Member Discussions

Hi all,

I'd like to announce the launch of MUD Pages, a new MUD portal site designed to offer a great amount flexability and detail in listings and reviews. We also have a resources section and forums for discussion of mud related topics.

Check us out at www.mudpages.com

Seraphime

The banner size is far too large for my taste.

No kidding, that is a seriously large banner. Could you cut it in half?

The banner looks better on the mud pages where the content stretches down the page a good bit. I think it looks so big on the home page because there is so little content under it. I assume as the site grows that will all fill in.

(The large areas of dead space actually bother me a lot more.)

Personally, I find the ethically questionable - your mud may already be posted here because "in our directory building efforts, the staff at MUD Pages has added it for you" much more annoying than the oversized banner.

Kitkat -

I seriously doubt I would pay 50 bucks for three months of advertising on a MUD I already pay too much for.

Thanks but no thanks.

I'd only considering advertising if they mention how many hits per day they get.

Not a lot of listings...doesn't give me the freedom of Mudconnect.

Banner has been made smaller. Policy of adding listings of other muds cancelled. Only one mud was added which the staff is not connected with as an admin of said mud, and on that mud I am a former player. The site is brand new, thus the lack of listings so far. It will take time to grow, I'm just trying to get the word out there to help us get off to a start.

Thanks,

Gicker

Not a lot of listings...doesn't give me the freedom of Mudconnect.

What additional freedom do you want to see? Let us know and if it's reasonable we'll add it.

"What additional freedom do you want to see? Let us know and if it's reasonable we'll add it."
You might want to consider making the listing available for download through xml. If you take a look at MudMagic you see they make their entire listing available through RSS which makes it possible for client developers to show the listing in their MUD client.

Plus, could you post like MUDs that might still be active, but aren't found listed here.

Plus, could you post like MUDs that might still be active, but aren't found listed here.

I guess my question here is why re-invent the wheel yet again? We've got Mudconnector, we've got Mudmagic, Topmudsites, and a few specialized listings (Mudbytes, Mudlab). Each of those have their own set of forums, each has their own set of resources. The description you have provided doesn't sound any different.

The collective MUD playerbase is spread thin as is, why stretch it even further with the same. exact. thing?

Pardon my skepticism, it's nothing personal nor was it intended to crush your hopes and dreams :) But do answer the questions if you can.

I guess my question here is why re-invent the wheel yet again? We've got Mudconnector, we've got Mudmagic, Topmudsites, and a few specialized listings (Mudbytes, Mudlab). Each of those have their own set of forums, each has their own set of resources. The description you have provided doesn't sound any different.

From a very shallow perspective, all of the sites you mentioned are, well, ugly. It's about time someone tried to launch a new mud listing site with a halfway modern look. As a web developer myself I've always toyed with the idea of opening an aesthetically pleasing listings site with great functionality that uses modern technology, but I can never find the time. TMC, Mudmagic, TMS and the rest are getting pretty long in the tooth if you ask me.

I'd agree on all cases except mudbytes, which is newer and uses a modern CMS (Content Management System) unlike the others/ The problem there is many people don't really like Samson all that well and/or because it is 'mostly' populated by SMAUG MUD owners and isn't very diverse.

The collective MUD playerbase is spread thin as is, why stretch it even further with the same. exact. thing?

The community needs to have redundant sites to protect itself from nazis.

Correct. The community needs to be setup in a RAID array...

I'd agree on all cases except mudbytes, which is newer and uses a modern CMS (Content Management System) unlike the others/ The problem there is many people don't really like Samson all that well and/or because it is 'mostly' populated by SMAUG MUD owners and isn't very diverse.

Mudbytes may be modern, but (and no offense to the creator) it doesn't really have the professional look to it. The sites are all very functional, don't get me wrong, but in terms of layout and general first impression, they just don't look like a professional web designer has done them from scratch. I think that's one of the reasons why all these sites are basically only for administrators rather than players - they all have the whole "written by techie geek with no fashion sense" look to them. Compare that with any of the Iron Realms (random pick) sites, and there's a clear difference - and I think one that makes a difference to the casual player. The Achaea website is pleasant looking and invites exploration, the TopMudSites website looks cheap at best, and gives the impression that it's one of those fake websites with no point other than advertising.

I do agree that achaea.com is far more visually appealing than topmudsites.com,
but I also think it's largely due to Iron Realms having a HUGE budget compared
to that of other mud related companies/sites and that they actually hired a
professional web designer to create their websites and not so much that
TopMUDSites had no thought put into its layout at all. (Though really both of the
two sites' fixed widths irk me because they look horrible on my 1920 x 1200
screen resolution.)

I agree, but surely in this community that prides itself on collaboration and so on, there would be one or more people with those skills who would be willing to work together and create something professional quality for free (they'd get some advertising income anyway)? I mean a lot of us design our own MUD websites and spend hours on our games or coding things for the community for free, so cost needn't be a hindrance. I think it's more that we need to shed the mindset that it's only code and technical mud creation skill that counts - "looking good" is probably just as important when we want to attract the casual player.