[slurpz]

I'm an old school MUD gamer. I started when Achaea was just getting off its feet. I was there when Aetolia broke off. And when Imperian, and Lusternia, and Midkemia started. I've tried New Worlds. I've tried Maiden Desmodus, and BatMUD, and Aardwolf.

Whether by base design, or through administrative changes, or through design changes, I was turned away from all the MUDs I have tried.

I enjoyed the IRE MUDs for sure. I liked how their combat system was more complex than "k rat" or "attack rat" or "kill rat". I liked how you can use tactics in combat instead of waiting until the combat auto-resolved itself. I liked how (in the past) real life cash couldn't really buy combat prowess.

However, the IRE MUDs eventually drove themselves away from me. In Achaea, all roleplay was thrown out the window when people could automatically get their class without going through an in-game trial.

Guilds (the prior system where all the classes of each city had an identity) were turned into Houses, which could take in as many classes as they wanted to. A subscription plan was put in place. Facebook advertisement brought in a new influx of people. And all of a sudden, it felt like Achaea had become a text WoW. It was a place of little roleplay. It was a place of lolPK.

Lusternia kept true to many parts that I liked about Achaea. However, the very low playerbase has caused so many people to make alts, that regardless of where you are, you're pretty much interacting with the same people over and over, albeit in different text forms.

Maiden Desmodus suffers from the same problem as Lusternia, except that you have only a handful of people on at a time (and by a handful of people, I mean that usually I only see one other person online. Max I've seen was 7 people on at the same time).

New Worlds has this extremely annoying "idle" system that just turns me completely away. I hate having a system that rewards people for afk'ing.

The Eternal City turns me off too. I don't like having to continue to pay for playing time. If I wanted that, there are tons of MMORPGs that I would spend the money on, such as Aion Online, Eve Online, etc. Microtransactions and donations, in my opinion, are the best payment systems. Sure, the game isn't run as a charity, and sure employee fees have to be paid, but forcing me to pay for a subscription just makes me feel as if my money can be spent elsewhere.

I haven't found an RPI MUD that I enjoyed. I felt more like I was writing a cooperative story with someone else, than actually playing a game. I've only tried Armageddon and Shadows of Isildur, but it felt extremely slow paced and tedious.

In my opinion, the greatest strength MUDs have over graphical MMORPGs is: imagination. Without everything drawn explicitly in front of you, you can imagine an outlook. Instead of seeing a monk punch you in the face, you read about it, and often times, your imagination trumps what is rendered by your computer.

I'm a little more jaded about all sorts of online RPGs since I haven't found anything that really appealed to me, graphical or text, so I'm looking here for some sort of help. Here goes...

1. I want interesting combat. And combat here includes both PvE and PvP. I want immersion. I want to feel the panic of being at risk to being attacked at any time if I'm in enemy territory. As Helo put it a couple of months ago, "Really my largest complaint with anything I've tried, aside from possibly a complete lack of RP, is the bland, boring, monotonous combat mechanics. Although I really enjoy RP, and a well written environment...when it comes down to it, sometimes I just want to bash and level. And when that is not in the least bit entertaining, and becomes a chore...it's unlikely that I will be returning to that particular world. Challenging critters, varied attacks, class/guild skills, a multitude of spells for casters...to me, these things make bashing, fun. I've played one too many games now, that have none of these things. Mostly I've seen a lot of: swing, RT, swing, RT, swing, critter dies, exp, next. I really, really, can't stand that. I'd also prefer to be in a forced PvP environment, but one that requires an IC reason, and carries consequences, both IC and OOC, for use and/or misuse. I've found that PvP optional, can lead to some ridiculousness, with players hiding behind PvP flags or what have you, and effectively destroying RP by receiving no consequences for their actions. Granted, it is a double edged sword, and forced PvP can get out of hand as well....but, with strong and well enforced rules pertaining to such, I definitely prefer it."

2. I don't want JUST a combat MUD. I've tried God Wars and their various derivatives, and hated it. If I wanted a pure combat MUD, first person shooter games are there already.

3. Environment. I want a vivid, well-written description in every room. I don't want a stock, or even a stock derivative. I want an original world. I take one look at the description, and if I see DIKU, or any of the other well-known stock, I automatically close the window.

4. Consistency. I don't want a game that periodically wipes itself (such as ArcticMUD)

5. Divine interaction. I want to see the administration actively involving itself. I want to see heroes that characters always aspire to become.

6. Lore. I love well-written stories, and one of the reason why IRE MUDs captivated me for so long was because of each MUD's background story, and canon lore.

7. The inability to buy god mode. The IRE MUDs are a glaring point on this. If someone is able to drop a couple thousands of real life dollars onto a game, he or she can pretty much just faceroll on the keyboard and take down near everyone from just pure damage output.

All in all, I apologize for the length of this post. I know that this is probably just a collection of wishes, and is completely unreasonable, but hey, if there are any MUDs similar to what I have listed, feel free to recommend them!