny gear) and kill huge raid bosses I'll play my night elf restoration druid. If I want to RP and explore I'll be playing Lusternia.

To be honest, I never played Lusternia for the RP. If I want good RP, I'd rather do it with friends in person in a tabletop or LARP. What I loved Lusternia for, and other MUDs, is the truly persistant world. A world where you could do something, and it has an effect, and other people are there to benefit or suffer from it. MMORPGs aren't presistant - you do a quest, and then someone else comes along and it's not done for them. MMORPGs really can't be given the largeness of their playerbases - MUDs are small enough and flexible enough, and the playerbase mature enough, to be truly persistant and give players the ability to effect the world.

fantastic thread :-) I've tried to warm people up to the beauty of mud games like this one on every forum I visit (most are non-gaming forums). They stopped replying to my thread of "anyone play text-based games?" where I probably give them the message that they're fools for overlooking this "best kept secret" although that's not my intention, but I think it's the way I come across. Now I'm probably labeled as the weird babbling geek. *sigh*... No matter! We've got to educate the masses and keep this bizzare world of mudding alive..................

Call me an intolerant elitist, but when people say things like these from Ytraelux's post, I do not feel like persuading them to try muds at all. We don't need more idiots in Lusternia, what we have is enough.

It's just a game?





That's something else I love about Lusternia. GHELP MADNESS is brilliant.

Heh, I can say it here alll I want, this ain't the game .

I laughed hysterically when I read that scroll. It is composed perfectly, getting it's point across in such a funny and unique way .

why do I suddenly get the feeling that the word "persistent" got its definition changed overnight...


I think what you means is that Lusternia is NOT persistent and that it changes based on player actions.


per·sis·tent (pər-sĭs'tənt, -zĭs'-) pronunciation
adj.

1. Refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately.
2. Insistently repetitive or continuous: a persistent ringing of the telephone.
3. Existing or remaining in the same state for an indefinitely long time; enduring: persistent rumors; a persistent infection.
4. Botany. Lasting past maturity without falling off, as the calyx on an eggplant or the scales of a pine cone.
5. Zoology. Retained permanently, rather than disappearing in an early stage of development: the persistent gills of fishes.

Although thinking about it now, Lusternia is Persistent, in that Rowenna is always there, and things "reset" however, MMORPGs tend to be less persistant than Lusternia for your charachter, as its rare to be able to do the same quest twice. Once you do it, its done for your charachter, even though it may not be done for other charachters (like Guildwars)...

Lusternia however is more globabbly interactive, in that everything you do, affects all the other players of the game, not just your charachter...