[dentin]

I think if you're looking for an RP-enforced MUD, you're simply going to have to deal with higher powers getting involved in player consistency. In a non-RP game, admin really only need to define the system level things like areas, objects, monsters, game mechanics etc. to get a consistent world. In an RP game, where the players largely -are- the content of the world, you as a player have to expect that your story is subject to change just like a mob. I'm sure there are ways to set up RP systems where this is more or less of an issue, but the fact of the matter is that if you expect to have a consistent world/environment, someone has to ensure consistency of the input players have into it.

I've personally opted for the extreme opposite end of this approach. Alter Aeon has one (1) active admin: Me. The game has a lot of idiot-proofing to stop most of the common kinds of griefing and problems, spammers are dealt with via a combination of code and a handful of high level channel moderators, and anything that's left over I personally deal with. Pretty much the only time I require players to change behavior or description is when it's purely offensive, illegal, or intended only to grief others.

The downside of this is that enforced RP isn't really possible, because there's no enforcer. I dislike forcing people to act a specific way other than to set the rules of the environment around them. That said, RP does happen in various groups, and when it does, it's often pretty good.

-dentin