September 1999
- Battle Systems Philip Loguinov -- Draymoor
- Battle Systems Matthew Mihaly
- Battle Systems Richard Woolcock
- Battle Systems Matthew Mihaly
- Battle Systems Richard Woolcock
- Battle Systems Mik Clarke
- Battle Systems Greg Miller
- Battle Systems Ben Greear
- Battle Systems Matthew Mihaly
- Battle Systems Greg Miller
- Battle Systems Christopher Allen
- Battle Systems Batis
- Battle Systems Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Battle Systems Richard Ross
- Battle Systems Matthew Mihaly
- semi-OT: Alan Cox is a MUD hacker Adam Wiggins
- semi-OT: Alan Cox is a MUD hacker Ben Greear
- Graphical Mud Design JT Herring
- Graphical Mud Design Chris Gray
- Graphical Mud Design David
- ScryMUD is offically open to the public. Ben Greear
- ScryMUD is offically open to the public. Chris Gray
- ScryMUD is offically open to the public. Ben Greear
- ScryMUD is offically open to the public. Ben Greear
- IMP (Interactive Mud Protocol?) Philip Loguinov -- Draymoor
- IMP (Interactive Mud Protocol?) J C Lawrence
- Its not a MUD...is it? J C Lawrence
- An Introduction Hess, Ian {Ian} *CTR*
- An Introduction Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- An Introduction Mik Clarke
- An Introduction Greg Miller
- An Introduction Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- An Introduction Matthew Mihaly
- An Introduction Jeremy Music "Sterling"
- An Introduction Matthew Mihaly
- An Introduction Jeremy Music "Sterling"
- An Introduction Hess, Ian {Ian} *CTR*
- An Introduction Wes Connell
- An Introduction Greg Miller
- An Introduction Albert
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Tony Wilkinson
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jeremy Music "Sterling"
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Marc Bowden
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Sellers, Michael
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Tony Wilkinson
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Ilya, SCC, Game Commando
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jon A. Lambert
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Travis Casey
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Wes Connell
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Dundee
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Dundee
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Dundee
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? J C Lawrence
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Chris Turner
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jon A. Lambert
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Asmodeus
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Dundee
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Mik Clarke
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Sellers, Michael
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? J C Lawrence
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- The Relationship between pkers andmonster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jon A. Lambert
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jon A. Lambert
- The Relationship between pkers and monster A I? Sellers, Michael
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Mik Clarke
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jeremy Music "Sterling"
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Jon A. Lambert
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Travis S. Casey
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Sellers, Michael
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Zaid Sayeed
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Solmyr of the Azure Star
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Sellers, Michael
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Solmyr of the Azure Star
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Laurel Fan
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Travis Casey
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Travis S. Casey
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Solmyr of the Azure Star
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Solmyr of the Azure Star
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Sellers, Michael
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Solmyr of the Azure Star
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? JT Herring
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Kylotan
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Mik Clarke
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Greg Miller
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Mik Clarke
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Matthew Mihaly
- The Relationship between pkers and monster AI? Adam Wiggins
- Skill Power vs Skill Rarity Philip Loguinov -- Draymoor
- Skill Power vs Skill Rarity Mik Clarke
- Consensual/PvP/PK Ilya, Game Commandos
- Announcement Locke / Mad Merv
- Announcement J C Lawrence
- Announcement Greg Miller
- Tactical Interest Was MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs Spin
- Tactical Interest Was MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs Travis S. Casey
- Tactical Interest Was MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Tactical Interest Was MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs Adam Wiggins
- Tactical Interest Was MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs Ilya, Game Commandos
- Tactical Interest Was MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #142 - 4 msgs Mik Clarke
- Attracting players // TMC // 'admin' type reviewing Ilya, Game Commandos
- Attracting players // TMC // 'admin' type reviewing J C Lawrence
- Attracting players // TMC // 'admin' type reviewing Emil Eifrém
- Attracting players Koster, Raph
- Attracting players Dominic J. Eidson
- Attracting players Matthew Mihaly
- Attracting players John Hopson
- Attracting players David Bennett
- Attracting players Ilya, Game Commandos
- Attracting players Koster, Raph
- Attracting players The MUD Connector - Administrator
- Attracting players Dundee
- Attracting players Adam Wiggins
- Attracting players Matthew Mihaly
- Attracting players Koster, Raph
- Attracting players Adam Wiggins
- Attracting players Ilya, Game Commandos
- Attracting players Emil Eifrém
- Attracting players Mik Clarke
- Attracting players The MUD Connector - Administrator
- Attracting players Petri Virkkula
>>>>> "Matthew" == Matthew Mihaly <diablo@best.com> writes:
Matthew> thriving with thousands of players on simultaneously. We've gone from
Matthew> peaking at 40 last year to peaking at 100 this year, and we're
Matthew> growing. We're not even putting any real effort into advertising (not
While I was calculating BatMUD's statistics for first half of
1999 I started thinking how to measure success of a mud. The
thinking was triggered by the statistics report I wrote and
that is also included below. My interpretation of our
statistics was that our players play more that they used to
be, but at the same time the player base smaller than it used
to be.
The questions that I thought about (and almost sent to the
list) were something like:
- is peak or average online players a good meter for a mud
- which is better, growing peak player count or longer play times
- is it enought that existing players like the mud, or should
we seek (actively) for new players
I did not find any definitive answers to the questions. Have
others thought that kind of questions?
Especially the fact the drop in new players has worried
me. BatMUD has never claimed to be newbie friendly and never
will claim it. Our responsivity to user requests like lost
passwords has always too low (and lately it has even lower).
The following actions have already been done, or being done
right now to correct the situation:
1) create new WWW pages with new and consistent look
This project is still being done. New page layout
(subject to change ) can be seen at
<URL:http://www.bat.org:8002/>, old pages are at
<URL:http://www.bat.org/>. The new pages are a bit
slow because they are dynamically generated, but that
will change as soon as they are ready (the pages will
be moved to another faster machine).
Most of the work so far has been concentrated on a
system that generates the pages dynamically and uses a
template. The system is atleast ready, but the content
for the pages is waiting for the user authentication
system mentioned below in 2).
2) Share mud's passwords with WWW pages
Our wizards have (almost) full shell access to their
code. The access is controlled by their mud passwords
that are copied regularily (once in three hours) from
mud password files to other machine.
I am slowly making a separate authentication server
that will be used by the mud, WWW pages and the
wizards' shell access. The idea is to give players the
possibility to change their password in WWW
pages. They could also add a verification question and
answer that is common in other WWW services in case of
lost password.
3) Add support for community of BatMUD's players
Currently there are lots BatMUD related WWW pages
written by players. The only way to get to the pages
is to use a search engine. The goal is to have link
list maintained by players. The system is not ready
yet, but a glimpse what kind of information can be
seen at (username: guest, password: guest).
<URL:http://www.bat.org:8002/Links/submit.html>
Implementation of this feature waits for the
authentication system described above in 2).
Simirarily the intention is to give support players to
describe our map of our wilderness. Our current map is
at <URL:http://www.bat.org/Batmud/batmap.html> while
map (based on older map of wilderness) maintained by
players is e.g. at
<URL:http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dungeon/9884/bigmap.htm>
(My philosophy is that we as game administrators must
not tell everything to players, but we can assist
players to help each others for example with
(sometimes wrong) information they have gathered by
playing the mud.)
4) Registration of BATMUD.NET, BATMUD.ORG and BATMUD.COM domains
So far we have only owned BAT.ORG domain. As above
three domains were free it was decided to register all
of them though no decision has been made how to use
them (except BATMUD.NET).
We have allowed years our players to receive (not
send) mail in the mud with addresses like
player.<charname>@bat.org. Format of the address is
now simplified to <charname>@batmud.net. Perhaps we
will even advertise this possibility more actively
among the players. One possibility could be an added
support for mail reading through WWW pages (as soon as
the authentication system is ready) in the future.
Other things are also being done, above list is just an
example. The intention is to give more services to players,
make few support routines more automatic, and give players
more responsibility for WWW pages.
Petri
--- cut here ---
Summary
======
Statistics of BatMUD are shown in the tables below for the
first of years 1998 and 1999, and comparison between them.
According to the statistics there has been 12764 players who
have atleast once visited the mud during the first six months
of the year 1999. This number is 2404 (or 16%) lower than
it used to be last year during similar time period. Also all
other player counts are significantly lower during the year
1999 when comparing with the year 1998.
Our players are however more dedicated than they used to
be, or they just idle more. Average session length and daily
play times are bigger than they used to be resulting also
raise in average online players.
Averages
=======
1-6/1999 1-6/1998 +/- +/- %
-----------------------------------------------------
Sessions 775620 895280 -119660 -13%
Characters 12764 15168 -2404 -16%
Guests 23833 24811 -978 -4%
Avg. Sessions/character 21 22 -1 -5%
Avg. Sessions/day 4286 4947 -661 -13%
Avg. Session 01:01:01 00:48:26 +00:12:35 +26%
Avg. Daily Playtime 00:20:29 00:15:47 +00:04:42 +30%
Avg. Online Characters 181 166 +15 +9%
Average Daily Characters
=======================
1999 1998 +/- +/- %
-----------------------------------------------------
January-June 1319 1406 -87 -6%
January 1354 1500 -146 -8%
February 1393 1486 -93 -6%
March 1288 1515 -227 -15%
April 1420 1452 -32 -2%
May 1331 1315 +16 +1%
June 1131 1166 -35 -3%
New Characters
=============
1999 1998 +/- +/- %
-----------------------------------------------------
Total January-June 4053 5818 -1765 -30%
January 596 1135 -539 -47%
February 780 965 -185 -19%
March 600 1078 -478 -44%
April 730 939 -209 -22%
May 759 877 -118 -13%
June 588 824 -236 -29%
--- cut here --- - Attracting players Koster, Raph
- Attracting players Matthew Mihaly
- Attracting players Koster, Raph
- Attracting players Matthew Mihaly
- Attracting players David Bennett
- Attracting players Greg Miller
- Attracting players Laurel Fan
- Attracting players Scatter
- Attracting players Andrew Wilson
- Attracting players Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Attracting players Greg Miller
- Attracting players Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Attracting players Greg Miller
- Attracting players Greg Miller
- Attracting players Matthew Mihaly
- attracting players Par Winzell
- attracting players David Bennett
- attracting players Mud Imp
- attracting players Marc Bowden
- attracting players adam@treyarch.com
- attracting players Kevin Scott London
- attracting players Ben Greear
- attracting players Wes Connell
- attracting players Marc Bowden
- attracting players Willowreed@aol.com
- attracting players Mordengaard
- attracting players adam@treyarch.com
- attracting players Jon A. Lambert
- attracting players David Bennett
- attracting players Marc Bowden
- Attracting players mrkelley@one.net
- Attracting players Louis
- Attracting players Matt Mihaly
- chess Matthew Mihaly
- chess Robin Cloutman
- an essay on PK Adam Wiggins
- an essay on PK J C Lawrence
- an essay on PK Marian Griffith
- an essay on PK Jeremy Music "Sterling"
- an essay on PK Chris Turner
- an essay on PK Adam Wiggins
- an essay on PK Chris Turner
- an essay on PK Adam Wiggins
- an essay on PK Charles Hughes
- an essay on PK Adam Wiggins
- an essay on PK Chris Turner
- an essay on PK Adam Wiggins
- an essay on PK Matthew Mihaly
- an essay on PK Jon A. Lambert
- an essay on PK Matthew Mihaly
- an essay on PK Ilya, Game Commandos
- an essay on PK Marian Griffith
- an essay on PK Matthew Mihaly
- an essay on PK Rhonda Alexander
- an essay on PK Ilya, Game Commandos
- an essay on PK Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- an essay on PK Laurel Fan
- an essay on PK Miroslav Silovic
- an essay on PK Matthew Mihaly
- an essay on PK Marian Griffith
- an essay on PK Matthew Mihaly
- an essay on PK Adam Wiggins
- an essay on PK J C Lawrence
- an essay on PK Richard Bartle
- an essay on PK Jason Spangler
- an essay on PK Willowreed@aol.com
- an essay on PK Koster, Raph
- an essay on PK Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- an essay on PK Richard Bartle
- Might not make right... Spin
- META: MUD-Dev visibility J C Lawrence
- Seeking one or two creative C coders for MURP project. Darin De Stefano
- Algorithms for an Infinite Universe Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Algorithms for an Infinite Universe Quzah
- Algorithms for an Infinite Universe Jp Calderone
- Algorithms for an Infinite Universe Joel Kelso
- Algorithms for an Infinite Universe Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Algorithms for an Infinite Universe Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Dynamic muds ryan
- Dynamic muds Asmodeus
- Dynamic muds Robin Cloutman
- Dynamic muds ryan
- Dynamic muds Ilya, Game Commandos
- Dynamic muds Colin Coghill
- Dynamic muds J C Lawrence
- Dynamic muds Emil Eifrém
- Dynamic muds Katrina McClelan
- Dynamic muds Ilya, Game Commandos
- Dynamic muds David Bennett
- Dynamic muds Christopher Allen - GM Fangs
- Dynamic muds Spin
- Dynamic muds Ilya, Game Commandos
- Dynamic muds Spin
- Dynamic muds Chris Turner
- Dynamic muds Adam Wiggins
- Dynamic muds Mik Clarke
- Dynamic muds Arlie Stephens
- Dynamic muds Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Dynamic muds Greg Miller
- Dynamic muds Petri Virkkula
- Dynamic muds Ben Greear
- Dynamic muds Greg Miller
- Dynamic muds Colin Coghill
- Dynamic muds Katrina McClelan
- Dynamic muds Marian Griffith
- Dynamic muds Katrina McClelan
- Dynamic muds Alex Oren
- Dynamic muds Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Dynamic muds Chris Gray
- Dynamic muds Ronan Farrell
- Dynamic muds Petri Virkkula
- Dynamic muds Christopher Allen
- Dynamic muds Petri Virkkula
- Dynamic muds Justin Lockshaw
- Dynamic muds Mik Clarke
- Dynamic muds Marian Griffith
- Dynamic muds Travis S. Casey
- Dynamic muds Marian Griffith
- thoughts on 'realism' Matthew Mihaly
- Tactical Interest Spin
- Tactical Interest Spin
- Tactical Interest Adam Wiggins
- what players want, what I want Ilya, Game Commandos
- what players want, what I want Matthew Mihaly
- what players want, what I want Ilya, Game Commandos
- what players want, what I want Justin Lockshaw
- what players want, what I want Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Creating a mudlib Solmyr of the Azure Star
- Mobiles AI and automation Crystalmir
- Mobiles AI and automation Matthew Mihaly
- Mobiles AI and automation Marc Bowden
- Mobiles AI and automation Mik Clarke
- This is just... STRANGE Dundee
- Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender (fwd) Matthew Mihaly
- Ultima Online Steve Sparks
- Ultima Online Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Peer pressure and cooperation Miroslav Silovic
- Effiecient interaction (was deliver failed) Spin
- ADMIN: We're moving again J C Lawrence
- "Online migration and population mobility" Koster, Raph
- "Online migration and population mobility" Koster, Raph