Because MUDs/Roguelikes are hard. MMORPGs (esp. WoW) treat death as more of a waste of time, instead of, well, death. I've been putting a ton of hours into MD: Shiren for the DS the last couple of weeks, and assembling an uber-sword of uberness was way more exciting when I felt it MEANT something (ie: maybe I won't die horribly this time).

Eggo:
Woah...They have roguelikes for the DS? :o

Recommendations?!?!

Yeah, the DS has kinda revived the genre, and that's a good thing.

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is my fave right now for difficulty/challenge alone, Izuna 2 just came out (haven't played either), and heck, there's even the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon ones (they seem pretty watered down though). Shiren is the roguelike for the old-timers like me who don't have the time/patience for the oldies anymore ;)

2 main reasons why I prefer roguelikes over MMOs (although the only roguelike I've really played is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I'm not sure how typical it is of the genre)

1) No MMO community. I hate those fags
2) No monthly subscription, meaning you can stop playing when you get bored and pick it up months later without worrying about money issues or your account being deleted.

PKMN Mystery Dungeon 2 somehow made it to catch me for over 50 hours. People say this one is much more starter friendly, means less punishing you for doing mistakes, then Shiren.

And I second Grausteinīs reasons why I prefer this kind of games over MMOs.

This games can be played alone, lag free, and PKMN MD 2 even "simulates" having a small party by given you a partner (he will interact with your char through the entire storyline) and two severel slots for recruitet PKMN. There are even some basic AI orders like "stay in the 2nd line" or "free hunting". This three "bots" will work better with you then most of the typical MMO retards you will find, seriously. Later you can even freely design your team, this means you can try your luck with four Pichus if you want to.

Baroque is a great Rougelike, but it also has an insane difficultly level. Normal mode is very tough.

For the reasons I like these types of games over MMO's: 1)There is no such thing as grinding in Rougelikes and 2)The main object to Rougelikes is survivial. When you die, you lose everything, including levels.

Part of it is nostalgia and simplicity. Lots of people play old games just to have a feeling of how games used to be, and MUDs are no exception. They're also simple interfaces, requiring less of you than other games.

I had my fun with MUDs. They were great ways to pass the time while in college. But the population of MUDs is so small these days that the community, which is another significant reason that people keep playing them over MMOs, is just not around. There are well-established folks and it is very difficult to get in on the crowd.

I used to play a few MUDs. Lusternia, Discworld, Carrion Fields were all really fun. The thing I tend to enjoy about MUDs is their communities are way more mature than, say, WoW.

1) No obnoxious people spamming text, or even any other people at all.

2) You can play Rogueclones slowly and methodically if you choose, but you can also get things moving pretty quick once you know what you're doing. MMO's only get slower in pace as you get further.

3) We're old.

I love me some Roguelikes, I prefer them to MMOs simply because I can take my time and aren't irked by idiot teammates. Plus I feel like I've really accomplished something when I've passed a Roguelike, I felt like the friggen man when I ascended in NetHack.

Eggo: There is another Roguelike on the DS called Izuna (well two if you count its sequel), it's not as good as Shiren because it's a little more stripped down. But I found it fun.

* Death actually means something. Look at us nethack players - sure you can use the save file, but we consider that a dirty dirty cheat.
* The community is great
* The dungeons don't stay the same. Sure you get fixed levels but the grinding is done in new and random environments.
* No subscription.

My personal biggest reason is that there is no time basing to it. Sure some creatures can move more than one floor-tile per second and there's all the rules surrounding that, but if I flick the game into the background (as I have done right now) I'm not going to get sniped in the head because I'm just standing there. The game becomes more about my skill level than the luck of some kid with a scope.

Gitsnik-Mal-Hum-Mon-Cha D.LvL 16. LvL 21 Satiated

Well the fun of a Rougelike is beating it,True there is grinding but in most cases it's not just your level but using what items you randomly find to kill the monsters in it.It also depends on the Rougelike to and what it allows you to keep in death of course.I think there is alot more thought and tactics mixed with the "grind" then in a MMO where it doesn't require much or any thinking at all.

Personally, I don't understand the appeal of losing everything when you've put a lot of time into a game, but that's just me. Do you also enjoy games with three lifes and no continues more?

Lock describes it all.