[iKallisti]

Great topic I think, so here goes.

What is it that you look for in a MUD that attracts you to it? Is it because of :

the overall design?

I don't think I worry overmuch about the -design- so much as I expect a fully fleshed out world. I'll make do with things that might require some pretty major suspension of disbelief but I'm normally working out reasons that the world works that way. It's also incredibly helpful to have actual descriptions for areas with as many things in a room have their own description as possible (like... l rocks, l table, feel cloth), things like this help with making the game world feel so much more real. I think design probably covers more than I've really mentioned here but that's what I can think of off the top of my head right now.

what you can do there as a Character?

This is a big one for me, I want to be able to do just about anything within reason as my character, I want to be able to come up with a concept and run with it, I want to be able to play a range from sociopath to saint to Jill the drunk at the bar. I want to be able to take a title that doesn't exist and have the ability to become known by that simply from quality RP and effort, and if I can't do it I want to not be able to do it because somehow I simply failed (If that makes sense. I don't want to be catered to but I want options).

Are the Staff and Administration willing to listen to suggestions and apply them to the Game to make it better?

Listening to suggestions is great. That said I'd prefer a staff/administration with a vivid picture of their game world actively working to bring more life to it. Just about everywhere I've ever played I've seen people make suggestions that were incredibly supported by a huge chunk of the playerbase but that by there very nature would have turned the game into a different place. Sure there are plenty of suggestions I've made to my current MUD that I'd love to see implemented, but I would (probably) forget all about them if a long term plot driven storyline started up tomorrow and I had -that- to focus on.

The Overall attitude and atmosphere of the place?

This gets back to what I was talking about with room descriptions, I want an atmosphere that's consistent with the game world that's reflected in the descriptions. As far as attitude goes I expect the other players to take an equally serious approach to the game (even if that serious approach is seriously silly!) I don't expect -everyone- to be doom and gloom and whatever else but I want the RP to fit and not make me want to gouge out my eyeballs at the sheer stupidity.

An intolerance to cheating?

This one's kind of a given to me, but yes, cheating should not be tolerated in the least, players who cheat should be punished and depending on how serious it was (and if their character is even permitted to still exist) there should be IC ramifications possibly as well. That said, players should be rewarded for finding AND REPORTING bugs, even if it's not much, just a simple letter from the staff saying "Hey, thanks, that really was a bug we've got it fixed and we appreciate you letting us know about it."


Another thing that's a personal pet peeve.

The roleplay environment should be strictly enforced, I'm personally a fan of only one character per player at any given time (although I currently have two o.0) because I think this helps to reinforce the seriousness of playing a role. Name policies should be strict enough that really fragging stupid/silly (I'd list some that I've seen but I don't want to hurt feelings... needless to say I'm thinking mainly of names that are either something well known that somebody has horribly misspelled or that are flagrantly something that no sane person would EVER name a child, celebrities included... ahh hell Otto Carlot springs immediately to mind) names aren't allowed but they should be lenient enough that the name of a village in Africa with a population of 500 that nobody has ever heard of (even the person who came up with it) are fine.


Anyway, that's it from me for now.