I am looking for a new MUD home.

However I am fearfull and anxious at the thought of investing so much time, effort, and honestly emotion into somthing that will bring only grief and disappointment in the end.

Do any veteran Mudders have some advice for overcoming the emotinal tangles that evolves leaving the first MUD you ever played and loved so much and also some tips in picking a new MUD?

I only wish to make sure my next choice is based upon sound reasoning and I will have a better chance at having a long succesful char life within it than i did in my first MUD.

Honestly I want to MUD again very badly.... but my fear of putting that much effort into somthing that may go as badly as my last mud keeps me hesitant.

Is their a way of discovering what MUD I would like the best through reflection upon my own personal RP and PK style and then finding that MUD which would suit me best?

Any tips, advice, or experiences from veteran Mudders out there would be greatly apperciated and listened to.

Thank you.

Well, right there you said you wanted a RP and PK style. So you have a number of things right there. You want a mud that allows you to RP as much as you want? How much do you want? Enforced, required, recommended, whatever? PK style, is that restricted, full, none etc? Those are thigns to consider. Another thing to consider is codebase. Diku muds look a lot like other diku muds. If you were happy with a certain type of codebase in the past, maybe find one based on the same. Size is also important. Do you want a mud that was near the same size as a previous mud? Bigger? Smaller? Is a smaller mud ok (perhaps better) if there are very few players there? Is a big mud with tens of thousands of rooms required if there are 400 players online at all times? These are a few things to consider. Perhaps you want to make up a list of what it is that you want from a mud. There are lots of search engines around that will list things like this as criteria and then you can choose from muds that match what you want. :)

Picking a new MUD to play is always difficult after leaving the first one you really become attatched to. I don't really play MUD's too much right now due to college work and haven't played on the first one I called home for nearly two years, but I still check it's forum every now and again just to see how things are going. The best advice I can give you is to find something with a theme you like, using a codebase you like, and give it a try. It will either catch you or not, but at least give each new MUD a week or so of playing before you decide against it. Sometimes you need to get past the initial impressions you get to see the real game.

Or more importantly, give a list of what qualities you want in a MUD. There are a lot of high-quality games out there that I wouldn't play, just because they don't fit my personal needs.

Also, it's a game. It shouldn't be a huge emotional investment. It should be fun and a break from stressful things, not a stressful thing in and of itself. Try a few, and if you don't like them, move on.