[Mabus]

Glad you are not calling me names.

Sure, I have strong feelings about it.

Spent years planning, designing, preparing, working for others and then after the last MUD I worked for that went "poof" (after 6 months as the coder the admin disappeared without warning, and let's not even bring up the one before that that did about the same, or the one before, or the...) I said "the heck with it" and started this one myself. Will be 3 years on this project next month.

I have to much time into gaming and coding to call my game "the best". It would be a subjective opinion colored by feelings, and how would anyone define "best" to begin with?

I am just working toward putting what I like in a MUD into my game. Working from my notes (let's not mention they are "boxes of notebooks", k?) and what I term "the LIST".

We are just letting the players come and go, and it is my hope that they find some entertainment while there. The numbers are low (0-10 usually, with 10 making me think "Oh my!"), but I do it for the game-world, not for player-base numbers.

To kind of return to topic, I have considered us as "Role-play Expected", in that "says" and and "emotes" (and other such things) should be IC, but no one is going to follow "the fella that logs in for 20 minutes a day to slay orcs" around with a stick and beat him until he role-plays with everyone else. As long as players stay IC there are no issues (in my mind, and in our game). Somewhere more then "Encouraged" but less then "Enforced" is where I want us to head.

Sometimes things can get so far into role-play that some player-enjoyment can be lost.

I remember creating a character for SOI. I walked out the gate the first time and was shot with arrows. I quickly moved away, and after I scouted around and saw some people, humans like I was, I went to them to seek aid for my injuries... and was immediately set upon, beaten, bound and hauled off to a prison.

This was good stuff! What great role-play!

But sitting for (I believe it was) four real-life days in a cell by myself, emoting, just didn't cut it. I would send out the messages for times I was available, and only once did someone show up (for 10 minutes, but then they had to leave). They told me I was a prisoner of war, and was to be executed. I plead my case IC, but OOC conversations showed there was nothing I could do about it.

So ended that role-play. Realistic, but not very fun with perma-death, especially with a brand new character's first glimpse of a world.

Moderation in all things, I don't know. But if realism at the complete expense of player-fun is a requirement for some games I prefer not to play them, nor create one of their kind.

Excuse me. I need more coffee.