I want to talk a little bit about some of the things that can be done to enhance the visual appeal of MUDs. This may sound a bit odd given that a MUD is all about text, but the text can still be presented in ways that are are more visually appealing. This is particularly important if you want to attract players new to MUDs who may find the look of a console window unfamiliar and intimidating.
Fonts
Most MUDs produce output that assumes a fixed width font with layouts and primitive graphics using ASCII characters. These fonts however are not as visually attractive as those typically used on the web and in print. Users new to MUDs may find these fonts harder to read, yet if they switch to a more familiar font the MUD formatting may be skewed and elements such as ASCII maps will be unreadable. I believe that MUDs should not use any ASCII art or formatting that relies on a fixed width font and instead promote the use of more familiar web friendly fonts.
Graphical elements
While MUDs will always be principally a text medium, certain information can be better represented using graphic elements alongside the text. For example guages or bars can be used to represent statistics such as hit points, and location information can best be shown with a graphical map.
Window layout
Traditionally a MUD has presented all its information line by line in a single console window, however modern clients are also capable of separating output between multiple windows or screen areas. This latter approach is more typical of the web or a GUI application. Some examples of areas where a separate interface could be used are maps, statistics, inventory, score, communication or location description. This could take the form of a popup window, tabs, or a separate window in the main screen.
Conclusions
MUDs were originally accessed via a telnet console, however modern clients are capable of displaying game information in ways that are more visually appealing. Servers can still maintain compatibility with telnet clients by using subnegotiation to pass any additional information necessary to customise the display. Whether through a custom client or simply by providing scripts for popular third party clients, I believe that MUDs who present a more visually appealing experience will find it easier to attract and retain new players.
bcdev.design.blog 
I agree 100%.
I think everything listed can be done. My only problem is the fonts part. I agree that fixed width fonts are lame, but so many aspects in our games require it. From in game maps to lining things data into columns, the fixed font is required.
If only there was a way…
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I’ve been playing a game in alpha recently that I think really nails it in visual appeal; it’s Archons of Avenshar at http://www.avenshar.com.
As I said it’s in alpha so still quite basic. However the interesting thing here is that the game is so easy on the eyes that it’s quite fun to play despite being as basic as it is.
Importantly for this discussion this mud does not implement telnet, and no doubt there is still a substantial portion of mud players that use the telnet protocol in a terminal application. However I’d be curious to find out what portion of players could just as easily use a different protocol and not really notice, and of course it goes without saying a player completely new to muds is not likely to care whether they’re using telnet at all.
I don’t want to suggest that telnet doesn’t have major advantages, particularly on mobile platforms right now. It’s a thorny issue.
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@Jeremy
It would be interesting to set up two alternative landing pages for new players with web clients and have one default to a fixed width font and one default to something like Verdana. I am guessing you’d see better numbers from the one with Verdana, but whether there would be enough of a difference to make you want to bite the bullet and drop the fixed width formatting is another matter.
@George
I agree Avenshar has an appealing look and I think it’s largely down to the font. Last time I looked there wasn’t really anything they were doing that couldn’t be implemented using telnet anyway. With subnegotiation you can pretty much send all the custom data you need while retaining compatibility with existing clients.
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