[thelenian]

After reading another thread ranting about bad MUDs, I started to wonder, what MUDs out there do you consider to be either advancing the state-of-the-art or genre-defining?

What I am looking for:
-MU* that are consistently innovative.
-MU* that defined a new genre.
-A short (1-3 sentences) desc of why you chose to mention each particular MU*.
-MU* that are still active.

What I am not looking for:
-MU* that are fun/great/super/awesome/whatever. I'm looking for only the two things mentioned. While the aforementioned adjectives often apply to innovative and original MU*, they do not necessarily mean that a MU* is innovative. If it's just fun, but not innovative or truly original, I don't want to hear about it. No offence intended, but if it's based on Diku (or one of its derivatives), it's 90% likely that I don't want to hear about it. These MUDs are usually prime examples of what is fun, but neither consistently innovative nor original (by definition).
-MU* that define a particular theme. Theme-based MUDs are, at least in theme, not original by definition, and there is no meaningful way for a MU* to be "innovative" with respect to a theme. If a theme-based MU* happens to be broadly innovative, then that's fine, but I don't want to see "X is the original SW/WoT/D&D/LoTR MUD".

In a (probably futile) attempt to keep the ad spam out of the thread, I'm going to ask everyone to please leave out your home MUD.

That said, I'll start things off (please be aware that my experiences with some of the MUDs mentioned is several years old):

PvP:
Genocide - Genocide defined the pure PvP genre. The MUD is purely wars, and nothing else. The PvP of any other MUD (at least in my experience) is nowhere near the level found on Genocide, with the sole exception of...

Tsunami - Tsunami continually pushes the limits of PvP, both solo and cooperative, with periodic MUD-wide wars and a port dedicated to nonstop PvP.

RP:
Armageddon - The definitive hardcore RPI MUD. RP is the religion of Armageddon, and its pbase are all zealots .

Tech:
Accursed Lands - One of the most realistic and in-depth simulations in a MUD environment. Still in beta, but lots of potential to test the limits.

[Burr]

Not listing my home mud is easy for me, because I don't have one. I roam around trying out each mud for a few minutes or days before moving on to the next. Muds are like a box of chocolates...blah blah blah.

The mud that surprised me the most is The Inquisition (though maybe it wouldn't have surprised me so much if I had any MUSH background.) An RP-intensive mud, experience comes mostly from roleplay; and it's handled by code, not as rare rewards from observant admins. Walking across a room takes time; but you can say "travel [room name]" and if you probably know how to get there from where you are, then you don't have to enter all the direction commands.

And then there is the fact that the focus of the game is the part of the game you'll least likely be personally involved in, the inquisition of mages (who apparently are quite scarce; I never saw one). Or maybe that means that the focus is on the sidelines of the story rather than the story itself. Or maybe I just never found my way into the main part of the story, what with the short time I was there and all; but it seemed to me that almost everyone except the political leaders was on the sidelines as well, and maybe they were too.

[Dionae]

Legends of Karinth is still in beta, but it is a mud that I was rather impressed with. One of the most innovative features I found was its skill system. This is probably the first classless mud I've ever tried, so I'm not entirely sure if the system is original or not, but it completely changed my view on classless muds. I had always shied away from classless muds, because I had envisioned being able to pick skills and spells from any class, and had thoughts of characters running around with backstab, bash, portal, multi-missle, and countless other skills/spells.. super characters with the best skills from every class.

But, the way this system works, is that in order to learn a higher tiered skill, you must first practice the skills in the lower tiers. For instance, to learn backstab, you must first practice rogue tactics, then stealth, then hide, then sneak. If you practice rogue tactics to 60%, then you can only practice the next tier to 60%, and must spend another practice on rogue tactics to be able to practice the other skills any higher. In this way, there won't be any "super characters" running around, unless they have saved up a lot of practices.

Also, Legends of Karinth has unlimited levels, so you won't feel pressured to attain some ultimate "hero" level, and can take time to roleplay without worrying about "catching up" with all the others. And, at the same time, people who enjoy leveling will always have something to do. And, if you're bored one evening, you can always go level while waiting for some other characters to show up.

Those were just two features that I was particularly impressed with. And, at the beginning, I was a little unsure about both of them, but they turned out to be two of the strongpoints of the game for me. There were a few things about the game that I didn't really like, but each player has his or her own personal tastes. It may or may not be a mud where I would choose to stay, but I do think that it deserves to be listed as one of the more innovative muds out there.

[KaVir]

I was also very impressed with some of the features of the Inquisition, in particular the magic system (which requires the spellcaster to perform different rituals to balance their power with the phases of the 5 moons), and the automated roleplaying-exp system (I'm a great fan of automated systems).

Another mud which I impressed with was Harshlands, which had some rather cool RP-oriented features such as being able to listen to people talking at a nearby table (but not hearing everything), as well as being able to pull up the cloak of your hood to hide who you are (although the longer people study you, the more likely they are to notice who you are).

I strongly disagree with Thelenian on the subject of theme - just because a mud follows an existing theme does not mean it cannot be innovative.  However I do agree with him that you should only list muds which are already open - and not your own.  I'm interested in hearing about specific features which make that mud innovative.

[thelenian]

Originally Posted by I strongly disagree with Thelenian on the subject of theme - just because a mud follows an existing theme does not mean it cannot be innovative.

I'm sorry if my statement was ambiguous, but that's not what I meant. Let me try to rephrase it: If the only reason you have for mentioning a MUD is that it's the first MUD based on a given TV series/movie/book series/etc, don't mention it at all.

[Alexander Tau]

The only one that springs to mind is Ground Zero.

They stripped away all the 'unnecessary' parts away, room descriptions for example, set maps for another, put a bunch of weapons around the place, and people kill each other. It is the most pure form of PvP combat that I have ever seen.


Oh, I do not really enjoy Ground Zero, played only a little, but the concept just impressed me.


A.T
(-)

[Xanous]

You could call FourLands an inovative mud, they have many features which I've never seen anywhere. Their feature list is about 10 pages in length and takes like half an hour to read.

A few of the more interesting ones:
-Player driven clan system. Every pc starts off as the leader of their own personal clan, and can recruit other pcs and hire npcs and buy houses and clan halls, all without direct staff intervention.
-Some kind of socket code where another mud, Southlands, exists in the same world. Southlands is run by a completely different administration, has it's own port and it's own players, but it's possible to travel from the 'fourlands' area to the 'southlands' area and vice versa.
-Every room has coordinates, so the amount of stamina it takes to move depends on how far it is from one room to the next. It also allows certain magic spells to effect areas, like a powerful light spell might illiminate several hundred rooms.
-Smart npcs who can loot dead players and mobs that they come across or kill, and can arm themselves with the best equipment they find. They can become quite formitable if they come across powerful items.
-A crafting system that's broad enough that just about every item that a player needs can be crafted by other players from raw materials. Some players can restring objects they craft.
-A skill system where any player can learn and practice any non-magical skill, but you have a much easier time learning skills that are part of your class. A ranger has a much easier time with archery than a merchant does, but if a merchant tries enough he might get farily good with it.

Anyways, the list goes on and on. They keep a list of features on their webpage somewhere for those who want the whole thing.