My experience shopping around a number of MUDs has been that there is no correlation between the amount of color and the quality of the writing, and there might be an anti-correlation.

If the text is fast-paced (often involving a focus on PvP, PvE combat, etc.), color is best used as an uncommon and well-chosen highlight-- if all the text is heavily colored, it becomes hard to pick out critical events.

If the text is slow-paced, where you can sit back and read it, the narrative shouldn't need a lot of color. As an analogy, if I was in a bookstore and picked up a book with lots of colored words in every paragraph, I would assume I was in the children's section. Some color is nice (separating out different forms of communication, highlighting key details like exits or other mapping helpers, etc.), but an excess is probably a sign that someone is putting their effort into flash instead of depth.

Color is very easy to add to a MUD-- most stock codebases and clients support it, and adding the code to make it appear in a given section of text is usually a trivial modification. Thus, I wouldn't interpret the presence or absence of color as a sign of coder skill, either.

If color is what floats your boat, of course, you can make a decision based on that. My personal opinion is that you might be assigning it a value that isn't necessarily accurate, based on what you wrote.

Well, I guess my experience has been different from yours. I don't just mean putting color everywhere. There has to be SKILLED use of colors. Putting too much color is not skilled. Having channels be colored is not skilled. Having beautiful color combinations and variations is skilled - and I have seen beautifully colored muds, especially in the combat system. I feel that it is an indicator as to how far modified from stock a mud is and heck, it just makes it much more enjoyable to read. Once you see a really nicely colored mud, it's hard to go back.

Adventures Unlimited has VERY high quality writing in all of its areas and color is used very very well.

I do not know if some mud admins try to create a certian mood with their rooms or what and tell their builders to keep much color out. But AU is very colorful. I think it helps bring out the essence of some areas.

Except for the unique combat system (I am guessing by unique you mean not you hit and keep hitting while doing skills\casting spells) it also matches all of your other requirements. Oh yes and sometimes early in the day (here) the players online go below 10.

If you check out AU you will probably like it, I played it for a very long time.

Clandestine's unique color system is very aesthetically pleasing, and the writing is high quality for the areas. I don't post up here unless I'm positive that a MUD I endorse fits your criteria.

Clandestine fits all of your criteria, averages currently between 40-70 players on at a time, offers 17 classes + 3 multiclasses, a combat system that revolves around each class' role, is an extremely social MUD(our OOC channel is toggleable, but very, very busy), and is probably the most asthetically pleasing MUD I've ever seen - color being a big part of that.

clandestine.cc port: 9476


Check us out. I'm pretty sure you'll be pleased.

Threshold definitely fits all of your criteria, although I should mention that it is RP Required. It is definitely not a MUSH, and if you are interested in it, combat is a major part of the game. I just wanted you to be aware of the RP Requirement up front.

Threshold just celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and it averages 100+ folks online. The two OOC chat channels are quite busy, although at any one time, a good % of players are tuned out because they are participating in an RP situation that requires their full attention.