Editing BatMUD (section)

==Virtual community and Playerbase==
It is arguable that ''BatMUD'' formed one of the earliest virtual communities of gamers on the Internet.
What marks the community significant, is the active operation and participation of the individuals within the [[virtual community]].<ref>[http://www.massively.com/2007/11/25/batmud-back-online-and-still-in-business/ BatMUD: back online and still in business by Jonathan Northwood]</ref>  Several conventions and events are being held across the world, with one of the most notable probably being the Indiana, U.S. based Campcon,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.campcon.org/ |title=Campcon 11 website, Clay City, Indiana, USA |access-date=2008-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517171612/http://www.campcon.org/ |archive-date=2008-05-17 }}</ref> being held for the 11th consecutive year in June, 2009 &mdash; a [[real life]] gathering of active participants of the ''BatMUD'' community.  Similar events are held in Europe and [[Scandinavia]] every year.

''BatMUD'' provides a range of interplayer communication methods, allowing the players to talk and chat.  Though the majority (about 2/3) of the players reside in Finland, the game itself is wholly in English, enabling it to host a large player base from several countries, including many European countries, the United States, Canada and Australia.  Together with [[Role-playing game|roleplay]] not being strictly enforced, the common language of English allows debates to flourish.

With about one hundred players simultaneously online,<ref>'Average online players' user graph on the official web site of BatMUD, checked on 2014-12-27 [http://www.bat.org/help/who]</ref> it is also one of the largest traditional MUDs.  However, with the rise of [[massively multiplayer online game]]s its popularity has fallen off in recent years with fewer new players joining.  Aggressive efforts have been made to make the MUD more newbie friendly<ref name="carton">{{cite book
 | last = Carton | first = Sean | author-link = Sean Carton
 | title = Internet Virtual Worlds Quick Tour
 | publisher = Ventana Press
 | year = 1995
 | isbn = 1-56604-222-4
 | pages = 150–151
 | quote = While it may be a tough place to start out, BatMUD is pretty hospitable for newbies, too, because of its great help system and special newbie goodies.
}}</ref> but most players continue to be well established players who have invested months or years into the game.  As with many other popular online games, [[Behavioral addiction|addiction]] is not unknown.

''BatMUD'' employs a [[virtual economy]],<ref>Masters Thesis about "Virtual gift - Trading gifts in BatMUD virtual community" [http://thesis.jyu.fi/07/URN_NBN_fi_jyu-2007234.pdf]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (in finnish)</ref> with players selling rare items and favours to each other in the game's internal currency.  Sale of characters or equipment for real life money is forbidden.<ref>[http://www.bat.org/help/help?htype=extra&str=trading Official BatMUD help file on 'trading']</ref>  If it has occurred, it has not been a major problem.