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the_logos · 10-26-2005, 01:17 PM

Thanks for the comments guys. Delerak aside, I can see that you've been thinking about the issue.

Having said that, I'm sorry, but I've got almost 10 years of commercial experience telling me that RPIs are not worth doing commercially. Keep in mind that lots of MUDs have gotten big without commercial backing. Look at the big hobbyist MUDs: Aardwolf, Batmud, etc. No commercial backing there, and yet they manage to get hundreds online simultaneously. As for there being only 35 text MUDs that cross 100 players simultaneously....yes, that's probably true, though I'm not sure what your point is.

The cost to doing anything is the cost of passing up whatever the best opportunity that you didn't take was. It's possible a commercial RPI might do ok, but it's far less likely that it'll do ok as compared to a non-RPI MUD. In fact, I'm fairly sure we could do an RPI that could at least pay its own costs, but it's not worth the opportunity cost. There's nothing inherently more attractive about an RPI to me as compared to any other sort of MUD, and in fact, there is something inherently less attractive, which is the need for greater admin oversight.

Iron Realms is successful because we've made more correct decisions than incorrect ones (or we've gotten really lucky, but it would be hard to be consistently lucky for 9 years), and there's not a shred of doubt in my mind that doing an RPI would amount to a wasted opportunity for us. If someone else thinks there is money to be made doing RPIs, by all means, go for it. Put your money and time where your mouth is and go for it! (Though I think you're setting yourself up for grave disappointment if commercial success is a goal, and it may be worth your time to note that neither Iron Realms nor Simutronics think it's a good idea, at least judging by the fact that neither company has ever done an RPI nor intends to.)

--matt

10-26-2005, 01:17 PM	#87
the_logos Legend Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Mill Valley, California Posts: 2,305	Thanks for the comments guys. Delerak aside, I can see that you've been thinking about the issue. Having said that, I'm sorry, but I've got almost 10 years of commercial experience telling me that RPIs are not worth doing commercially. Keep in mind that lots of MUDs have gotten big without commercial backing. Look at the big hobbyist MUDs: Aardwolf, Batmud, etc. No commercial backing there, and yet they manage to get hundreds online simultaneously. As for there being only 35 text MUDs that cross 100 players simultaneously....yes, that's probably true, though I'm not sure what your point is. The cost to doing anything is the cost of passing up whatever the best opportunity that you didn't take was. It's possible a commercial RPI might do ok, but it's far less likely that it'll do ok as compared to a non-RPI MUD. In fact, I'm fairly sure we could do an RPI that could at least pay its own costs, but it's not worth the opportunity cost. There's nothing inherently more attractive about an RPI to me as compared to any other sort of MUD, and in fact, there is something inherently less attractive, which is the need for greater admin oversight. Iron Realms is successful because we've made more correct decisions than incorrect ones (or we've gotten really lucky, but it would be hard to be consistently lucky for 9 years), and there's not a shred of doubt in my mind that doing an RPI would amount to a wasted opportunity for us. If someone else thinks there is money to be made doing RPIs, by all means, go for it. Put your money and time where your mouth is and go for it! (Though I think you're setting yourself up for grave disappointment if commercial success is a goal, and it may be worth your time to note that neither Iron Realms nor Simutronics think it's a good idea, at least judging by the fact that neither company has ever done an RPI nor intends to.) --matt