[Disillusionist]

Jumping in kind of late in the thread, but sometimes you just want an outlet for frustration...

1. Unprofessional Staff.
This means different things to different people, but to me, it's staff that can be demonstrably found in chronic violation of their own rules. The idea here being that the first line you read when logging in is an outright lie, you have a fair idea of what you're in for. I don't think anyone suggests that player-staff communication is bad, but when you have authorized channels of communication, email, forums, IC bulletins, or whatever, the notion that some players receive private communications is a red light. Moreso when you delve a little deeper.

2. Discourteous or Untrustworthy Staff
See above. Mature gamers expect mature admins. In games that do not expect to ever make a dime, there will be a community standard, and a newer player will of course have to lay low, sense out the nature of a particular community, and fit in. If the MUD expects to be paid for its service, my preference is for service providers to have a higher standard of politeness, such as can be measured by any real-world professional service provider. If your admins are ruder than a New York hooker, you've lost my business, and the business of anyone I tell about my experience.
If you're seeing this behavior: rudeness, dishonesty, clear favorites, name-calling, incessant spamming for topmudsites votes, overt censorship of negative reviews, all from the owner of the company on down, coupled with dwindling staff and playerbase, "Here's Yer Sign."

3. Favoritism
In all MUDs, it exists. Admins are human. If a character's or player's antics tickle a funny bone, the response is favorable. Likewise in the reverse. It happens, and in professionally run games, it usually sees a balance pretty quickly. When it's systemic, and clear-cut, and whistleblowers get targeted, you can almost hear the toilet flushing on my cred-o-meter.

4. Typos
AMEN! It's a literary medium. If you can't spell G.E.D. properly, there are lots of graphics games out there.

5. Sphincter Police on Roleplay
Disclaimer: I whole-heartedly believe in roleplay immersion. I believe in reading the history and lore docs, adhering to them, and getting into character (and staying there). I figure it's owed to the environment to be part of the environment established by a lot of hard-working writers. I don't believe it's owed to the environment to endure self-appointed elitist micro-critiquers who wish to 'RP-enforce' their interpretation of roleplay on others. At times, I've noticed that many of these RP stormtroopers are some of the worst offenders of OOCisms. It just engenders that cringe reflex to immersion.

6. Realism Over Gameplay
This point is pretty subjective, as most players have some sliding scale on how much immersion they want, versus how smoothly they wish their character's life to unfold, or their avatar to advance. If I'm mashing the enter key repeatedly, hundreds of times in a day, so that my Uber-teef can get enough reps for that precious additional skill rank, the game becomes a part-time job. This topic becomes even more unappealing when one finds such regimented realism in direct odds with some highly unrealistic results, scenarios, or plots.

Those are my top six, and it's not hard to guess, I'm looking for a decent roleplaying game. Or several. There are perhaps five or six others with me who are doing more than looking for a game that ISN'T like the abovementioned.

We like our Swords & Sorcery. We like our RP enforced. We like a live and let live atmosphere with staff and players. We also have no objection putting in some behind-the-scenes work to help out a developing game.

Suggestions?