[prof1515]

It's possible that you haven't checked the site that often as it has changed over the year. Granted, it hasn't changed as much as we'd have liked but it's been a difficult year for most of the Committee members. But there have been changes and we hope to have more progress this coming year.

Quite the opposite. The goal is to make a site for independent, third-party collected information on all RP-enforced/mandatory MU*s and offering critical reviews and anaylsis of such games. In other words, not summaries by the games themselves and not reviews by fanbois or flamers. Rather the aim is provide a legitimate resource for players interested in finding a game that most meets their desires.

The process of collecting data is a slow one especially given the unreliability of nearly every bit of information some games make available including even simple yet critical things like telnet addresses. Aside from misleading information regarding role-play enforcement and codebases, some games don't even have the proper telnet addresses available. They'll list one address or port number on TMS, another on TMC and yet a third on their website. Nearly every game has lied about playerbase figures, quite a few of them list contact-email addresses which aren't valid and in some cases the name of the game isn't even the same as advertised on TMS, TMC or even their own website! Full data collection for our database will take years, especially since we'll have to annually go back over it and update what's already collected.

We're also still refining things like how we'll organize it as well as the format for review and analysis. Earlier this year, we abandoned a couple of projects that had taken up a considerable amount of the work that was completed in the first half of the year. Instead, we're focusing on the core features of the site alone.

With one exception (and she only recently returned to the staff of her old game), the permanent membership of the Operating Committee is not on the staff of any open-for-play game. The three elected members are there to ensure that there is diversity of thought and perspective on the Committee since there have been some persistent yet unfounded claims that the Committee membership harbors some sinister bias or ulterior motives or some such nonsense.

Our target is for a spring release of our first collection of articles and reviews. Several setbacks in recent weeks (as evidenced by the delay in the election results) will mean we'll have to step up our timetable if we hope to meet that deadline but we're hopeful we can do so.

Take care,

Jason