[Milawe]

Well, I haven't played all the pay muds in the world, but let's just look at Fairytale Land, which is not a MUD but it IS an online RPG which is mostly played in Asia.

Fairytale Land has the most bizarre payment system I've ever seen. You have your free account. You have your paid account that is pay/hour, and it's pay for perks. Technically, they can click quite a number of those. The free account lets you play the game but for a certain number of hours per day. The pay account is pay by hour, so you have your free hours + your paid hours. Then, if you pay a certain amount up front, you get various in game rewards. LOTS of players never pay to play because the internet cafe buys the hours. Then they resell the hours to their customers. So, technically, you could play for free, but it's not really free. Where the heck do I list something like that?

Granted, I don't know of any muds that have a system like that, but what happens if one is created? If they decide to classify themselves as Payment/Donations accpted, rewarded in-game, someone could STILL argue that they're really Payment required to play, because in my opinion, they are even if it's the lan cafes that are paying for the hours, not the actual players.

Last but not least, with the above system, you can still have people trying to cram each other into various categories. Take IRE, for example... what if I absolutely suck and really can't level without paying? I would want them to be listed as payment required to play. (Purely hypothetical, not something I am claiming they do.) There are some people who believe that of the IRE games anyway, but I bet they will get listed as Payment/Donation accepted, rewarded in-game. Are there going to be multiple flame wars trying to force the_logos to change the listing? What of a mud that that accepts "donations" and gives people a little graphic by their name on their website or something? Does that count as in-game reward? What if they just get a little badge in-game that doesn't do anything but look pretty? The difference between the two, especially if it's not an RP mud, is almost non-existent. Are they both in game rewards or not? Technically, one IS in-game.

I guess I feel that the system simply won't offer the clarifications and the solutions that people think they will. I also think it will be impossible to police, creating even more animosity and anger between mud owners. I could be wrong, and I'm not saying that it's a BAD system. I just don't think it really solves anything.