[SnowTroll]

I'd like to be able to agree with the poster above and say that if this particular mud's application was less onerous and annoying, I'd try the mud out, but honestly, even if the application were just one line (i.e. "Put your e-mail address here, and we'll e-mail you an account password to get started in the game"), I still wouldn't bother. There are over a hundred muds I can log into, right now, that are just as good or better, where I can access the game immediately, start asking questions of players and staff while creating a character right away, in real time, if I need the help, then jump right into the game and start playing and having fun. Unless this mud is the best thing since sliced bread, I would be too put off and annoyed to be expected to go through any actual trouble to log in and play.

What irks me more about this application is that the mud pretends that it's in some kind of testing phase as an excuse for requiring this step, pretending that this is an application for becoming a tester. That's just not the case. The mud owners clearly have this application process in place as a means for rule enforcement. They don't allow multiple accounts, so they want every player that logs in to give his or her real name and e-mail address to let them track players. This is why they don't allow publicly available e-mail addresses (do they have any idea how many millions of people in the world use gmail and yahoo as their primary e-mail addresses that they're excluding from playing?) They're deathly afraid people will try to cheat their free, text-based internet game by making multiple accounts. But they have the gall to try to lie to me by telling me that this is a tester application, for a mud that is clearly not in testing, when it's obviously an attempt at rule enforcement. Just log IP addresses like every other mud out there. Geez.

Here's the best part. When I brought up this application issue in another thread, do you know what one of the players there told me? He or she said not to worry, and that the administration there doesn't verify any of the information. They have no way of knowing how old I am, and I could put whatever e-mail address I want. He or she had done this for a long time without getting into any trouble. I was actually a little miffed that this player assumed I was put off because I was a kid who wanted to hide my identity, give a false e-mail address, and cheat by creating multiple accounts, like this player was.

What the hell? So not only do I have to fill out an application to get in, but when I finally get there, the mud is going to have a bunch of underage, cheating kids running around, who probably have as much respect for roleplaying and the game atmosphere as they do for the application process?