The Life and Times of a TorilMUD Player

[teflor the ranger]

This mud was never meant to last a player more than two or three years of solid, constant, almost daily entertainment.

There are few goals short of mapping the entire mud (must..find...every...roooooommmmm), cataloging every single item, beat every single mob enough times to calculate statistically where its stats lie (yeah, guilty, but don't ask me), that cannot be accomplished within a reasonable player time frame.

The standard acheievable goals set goes something to this effect:

1) level.
2) equip.
3) dwell. (for someone I know in particular, this means drag around the ranger and make him track you to find zone edges - for others, it's to get to the keys about once a day and say 'flip')
4) retire.

I think that pretty much sums up why this game was only ever ment to entertain a player for about 600-1,000 hours of active p-time.

Often times, when I read other player's thoughts on what the game needs, I think they fail to grasp that many of their changes won't buck this process, or result in any significant change to the game that would break this cycle.

Running this mud must be getting really, really lame, and I'm sorry that it has become the case for the mud staff. With sagging recruitment and fewer active players (old and new), it could be said that what is going on around here isn't that interesting to administer or even develop for.

I think the development and contributing community to this game should take note of the fact that this game isn't set up to keep players interested perpetually. Several reasons:

1) Nothing ever changes. And I do mean nothing.

2) See 1).

For those of you who are actually interested in what it is I might have to say about changing this dynamic and making this game become something that is continually and perpetually interesting, I have this much to say before you continue reading: I don't have any.

I would really, really like to know what brings you back to something again and again.

What is it about TorilMUD in particular that has made it your home? What was it that used to make it your home?

What was it that made it interesting? Where was the adventure in it for you?

[Dalar]

First MMO and I started 12 years ago. I've played a few MUDs during those 12 years as well. Toril is the only one that hasn't shutdown.

[Ragorn]

Ah, the beginning of Stage Five (Acceptance). It's a nice feeling, once you get there.

I hang around for two reasons:

1) The community. My old friends and the Wanderlust folks who drop in now and then, the new friends I've made since I stopped playing, and the folks I knew in-game who I've gotten to know better since I quit (Cirath, Maxler, and Mori in particular).

2) I'm interested to see Toril make the leap to 3.5 D&D rules, one microsecond before Wizards reveals 4th edition ;)

Toril's a semi-sandbox game. There's no end goal, and there's very little cylical new content going in. You level up, get equipped, and then go play in the sandbox until you get tired of it. Then you bitch and piss and moan for closure, and it never comes. So you quit, or maybe your playtime just goes way down, until you log in once and month and ride the forums like the rest of us.

[Teyaha]

toril is a good game

you do have to take breaks though. i've got 12 different mmorpg accounts, but none of them are played concurrently.

take a break from toril (including the FORUMS) for a while then come back. it's f un again. especially if you play a new character

i been here almost 12 years and i havent even halfway accomplished my goals for gearing a character - and i've never been to tia or roots. i rolled evil when sojourn 2 came back because i hadnt done it before.

still plenty to do

[Vigis]

Here is a link back to the roots of this wipe.

http://www.torilmud.org/phpBB2/viewtopi ... e0c841352c

[Vigis]

Another example. Amazing what google can do. Scroll down past the screenshots and you'll see Toril being touted by a couple of folks.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/screensh ... ots-2.html

BTW, who is gremlinz273? :P

[Teyaha]

dunno, but if he's in FoH he can DIAF and never come back imo

[teflor the ranger]

So, there was never any adventure in the game for any of you?

[Teyaha]

So, there was never any adventure in the game for any of you?

um....no?

i'm not a roleplayer. i'm after the game.

pretty shallow i know. shrug

only reason i even started playing here was because tellaerin got my girlfriend hooked, and it was the only way i could freakin talk to her

then she broke the thing off IN GAME so it became a pride thing to be sure i got to 50 before she did :P

after that it just stuck. kind of like the stink in an old pair of shoes - never really goes away no matter what you do

[teflor the ranger]

Sorry. F the x. I guess manic pride can be a kind of excitement though.

[Drogga]

imho how long a player last in this mud pretty much depends on your personality + RL stuff that affect your daily routines. Aye some people tend to get boring much faster then the others.

[Ragorn]

Oh sure, there was plenty of adventure in the game... during Sojourn 2. I was all about roleplaying back then, writing RP stories, encouraging people to go explore, finding stupid quests and doing them.

It didn't take long for the game to turn me off though, maybe only a year. When I got to zoneable level and had to come to grips with the fact that Rangers essentially sucked and were useless in any real capacity in groups, that was tough. And then Sojourn 2 pwiped into Sojourn 3, and Miax promised all these great changes for Rangers... what we got was PWT and Nature's Blessing, and it was the same game all over again.

I tried playing a different class, but it didn't work out for me. Because I was such a roleplayer, playing Sojourn wasn't fun anymore without the identity that I built up. So I had a mid-20s Ranger and a teen Cleric, and they were both unplayable for different reasons, so I quit.

Five years later, here we are.

[bawog]

What the good golly gosh you forgot the legenday bbs troller! All joking aside there is another significant factor to the decline of the pbase. First of all we the older generation of mudders are finding that we have kids, wives and heavier real life commitments. So they would have to chose to leave, and being as there is no new generation to fill our shoes, the pbase in and of itself is declining. Yea people can bitch moan and complain about how the imms do nothing, the mud is stagnent, however look at it from another stand point. With there being so many other games and more visually appealing games out there in todays gaming market, MUD's in general are on a decline. Not just Toril. I've been playing here on and off since I was 11 years old, barely knowing what to do etc. but wouldn't trade the memories I've gained and the interesting people I've met along the way. So you say blame the imms flame the imms, I say flame us the players as well, for not holding up our end in teaching the newer generation of gamers who should be taking up our reigns as we fade into the backround to retire.(see step 4) Just my two cents as a player.

[Botef]

Another example. Amazing what google can do. Scroll down past the screenshots and you'll see Toril being touted by a couple of folks.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/screensh ... ots-2.html

BTW, who is gremlinz273? :P

LOL thats awesome.

[Teyaha]

Oh sure, there was plenty of adventure in the game... during Sojourn 2. I was all about roleplaying back then, writing RP stories, encouraging people to go explore, finding stupid quests and doing them.

It didn't take long for the game to turn me off though, maybe only a year. When I got to zoneable level and had to come to grips with the fact that Rangers essentially sucked and were useless in any real capacity in groups, that was tough. And then Sojourn 2 pwiped into Sojourn 3, and Miax promised all these great changes for Rangers... what we got was PWT and Nature's Blessing, and it was the same game all over again.

I tried playing a different class, but it didn't work out for me. Because I was such a roleplayer, playing Sojourn wasn't fun anymore without the identity that I built up. So I had a mid-20s Ranger and a teen Cleric, and they were both unplayable for different reasons, so I quit.

Five years later, here we are.

omg sojourn 2...

toril one i started as a druid, then rolled Grintor the warrior.

met tesi and drabyl while xp'ng and things took off - ended up in order of the wyrm with my second druid.

god i miss diac :(

had FINALLY gotten 46 on the druid when it shut down, wiped and we got sojourn 2

always had conjurer envy though. their pets were beasts and their soloability was great - without the penalties of being a human in bloodstone.

got a conjurer to 48 and soj 2 died :(

that conjie is still to this day my favorite - and best geared - character ever. it was also the only time i stuck with just one character

soj 2 closing was pretty traumatic. forced me to pay to mud with everquest :(

[Ragorn]

Good times, good times. I still have the guild charter for Wanderlust on my hard drive.

After Soj 2 closed, I went to Duris on and off for two years or so. From there, I started on MMOs.

[Lilira]

RP.

Friends.

I seriously RARELY have time to zone. I'm tired of grinding another alt up to zoneable level when I can't really zone...

I log on for RPs.

[Ashiwi]

What kept me here from the beginning was the world and the people. When the world stopped being a cohesive world and started being a system of coding manipulation it became the people.

I prefer fantasy roleplaying games. Since Toril is no longer either and most of the people who preferred the depth of that world have left, then I would have to say there are a handful of people whom I consider myself truly fortunate to still have the pleasure of interacting with on occasion within the game.

So I guess the answer is "Rachael and Heather."

Oh, and Doug, of course. And Dave and Carl... those two together would be my dream date. And all of Imphras. And Eilistraee. And Chris. And Jake, definitely Jake. Can't forget Becky. And Brandon. Life wouldn't be the same without Ross. And Mike just goes without saying.

But not Pril... never Pril.

Some of the personalities attracted to this game are just dessert in the smorgasbord of life.

But not Pril.

[Corth]

Teflor's description is more or less accurate. Now, if we had artifacts, politics, and god favoritism then the whole dynamic would be different. There would be a game within the game that would never end. But that won't be happening any time soon.

[Lilira]

So I guess the answer is "Rachael and Heather."

*sniffle* Aww...

:-/

I need to call you.

How's grandbaby?