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[Piotrhabera]

Hello! I am currently seeking a MUD to play, as the ones I currently play have became somewhat boring. Here are a few guidelines to follow what MUDS I seek:
1: No stock mechanics - Quite simple and straightforward. Stock mechanics are quite boring and muds which posses non-stock and unique mechanics are much more better than non-unique. Examples: limb health system (used in Lost Souls, Stillborn, Accursed Lands, Dartmud and to some extent in Elephant MUD and Cthulhu MUD), Dwarf Fortress-esque health system (used in Stillborn and Harshworlds), multiclassing or class-less system (used in Alter Aeon, DartMUD, Accursed Lands, Roleplay Intensive MUDs and all MUDs that replace classes with guilds (such as 3Kingdoms or Dune)) and intersting guilds that determine the character's build, provide guild-specific helpfiles and changes the prompt in combat (or sometimes outside of it, used in 3Kingdoms, 3Scapes, CLOK (-prompt and helpfiles), Lost Souls (-prompt) and Dune)
2: Friendly playerbase and staff - Events from mostly 2014 and 2015 has caused me to look for MUDs that are more newbie-friendly on the social side, which also include staff/wizards/immortals/whoever maintains and creates content on a given MUD. I have a rather poor tolerance for intolerant pepole, and usualy leave a MUD for some time once first signs of hate have been noticed in the community against my person.
3: Easy access to guilds in guild-based MUDs - I am a person that wants to hop in a guild, test it for a while and then either stay or leave and test another one (a practice known as guildhopping). Muds which require roleplay to join a guild and further roleplay to advance in it usually require you to possess a sufficient amount of game knowledge to even be considered as a possible applicant (and this "lore collection" takes about a few months or a year, depends on the MUD), and after waiting (usually) a month or so, get potentially rejected. Applications are usually submitted in the form of an essay or a motivational letter which take around a hour to write. Advancements are even longer, potentially requiring an entire lifetime to get to the best and most powerfull skills a guild has to offer. For this reason alone, I avoid playing those muds, as I want to be an PLAYER, not an ACTOR. Examples: Xyllomer, Geas and Genesis
4: No roleplay enforced MUDs - Pretty straightforward, I understand players play to become one with their character, disconnect from the real world and enter the fantasy world their character lives in. Some enjoy roleplay, I do not as I would like to play and explore the game's mechanics, combat and crafting systems, not to study game lore (which Ill quickly forget) and think about what I will say next without attracting unwanted staff attention. Examples: Roleplay Intensive MUDs, all MUSHes, all MUXes and some MOOs.
5: Easy access to information about the game's mechanics, information on how to join guilds and non-prohibited quest solution sharing. - I would love to know what is the most optimal build, how to join a guild, what are good newbie builds or most importantly - how do I complete quests? I can understand that the game doesn't want to reveal it's secrets, this encourages the player to actually discover the game mechanics on it's own. I can not understand however why some games cannot share quest solutions, and thus find quest info sharing prohibition to benridiculous. Examples: Lost Souls, 3Kingdoms, 3Scapes (prohibits quest info sharing) and HellMOO.

The above points are merely guidelines on what muds I seek. They are not hard-lined rules and thus you can recommend MUDS who do not follow one or few rules stated above.

All propositions are welcome!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Those who wonder why I haven't posted this on TMC forms: the reason is that I do not know the answers to some verification questions TMC asks for (such as what a MUSH is, or what is 4 times 3 plus 8/2 all squared ((4*3 +8/2)^2). Correct answers are required o all of them to register, and me, being unable to answer them in a correct way, have been forced to post this here.

[xX5N1P3RXx]

I've noticed that most MUDs are made by and for elitists that value roleplay over player enjoyment, so I've never really gotten deep into the MUD scene.

The only MUDs that I've played for any significant amount of time are Wayfar 1444 and InfernoMOO, the former having gone down under for some reason, and the former being an offshoot of HellMOO with a lot less grinding and pretty much no rules, while still being newbie friendly.

[lordcooper]

I've noticed that most MUDs are made by and for elitists that value roleplay over player enjoyment

It never occurred to you that the latter mostly comes from the former for most of their players?  Not everyone wants a mindless hack & slash, and if you do then there are far better places to get this than MUDs.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

I've noticed that most MUDs are made by and for elitists that value roleplay over player enjoyment

It never occurred to you that the latter mostly comes from the former for most of their players?  Not everyone wants a mindless hack & slash, and if you do then there are far better places to get this than MUDs.

Ya. I understand the elitist sentiment, but the Roleplaying is kind of a big point of MUDs. You can hardly criticize a genre on it's main appeal. Now, is there actual elitism in MUDs? Yes, and I think it stems mostly from just having small, consistent communities for dozens of years, but the MUD's real detractor is how limited it is by the genre conventions. There's just so much you CAN'T do outside of RPing it, that it's kind of a let down. There are only a very few, simple core mechanics which aren't necessarily very skill based, and sometimes are so... outdated? that it basically boils down to who can backlog the most attacks in the server buffer.

A MUD board game would be interesting. Like a videogameified version of Diplomacy or Star Wars: Rebellion or Twilight Imperium or EUIV in MUD form, something that focuses more on "the big picture", which is kind of what MUDs are all about. Great on world building and high concept themes/objectives, not so great at simulating the little details. I mean that technology might be stellar for the 70s/80s, but by today's standards, it's just not fun to quest around and fight stuff in MUDs.

[Cthulhu]

always remember when you express your preference to couch everyone else's preferences in words like "mindless" or "elitist" so everyone who likes something you don't like knows they're bad for it

[George_Chickens]

always remember when you express your preference to couch everyone else's preferences in words like "mindless" or "elitist" so everyone who likes something you don't like knows they're bad for it

I don't think this is what he's trying to say. Speaking as someone who quite enjoys MUDs, elitism and circlejerks are enormous problems in so many of them. It's quite easy to see where he's coming from here.

Many formerly medium sized or even large MUDs are subject to this now, where they are occupied by 20 or so internet friends who really do not seem to enjoy you encroaching on their "roleplay experiences", who often have friends in the staff who will try to stop you from it even if it's within the rules. It's not just a MUD problem, either, this extends to practically any open-ended game with a community of roleplayers in it, including SS13.

There's an up and coming MUD/MOO called Stillborn which is still in development. It's sort of roleplay oriented, but it's designed in reaction to the empty, mechanically devoid RP sandboxes with bizarre rules and weirder players. It might be worth checking out. It used to be a splinter of Infernomoo but it is looking to become its own game entirely.

[lordcooper]

always remember when you express your preference to couch everyone else's preferences in words like "mindless" or "elitist" so everyone who likes something you don't like knows they're bad for it

I like mindless hack & slash games though, that wasn't an insult.  I just found it really weird that the dude thought focusing on roleplay in a roleplay focused game was done 'at the expense of player enjoyment'.  It's a truly bizarre viewpoint.