> For atleast 7+ years, people have been saying how outdated the old text
> mud is, and that it will become extinct soon. Well, here it is the year
> 2000, and CF still has a fairly strong player base. Many new people are
> attracted to it each day, and many old players who don't play regularly
> will still check in from time to time just to see what's new. While there
> may not be as many new startup muds springing up each week as there once
> were, it is obvious that the muds which have endured this long will be
> sticking around for awhile.

> The people who play CF are a diverse crowd, pretty much any social class
> and nationality is represented, and there's a wide variety of expectations
> each player has for each character. Somehow, even after the initial coolness
> factor wears off, people still stick with it.

> What I would like to know is….
>
>
>
>
>
> 1) Approximately how many hours have you put into CF total, with
> all your characters? Is there any other form of entertainment that has
> taken near the number of hours as CF?

All my characters? Umm... Almost a thousand, I think. I read more than play CF, so that's taken up huge chunks of time. But then, I do a lot of different things that, when combined, take up more time than CF. aThis isn't including sleeping and working.

> 2) Have you ever tried any of the graphical pay muds that are out
> there? Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Everquest, etc? Do you think any
> of them could ever replace what CF means to you?

No.

> 3) Do you think text-based muds will be able to continue to compete
> in the coming years? Will they evolve enough to continue attracting new
> players?

Sure, why not? Text-games appeal to some people; graphics games to others. I think that, as long as those text-game players are out there, MUDS will survive.

> 4) When you think of your life 5 years from now, do you imagine
> yourself still playing mud-type games?

It's be nice. It's a good form of entertainment. I probably won't lose much sleep over CF going down. Eventually, I'll just find something else to do.

> 5) If you had the time, and money/hardware was not a factor, would
> you spend 8 hours a day playing CF in its current form? Would you
> play one of the graphical Pay-muds? Or would you divide your time between
> them, depending on your mood?

I've played CF for eight hour stretches before. It gets old. I would not pay for a graphical MUD or any of the Ultima Everquest what-evers.

> 6) Have you ever forced yourself to quit mudding, only to lose
> control of yourself at some point and find yourself back? Do you or others
> ever look at CF as an addiction or Illness? Have you ever lost a close
> relationship/job/class because you could not pull yourself away from the
> game?

No. I started on this MUD a while ago. Maybe 1997? Tureanthen was Emperor when I made my first character, I remember that. I played two or three chars and got so disgusted with dying all the time that I quit for a good while. Just started back up in December. Basically I quit when I feel like giving up, like all good quitters should. CF as an addiction? Anything can be an addiction, I suppose. And yes, I've skipped class to play CF.

> 7) Have you ever seriously considered ways to make mudding a paying
> career or job? Have you ever mudded while working, even though it might
> get you in trouble?

> I am writing a research report on the future of mud-type games, so am
> interested in any opinions people might have on these topics. Feel free
> to make any other comments or insight on these topics, just keep in mind
> that no matter how pathetic you might think of yourself for putting a
> ton of hours into this game may be, there's always somebody who has played
> more.