After reading the long thread about the Ladystar game (I've never been there), I'm curious about the folks who say they never download games or play online. Will the still-in-the-works game being developed by Rand Miller and Cyan (creator of Myst & Riven) generate enough interest to play the game online, or download it if possible, even if it means having to upgrade a PC or Internet connection? I'm curious about others' thoughts.

I don't normally like to play online or download demos and I have a cable modem that is very fast compared to a dial up connection. This game may make me rethink this given the screen images that are on Cyan's site, www.cyan.com.

Hi Bruce....

Spectacular images, but not enough to entice me to pay $50 a month for cable modem, plus the monthly fee they will charge to play Mudpie. <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/pacify.gif" />

~Dee

We had a pretty long discussion about this very topic about 6 months back. The impression that I got is that a majority of Boomers aren't that interested in upgrading their PC's, internet connections, etc. to play on-line. This is reflected in some of the responses on the Ladystar thread.

Most people here seem to lean towards having something on CD. While I don't share that view, I can understand that paying upwards of $500 per year on broadband access can be prohibitive (plus, $500 per year buys a lot of games!

What I think we have to remember is that in order for Mudpie to be successful, let alone even viable, is that Cyan will have to appeal to a much broader audience than the 3000 or so people on this site. So, while opinions on this board are as valid as anywhere else, there is a large on-line gaming audience out there that Cyan will need to target to get this off the ground.

IMHO, I'm ready for it - the thought of having a constantly updating gaming universe to explore certainly interests me.

I can tell you that there is no way I would get a new computer AND a broadband connection just to play a game, no matter how good it might be. I'm very disappointed that I will not be able to experience this new adventure.

I remember that thread Fongo. I did a search and it must have fallen off the board to make room for new threads. I believe I said the same thing in that thread. <img border="0" alt="[winky]" title="" src="graemlins/winky.gif" />

I'm all for upgrading my PC once in a while, that's a one time cost. I don't usually download anything or play online games so I really have no need for cable. I thought I read somewhere that they wanted to charge $10 monthly for Mudpie. If that's the case, I think $720 a year is rather pricey to play a game.

I agree with Mary that it's very disappointing for the Myst Fans. I also agree with you that they are going to have to reach a very broad audience to make this fly.

~Dee

yup. They are going to have to make it so unbelievingly better that the games being released right now, that it literally forces people to upgrade to get access to the game.

a tall order..even for Cyan

I take comfort in knowing that there is a Myst 4 in production, in the "oldfashioned" manner. I would actually gladly dish out money to get broadband, but there is not technology where I live to be connected to, so there I am! On the other hand, it sounds like it's going to take a while, and remain on the net for ages, so perhaps things will look different in a couple of years.

Maybe they will have to incorporate some Action or RPG elements into Mudpie to attract players of other genres. I think that would discourage the adventure player from Mudpie though and there are more of us than just the 3000 at GB.

emma, I too am anticipating Myst IV.

~Dee

I'm definitely skipping out on this game if their making us pay $10 monthly for playing online. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" /> Not gonna happen with me. Can't wait for Myst IV!!!!

Most people in this area have just celebrated the end of the party line, and are most fond of their dial phones, so even if I wanted to upgrade connection it would be greek. But beyond all that, I like to have the physical product in hand - too much can go wrong with a connection, not enough popularity can close the site, etc. Short of GK4 or KQ9, I can't imagine ever doing otherwise.

While I'm interested in the game, if I didn't already have the cable modem for business purposes, I doubt I'd be willing to spring for that and a monthly fee for the game as well.

Given the media coverage on how many broadband providers have gone belly up, I wonder if Cyan is looking at the possibility that they may design a game that very few would play online?

I too prefer the actual game in my hands versus some online experience. It's the control factor that I enjoy I guess.

What I don't like about Mudpie is that it is a ROLE PLAYING GAME THAT MUST BE PLAYED WITH OTHERS - ie, not a game where I'm playing against myself. (or at least from their write-up I infer it's a RPG)

I asked my husband, who is a big on-line rpg person, about this & he said that unfortunately it's very expensive (both time & money) to make really high quality games that don't sell to enough people to pay for themselves, & that on-line games with a fixed fee/month or fee/year is the "wave of the future." Considering how many game developers have gone belly-up, he may be right. But that doesn't mean I have to like it! Or support it!

Hi all,
I admit I have mixed feelings about the "multiplayer" aspect of Mudpie, but I'm going to try it out when it comes out. I've been following info about the game pretty closely at Mudpie Obsession - http://www.uruobsession.com/ . Everything you could possibly want to know about Mudpie is there,every article, interview, picture, screen shot, speculation, those folks are really into it!
The Cyan site is nice too - http://www.dnicouncil.com/news.html .

I'm unclear about how they are going to do gameplay. Adventure games, with their structure of beginning, middle, end, don't seem to translate to a never ending game. I would assume there would have to be some RPG elements in it - people are going to have something to do so they keep playing the game! I'm also interested in seeing how they pull it off - one server, multiple servers, pricing, do you really need broadband (seems kinds of restrictive), that sort of thing.

Since I'm following the progress so closely, as soon it comes out and I get on, I'll do a report for gameboomers. I'm still predicting that Mudpie will come out this year.

On multiplayer games - Gamespy went to the Game Developers Conference 2002. Here's a neat link to an article they did on massively multiplayer online games. The info is from the panels and discussions they attended at GDC.

http://www.gamespy.com/gdc2002/mmog/

Great article on GDC mszv! Thanks for the link. Lot's of interesting ideas to digest.

After reading the part about how to practice "crowd control" on the thousands upon thousands of players logged on at any one time and what to do about the tiny percentage who delight in tormenting the new, unwary gamer, all I can say to the developers is I would hestiate to shell out cash just to have someone make what was left of my day miserable. That I can get for free.

Mike

Hi Mike and all.........

I am with the folks that mentioned that they like to have in hand the product they have purchased. In other words, when I buy a game I want it to be mine. I want to see it on my shelf and play it again whenever I want to. We purchased Everquest and its enhanced package, Scars of Velious, for a hefty price each (product in hand). Then, we played the game on the internet for six/seven months. IMHO other players often made the game miserable to experience (if you are not into fighting and stealing a lot) in the first place. We were paying out ten dollars a month to be abused on an ongoing basis. LOL Not fun. Also, because you are automatically docked the 10 bucks a month, you feel compelled to play the game. I wasn't comfortable with that either. We did have the games' CDs to show for the expense, but if the administration on Mudpie is anything like it has been with Everquest the developers might devote some added attention to it, in designing the program and turning out the finished product. Paying moderators to oversee this game on a 24 hour basis would seem to be a significant expense in time and/or bucks! Just my opinion.......

Love, Witchen =O)

These are all great comments - clearly there is a large number of people here who prefer having a physical game in their hands as opposed to an on-line subscription service.

Let's not forget that we're commenting on shadows and fog - we have very few hard facts about the game so far, and we should reserve our judgement until we see some actual details about the structure and gameplay.

Personally, I'm open to the idea, but they need to sort out this immersion vs. interaction problem. While we all want games to be immersive (who doesn't), we don't necessarily want to interact with other players in real-time particularly those whose purpose is to decrease out enjoyment of the game.

I hope Cyan carefully considers these points.