Ramp Up

The Process of Going from a Standing Start to a Virtual World

Most virtual worlds start with a test server on which only the designers, developers and artists play the game. This is usually pure <i>alpha</i>. Then they add friends and coworkers for a <i>limited beta</i>, followed by a <i>live beta</i> and an <i>open beta</i>. MUDs tend to skip some of these steps. I'm not sure this is a good idea.

Stillflame has proposed using SimCulture as a part of the FaerieMUD ramp-up process. I think this is worth looking into. Organic Creation shows a proposal for using SimKingdom as a way substituting for the <i>alpha</i> and/or <i>live beta</i> steps of the ramp-up.

— Scotus - 24 Sep 2003