MUDs and WoW

One of the first examples of online real-time virtual worlds were games called multi-user dungeons, or MUDs. These MUDs allowed users to play in a fantasy world in the same vein as games like Dungeons and Dragons, and are considered a precursor to MMORPGs. Despite the advent of games like World of Warcraft, some MUDs are still in operation today. One such MUD is the online game Dragonrealms, which is one of the oldest MUDs still hosting servers today. The biggest difference between a game like Dragonrealms and a game like WoW is the game’s interface. Dragonrealms, and MUDs in general, are entirely text-based. The game presents its world through descriptive text that forces the player to use their imagination. Likewise, every action the player can take must be correctly worded into specific command line arguments the game’s engine can decipher. While these design choices were understandable in times when computers were not powerful enough for color displays, the fact that Dragonrealms remains virtually untouched today is odd. The lack of a GUI gives the game a rather large learning curve as people learn the language and structure necessary to complete any task in the game. As a result the rate of failure in the game is much larger than in WoW. Also, the amount of detail used to describe a player’s location is often rather dense and confusing. Because the player has no visual aid to determine where he is, or where he needs to go, it’s easy to become lost amidst the text. These are all issues that do not exist in WoW thanks to the flow of the game, which is informed by its graphics.

The gameplay and social structure of both games is also incredibly different. World of Warcraft is a much more streamlined experience. The world is already defined through the game’s visuals, and NPCs only exist as merchants or quest givers. Players travel from one region to another, killing enemies, collecting items, and working with other players in order to level their characters. Because Dragonrealms does not have the advantage of pretty graphics, the NPCs play more of a narrative role, describing world elements and teaching the player how to play the game. Grinding in Dragonrealms is almost nonexistent. During my adventures I found no random monsters to fight and I was not forced to collect specific items. However, when I wasn’t grinding, I was struggling with how to squeeze important information from an NPC, so I was still spending ample amounts of time doing nothing.

Socially, WoW is a superior game. The game’s smart use of raids, and group quests encourages players to join together for a common goal. Even though Dragonrealms is a multi-user dungeon, there is little interaction with other players. Not once did I connect or chat with another player. The only clues I got that other players were online were occasional updates that a player entered a room, or was killed. To make matters worse, if I entered a room or town that was actually heavily populated, these updates would zoom past me in the game window, causing me to lose information about my location or what I was supposed to do next. And still nobody said a word to anyone else. It’s true Dragonrealms is WoW’s predecessor in many ways. But the problems found in the game are evident of a genre that desperately needed to evolve.