[Ide]

Any type will do, it depends on more than type; see below.

Again, I'll build in any style.

There is no good room length. Variety is the key, so sometimes I'll want one line or just a few words for a description, and other times five or six lines. The important thing is to consider that room description in the context of the flow of the zone, and not just look at all the room descriptions as chunks that need to follow the same general rule.

Anything over six lines normally is too much, and should be reserved for very special rooms -- preferably those without a lot of player or mob traffic as well.

Any type -- the more interactive the better.

Offline programs probably are more productive but I like the ability to chat and build at the same time.

What would be really cool is a zone editor with integrated mud chat, so you would just login to the mud, open up your zone editor, and work away in the editor while being able to run a who and chat commands in the chat box. Your character would show up in the who list but unless you switched to your client you would basically just look idle.

Any setting, but I usually shy away from muds where I would need to read 24 books in some fantasy series I wouldn't otherwise read.

Definitely laid back. I think the mud owner should vet their builders at the application stage and then let them exercise their creativity to the fullest. I understand what Mina is saying about consistency but I do like to see a builder's individual style in a zone come through.

I don't require color but I do like it and always enable it. My preference is for user defined color sets (with some intelligent default of course), applying to important game messages, room titles, mob names, etcetera.

I like both but the advantage of an established mud is that you can play it first. See below.


It's very important to me that the gameplay of the mud is interesting and fun. I find it hard to build on a bog-standard DIKU-like. Even a new mud should be somewhat playable before builders start doing their thing, I think.

I also appreciate any attempt at builder collaboration.

I usually am playing a lot of very different games at once (i.e., not just muds), so I admit it's hard to hold my interest -- it's true that this has been a problem for me in the past where I start building somewhere and don't finish a zone. Though obviously motivation starts with the builder, anything on the mud that maintains this motivation and drive is a good thing, whether these are friendly contests, a tight builder community, etcetera.