A Review from the Owner's Perspective - 2010

[Gatz]

I figure it is nice to revisit a review from me, since it has been about 3 years. Some things change, some things stay the same. It has been a ride. I feel like NarutoMUD has become even better than it ever has and I'm pretty happy with how the game has been shaping up, with a few exceptions.

I think our core systems have evolved to the point where our skill setup is really exciting. My goal was to let players create a ninja who isn't just a shallow copy of a show character, but their own character in the Naruto universe. Someone who is unique and cool. I've tried to fight the tides of players wanting Kekkei Genkai, or bloodline limits, because I felt it would ultimately unbalance the game and produce 'right paths' or, in other words, you have to get Sharingan to have a successful character, or you have to get Byakugan to be able to be competitive. I think any game that just tries to do a mad grab of players by offering those will not be able to truly be balanced. Also, the game will just devolve rapidly with no need to focus on learning how to use a skill effectively, but just acquiring the most broken Kekkei Genkai.

All that said, however, I do look forward to finding new ways to offer up interesting possibilities to further let players customize their shinobi. I think Custom Genjutsu was an interesting start and I'd love to explore more things like that. I think NarutoMUD offers so much more than many other games out there.

Frankly, sometimes I forget how many things we have in the game. I truly think we have one of the best Japanese themed games out there, period. The builders and I have tried to ensure that things are kept in line with not just the Naruto anime but Japanese culture. Having been to Japan a couple times, it is really easy for me to spot obviously phony pseudo-Japanese things people try to cram into games. Despite my efforts though, I think this also has bit NarutoMUD.

A lot of people have told me that things are a bit too daunting for a non-Naruto diehard. I can see that, logging into a new game and all of a sudden names are flipped, skill names are in Japanese, and there are things like blood types. I think the skill names alone turn off a lot of people, I've seen people propose a solution which is toggle-able names which can switch skill names to English, but I really think that is only a good fix on paper. Imagine if we used “Phoenix Fire Flower” instead of “Hosenka”, I doubt people would know what either of those were, except that it might have something to do with fire. I'm really not sure how to approach that problem, and my only ideas so far are to make YouTube tutorial videos for NarutoMUD.

I think a couple simple “Let's Play!” videos for NarutoMUD would help us get a lot more players. I think a simple explanation of what Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Ningu are could aid a lost player. Explaining how to raise ability points, spend practices and use Shuuren or Handseal as well. It seems most players either gloss over helpfiles or ignore them, but most people don't mind passively watching videos to adsorb information. So, maybe that avenue will help us.

I think our player base has been fluctuating worse than it ever has been. This really hurts to see. It seems our core of players has moved on to greener pastures. However, this leaves a big void. Really, it is hard to motivate yourself or other Immortals when no one is on. Things end up spinning into a vicious circle. Less players mean less building and coding gets done, which means even less players which means even less building and coding gets done. This repeats until things grind to a halt, and we've hit that point a couple times in the past couple years. I'd kill to find a handful of builders who can really sink their teeth into areas. However, with very few players, options are limited. Hiring outside builders is usually a worthless endeavor. Hiring players is usually one of the best routes to go, but you run the risk of taking an active player and making them an Immortal, and then they realize there is a different type of work involved with it, then they both flake out of being an Immortal and you lose an active player. So, you get a double whammy.

For awhile, I've considered shutting the old girl down. However, it seems a few people are still attached to it, but I worry spending more time and energy on it will be a lost cause. After 6 years, I don't think I should be this strapped for players or builders, but I am. Did NarutoMUD fail? I don't think so. What happened? I think it is partially theme based, and another might be luck possibly, or making mistakes and not hiring the right people to help. Anytime I see a new Naruto theme MUD try to start, I feel a bit betrayed, because they could be helping make NarutoMUD better, but instead they prefer to try to start their own thing, which 99% of the time never materializes.

NarutoMUD has outlasted many possible competitors. At time of writing, the only two that are truly still able to compete are World of Naruto and Naruto MUSH: Rivalry. Out of those two, only World of Naruto is close enough to NarutoMUD to compare. World of Naruto was started by a disgruntled ex-player of NarutoMUD and does borrow liberally from NarutoMUD, both in its skills and lore. It also offers a large difference to play styles. Instead of a 'fine tuning' of characters, it opts to let you just load up on skills, many of which are just copies or renames of stock skills. Obviously I am not paying any complements to World of Naruto, but I appreciate that we have some form of competition and options for other people. However, the way in which the owner conducts himself is, at best, abrasive. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to find their website and read their 'link' to NarutoMUD and see what I mean.

I think the largest difference between our two MUDs is the type of player we attract. NarutoMUD's system of cooperation and lack of PK has kept most griefers away. Players who try to use the Arena as something to leverage against other players have been punished or warned, keeping the atmosphere as friendly as possible. Over all, I really like this. I hate games that let a griefer type player thrive unchecked. I've seen really fun games ruined by 2-3 people who keep themselves strong and keep everyone else weak and battered so that they can be 'King's. However, this ultimately drives players away and then when the player base is so low that they can't get their jollies they leave. Creating an empty game. This isn't the type of game I want NarutoMUD to be or become.

At time of writing this, we have no PK. However, this is a requested feature and something that I do plan on adding. I know we'd probably get a lot more players with this added, and not all griefers as I don't want to say I believe all people who enjoy PK are griefers. Except I want to do it right. Which leads me to something I'd like to talk about which is the pace of development.

NarutoMUD has a leisurely development pace, but it seems much faster, to me, than the average MUD. I believe our core issue is needing a very active build staff and simply having a theme with such rich character that it demands the impossible. I think we've got a lot of great content, but the best has yet to come. From my experiences, I believe that introducing features too soon is not good. Genjutsu could have been a variety of things, but I think what it did become was better than I had originally planned. If I had rushed in PK, it probably wouldn't have satisfied anyone. However, going slow and mixing in player feedback is the way to go. I believe players don't always realize this, but a lot of changes I make I expect player feedback to help mold it for future iteration on it.

One such case was the change to maximum amount of trains. The issue arose that players across the board had very, very high stats. As such, there was no incentive to try to adjust their builds or find friends to group with. The initial plan was to lower them to 50, and it was so until some players came forward and demonstrated that 50 was too few. Then it become 60, which the general consensus was that that was good. Other things have been tweaked like this such as Hosenka, which was dramatically changed, God Fist, which was only lightly tweaked, and Throw, again a light change. I believe in the spirit of community and with that community NarutoMUD has grown better than I could have done by myself.

It is that spirit of community which helps and hurt NarutoMUD. My hope is that all players who enjoy NarutoMUD feel the sense of community I do about it, and grow the desire to help let NarutoMUD grow further. The players today who donate money to the game, spend time building areas, submit bug reports, submitting ideas and help new players pave a road of greatness for NarutoMUD's future. I can't even begin to imagine the world of NarutoMUD without such community. We'd probably still be sitting back where we began in just a 50 vnum zone, with about 10 skills.

I guess I'd like to end my review with a preview, or maybe just a vision. When I close my eyes, I see NarutoMUD of tomorrow. From the sandy dunes of the Wind Country to the forests of the Fire Country. I see the entire world of Naruto being explorable and fun. I see players teaming up with other players to venture outside the walls of their respective villages to go on exciting missions. I see the skill trees that open up crazy paths to wild skills to customize a shinobi into many, many unique things. It is a really fun vision that I want to share with everyone, however without everyone's help it'll just stay a vision.

A great thank you for all the folks out there that have given so much to NarutoMUD already. I hope in another 3 years, I might have something more to write about in a review. I hope that I can still see you all then, too. Who would have that NarutoMUD could last almost 6 years?! Boy, time flies. Thanks for a wonderful 6 years, and to another great 6.

[Eod]

Uh? Dude? Are you serious?

I was here way, way back in the day, before Hosenka was even on our slist. I don't think we even had an alist back then. I told you the problem you were going to have, and bam, I was right:

Why the hell would a player stay here?

1 - You never reached beta. Understandable based off of your coding style. But from a player perspective, it's like, "wow this game isn't moving anywhere." There's a solid defense for a rebuttal here, but it doesn't matter, players are players.

2 - What has changed, -really-? It's still the same game. You log on, you grind. Please don't tell me you RP, because I've seen some of the RP on this MUD on and off over the years when I'd log on to see if you finally lifted alpha status and that's not RP. A lot of our generation MUDders have moved onto MUSHes were life is a bit more mature and things are a bit more complicated and in-depth.

3 - WHAT community? Even if this pbase was bustling, what do we really have in common? Nothing. There are no events, nothing to look forward to other than the hope that one day Gatz will unleash his plethora of hidden things he's coded over the years and won't let us test [you mitigated this with earlyplay, which I don't think was utilized very well].

4 - Why would this game appeal to the older Naruto fan? Let's face it, MUDding is dying. Us old relics that are still around are from an older generation. Assuming we ARE a Naruto fan, why would this game entice us? There's no real RP with results, no conflict PvP or PvM, and no stat-derived orgasmic progress we can pursue because that gets our jollies off. Who cares about reaching level 300 when it's nothing more than a eyeball bleeding grind contest? Hell the game kind of ends around level 80.

5 - Why would this game appeal to NON-Naruto fans? Great attention to detail with the names, the theme, bloodtype, blah blah blah, but why would a non-Naruto fan even bother checking it out? What's unique about it? I can only think of one thing that's somewhat unique: LSC.

6 - Where is the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment in this game? For most of us gamers, it's the feeling of winning or being recognized amongst our peers as a good gamer/RPer/builder/GMer/whatever. But in NarutoMUD, there's no personality.

7 - Most importantly, are you making the MUD for yourself, or for the players? There is a clear substantial difference between the two and I think it's safe to say for you it's the former. You could compromise and say that you're hoping players will jump along for the ride, but as you said : its disheartening to do this alone. If that's the case, just put the MUD out of its misery, and maybe release the source code. Somebody with better PR skills will get it up and running. Hell, just look how many times Utopia Type Final has been rebooted these past 6 years.

[Gatz]

I appreciated your candid honesty. I hope you can register in our forums and become a regular poster! I don't have time at this moment to respond to any of your points, but I will later.

[Yamashita]

Who cares about reaching level 300 when it's nothing more than a eyeball bleeding grind contest?

While I may not agree with much of what you said, I can wholeheartedly get behind this statement. To answer your question: Absolutely nobody.

[Gatz]

Uh? Dude? Are you serious?

I was here way, way back in the day, before Hosenka was even on our slist. I don't think we even had an alist back then. I told you the problem you were going to have, and bam, I was right:

Some how, I'm not entirely sure of that. Except, hopefully you'll keep coming around to help us out now.

1 - You never reached beta. Understandable based off of your coding style. But from a player perspective, it's like, "wow this game isn't moving anywhere." There's a solid defense for a rebuttal here, but it doesn't matter, players are players.

I've been very clear on what I consider 'Beta', the simple fact that the word means anything is silly. The game remains interesting, and all we truly need now are just the builders to put in zones. A word of note, GMail was Beta for over a decade, they only removed the term "Beta" because businesses were too scared to adopt it as an email solution.

You can argue we should have more areas, but I feel hard pressed to say we don't have enough content to qualify as a 'Beta' state in terms of how MUDs usually call themselves. However, I come from a professional game background and that isn't what a real Beta is. 99% of MUDs just call themselves 'Beta' to make it seem like there is more done than really is.

2 - What has changed, -really-? It's still the same game. You log on, you grind. Please don't tell me you RP, because I've seen some of the RP on this MUD on and off over the years when I'd log on to see if you finally lifted alpha status and that's not RP. A lot of our generation MUDders have moved onto MUSHes were life is a bit more mature and things are a bit more complicated and in-depth.

Hrm, about 30-50 more skills, skills trees, abilities, ability points, shuuren, handseal, auto-earning RPP for roleplaying, auto-earning experience for roleplaying, Tons and tons of new missions, specially tailored newbie missions, a bunch of new zones (a total of about 800 more vnums), the ability to have equipment level up, upgrade into new items and also customize max level items. Hrm, what else? Special battle abilities, integration of MUD content directly accessible on our website, FB client, website client, friend's list, Twitter intergration, a head's up dynamic map of the area around you, radios, blood types, skill favorites, and much much more.

Really, read through the change logs.I think a lot of changes have happened. Also, I find your statement about MUSHes being more mature a really obnoxious statement. Especially if there is nothing coded in but a dice thrower and the ability to 'pose' or 'emote'. When there is nothing to code, you obviously have more freedom. However, with MUShes, I see a lot of people just making carbon copies of their favorite ninja and just doing group fan-fiction. NarutoMUD is an actual game, with actual rules and actual things. We could never offer the same experience as a MUSH, simply because we don't allow that level of freedom with RP. I don't think that makes us 'less mature' it just makes us a 'game' and not a 'talker'. You could take the average MUSH and move it into a chat room like TinyChat and get the exact same experience. I think people who play MUSHes want something different than a hack and slash type experience. They want to have an interactive fan-fiction. Simply put, we don't compete with each other because we offer a very different experience. I have strong doubts any hardcore fans of Naruto MUSH Rivalry will log into NM and like it. I've seen people try, they log in and go "Hey, I was able to RP and Sasuke's twin that no one knew about, can I create my own custom Mangekyou Sharingan here? No...well this place sucks." Obviously they want some coded system, whereas the MUSH is pure RP with maybe a buffer here or there to save info like that, but no real system in place for it.

3 - WHAT community? Even if this pbase was bustling, what do we really have in common? Nothing. There are no events, nothing to look forward to other than the hope that one day Gatz will unleash his plethora of hidden things he's coded over the years and won't let us test [you mitigated this with earlyplay, which I don't think was utilized very well].

I don't unleash code on players which I find buggy. When I release stuff, it is ready or close enough. I'm not holding anything back really. If you'd like the chance to test code even earlier, become an Immortal. They usually get the sad task of player testing stuff, however that usually ends up in their test characters and Immortal character pfiles getting wonky and ruined.

As for the community, I think there is a lot in common across the players. A large reward of the game is grouping with other players and forming bonds. You can certainly play the game solo, but you're missing out on a lot of fun.

4 - Why would this game appeal to the older Naruto fan? Let's face it, MUDding is dying. Us old relics that are still around are from an older generation. Assuming we ARE a Naruto fan, why would this game entice us? There's no real RP with results, no conflict PvP or PvM, and no stat-derived orgasmic progress we can pursue because that gets our jollies off. Who cares about reaching level 300 when it's nothing more than a eyeball bleeding grind contest? Hell the game kind of ends around level 80.

I'm not sure MUDing is 'dying'. People said MUDing was 'dying' back in 1995. People said MMOs weren't profitable enough to last before WoW came out. MUDs are a niche, and I think part of the issue is the interface is daunting. Name a single really big consumer product or game which is pure command line interface? If it has a command line, it probably is optional or only for debug. I've seen MUDs mitigate these issues with great results and attract a large pool of players.

There is the Arena for PvP and plenty of NPCs to fight, as well as a complex skill system to master. The game goes way beyond level 80 for quests and such. I think you should play the actual game again, I get the feeling you wrote this without starting on the MUD for long.

5 - Why would this game appeal to NON-Naruto fans? Great attention to detail with the names, the theme, bloodtype, blah blah blah, but why would a non-Naruto fan even bother checking it out? What's unique about it? I can only think of one thing that's somewhat unique: LSC.

NarutoMUD is loaded with cool unique things. The skill system for starters. We've had many players who don't like Naruto come, play the game and enjoy it.

6 - Where is the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment in this game? For most of us gamers, it's the feeling of winning or being recognized amongst our peers as a good gamer/RPer/builder/GMer/whatever. But in NarutoMUD, there's no personality.

Not really sure why you wouldn't feel accomplished. In the Arena, you can fight your way up the ranks. With RP, you can use RPP to your customize and power up your character. This point is lost. Are you expecting Trophies or Achievements in the game? Does playing a game like WoW give you a feeling of accomplishment?

7 - Most importantly, are you making the MUD for yourself, or for the players? There is a clear substantial difference between the two and I think it's safe to say for you it's the former. You could compromise and say that you're hoping players will jump along for the ride, but as you said : its disheartening to do this alone. If that's the case, just put the MUD out of its misery, and maybe release the source code. Somebody with better PR skills will get it up and running. Hell, just look how many times Utopia Type Final has been rebooted these past 6 years.

I doubt I'll ever release the source code for NM. Lots of MUDs have come and gone and tried to do Naruto's theme right, out of them we're the original and one of the few that has lasted. If half the people that tried, simply came to to NM to build it up, it could be much further. It is sort of an arrogant view that you can do it better than someone else, and I see that a lot in MUDing. "I dont like MUD X, so I'm going to make MUD Y and it will be much better." Except it takes a lot of work and time. However, I try to mitigate that by really opening the door wide up for people to join in and get their hands dirty.

If a player wants to go to a forum or place that allows advertisement, or to even their circle of friends, and advertise NarutoMUD, I'm all for it. (Assume it is allowed in whatever spot) Typically, whenever we try to advertise the MUD, it attracts very little traffic. Our best player bumps have come from word of mouth by players talking to their friends. I still think that is the best route.

Same type of deal with advertising for builders. I usually get a flood of guys, but within a week they flake out, and it isn't just because of me, it is pretty common across all MUDs. Finding helpers to build the game with you is neigh impossible. Really, it is pretty easy to point to something and go 'this sucks' but it is pretty hard to roll up your sleeves and help make it better. Right now there is yet another Naruto type MUD in development, made up of former World of Naruto players, and when I asked why they didn't want to help NarutoMUD they simply said they thought they could do better by themselves. However, all their builders flaked on them.

It is a vicious cycle, and I've been looking into contracting out zones and such, but really money is the prohibitive expense for me. I'd love to see NarutoMUD really get big and a lot cooler, but ultimately it is you (the community) that will determine that. So far, the vote has been "We'll come back in a couple years to see if it got better," rather than "Can we make things better?"

Thanks again for your posts, hope to see you around more. I hope some of you read this and get inspired to build for us, we'd love to have you. Thanks again.