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Malifax, I'd have to disagree with you on the game playing itself comment. Ambiance adds to the scene and increases immersion, and I think it's these details that really create a sense of depth. I can't think of a single video game outside of the racing genre where weather has any effect on the player, and yet it's included to create a sense of scene and paint a picture. Imagine what having a town where the NPCs went to work, went to stores to buy food and other things, went home and ate dinner with their families and went to sleep in their house at night. Although chances are this wouldn't have any effect on the players gameplay wise, I think that it would be incredible at getting the players interested in the world.
In the end, MUDs can't try to be graphical MMORPGs. Even the sum population of all of Iron Realm's very popular games combined isn't a drop in the bucket compared to major MMORPGs. Although this is a curse in terms of mainstream appeal, it's also a great opportunity. No longer are you making a game to appeal to 1 million people, you're creating one to appeal to 50. To do that you have to create something that these McMMO games can't offer. You can't have a million people trying to leave their mark on the game all at once, but you can sure as hell have 50.
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