Let me preface by saying the quality of work that has gone into this mud is both impressive and second to none.

With that out of the way, the good qualities end there. I had put years into the game in it's very early stages all the way up through a few years back. Even got signed on as a builder for a while before what I call the great separation, between Che and the old and long dead mud/imms. I got to know quite a few of them and the players on a more personal level, considered them decent associations.

They're pretty much just elitist ______'s at this point and have been for years. They give zero cares for the new playerbase, catering instead to heavily overpowered (not via legit play either, fyi) immy's and their mortal characters. They have no qualms about bothering a person well beyond the confines of the mud as well, which when I saw I was a bit taken aback that a person I held in such high regard as Che would allow that to happen, and not just in one isolated event. It's honestly a bit on the disturbing side, but back then there was nothing anyone could do about how they treated people, in game or out of it.

6/10, would play again if stalker factor reduced. Avoid otherwise.

I've played Awakened Worlds off and on for the last ten years, and I have to say that it was a great time while it lasted. In its heyday, Awake was a well-populated MUD with strong roleplay and well-developed characters. Unfortunately, due to the owner having shifted most of his attention to another MUD project, Awake is now languishing with little in the way of new content or code. Additionally, much of the playerbase has moved to the new MUD as well, leaving Awake entirely dead during non-peak hours. The lack of new content, combined with the dearth of roleplay opportunities, means that I can't in good faith recommend Awakened Worlds to others.

Awakened Worlds has aspects that should please Shadowrun 3rd Ed players, but also some serious issues. Clearly a lot of effort has been made to implement the SR3 rule set, usually in a faithful manner. Cyberware, Bioware, Ranged and Melee combat, Decking, Rigging, Spellcasting, Summoning and most Foci are functional. Thrown and Projectile Weapons are not, nor are Weapon Foci. But what is implemented is generally done very well. Automated Johnsons send players on shadowruns, which relieves a lot of the grinding of many muds.

There are a few very significant deviations from the SR3 rules that drastically change the player's experience, and they are not always obvious. Physads lack Improved Ability, which is the backbone of many if not most SR3 physads. Trolls over 2.5m tall (most trolls and variants) are hampered by a new mechanic called Slouch, which isn't advertised, and the only notification for which looks like flavor text. Slouch essentially makes trolls useless in melee indoors. A fight is described on their forum where a troll PC, indoors, with basically maxed out weapon skills, is beaten soundly in melee combat by a PC opponent with no skill whatsoever who is using a gun as a club.

This brings us to the last aspect of the mud's disadvantages. Height isn't changeable after a character is out of Newbie status, and most newbies, having so much to take in, don't realize the Slouch issue until it's too late to change it. The staff is unresponsive to years (7 and counting) of complaints from generation after generation of players who encounter the rule, saying, 'It's been addressed a million times.' This instance is an accurate picture of the staff on Awakened Worlds. They combine a 'my mud, my rules' rigidity with an intolerance for ignorance of their custom mechanic. They treat new player questions with sarcasm and condescension. They insult, on public channels, players who ask such questions.

The mud can be very enjoyable for a player who doesn't mind spending weeks exploring and learning the rules, with the understanding that at the end of it they will probably have to remake the character after they understand the materially different implementation of SR3 rules the mud uses, and accepting that the staff is generally rude.

I have read a number of the other submissions, but cannot speak for them, beside professing to be mildly puzzled. Perhaps in time people have mellowed, or the views were mostly one-sided.

I will note (as do many others) that the descriptions are universally excellent with a fair amount of MUD to explore. The tedium of grinding is also helpfully split up by interesting quests ('runs') given to you by Johnsons.

Nevertheless there is the problem of the fundamental mechanics of the game being less-than-obvious, along with details about gear being slightly muddled within this semi-complex game system.

Finally, there is a distinct barrier between In-Canon and In-Code; everything people can RP out isn't necessarily things that are coded, and the rules tend to differ.

Fortunately, any shadowrunner veterans will have no issues jumping straight into the gameworld with only the most casual of glances at various helpfiles. Newbies will have more issues...

As was my starting position frequent use of the HELP command and inquiring of other people did the trick. Everyone was (and is) quite patient, so long as you are polite, although if you are inquiring about quests you will have to resort to asking in character... and relying on cryptic clues. Part of the fun is the discovery!

I can refute the comment that the staff allow ICer and OOC to flow into each other, but players can get emotional over the characters that they have invested themselves into. Everyone writes very well and it is with fond memories I recall roleplaying out stories. Even when they are of emotional turmoil pitted against other characters.

Despite my constant toeing the line when it comes to rules, I have yet to be banned temporarily or permanently, and am part of no 'clique.' Having intended no malice and merely displaying curiosity likely helped.

The staff is friendly. Most of the players are willing to give you the time of day, as long as you are willing to listen to them in turn.

So log in, make a character! Stay awhile and listen.

I've been with this MUD as a player for six years now, and I feel that it is time for me to share my opinion and experiences on this MUD in order to ensure that new players have a fair and accurate view of 'the way things are' before committing their time to a character on Awakened Worlds.

As many reviewers have done before me, I must first acknowledge that the codebase is full of interesting features and that the world is highly developed; indeed, it is precisely these things that convinced me to spend my six years with Awake. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the level of sophistication and development evinced by the codebase and world is far beyond the level which the Immortal staffers of the game display.

The current Immortal staffers were selected by the head Immortal from within the ranks of the 'oldbies'- players who have been around for many years and have curried favor with the administration in the past. These oldbies are often given preferential treatment, with their mortal characters surpassing the current coded global skill maximums as well as being possessed of bank accounts that are filled to ridiculous levels. These oldbies control both their ranking Staff members as well as their extremely powerful mortal characters, giving them an unmatched amount of influence over the game world in both IC and OOC manners. Rule-breaking amongst these oldbies is common, yet overlooked; the head Immortal refuses to hear allegations of mistreatment or harassment, going so far as to silence players in-game and delete forum topics that allege these sorts of things. Being a friend of one of these staffers gives you free reign to break the rules as well- after all, they are in charge of rule enforcement, and why would they punish a friend?

As other reviewers before me have done, I must recommend that newbies steer clear of this MUD. Although it was once a fun and intriguing place in which to roleplay and experience the world, this RP-optional MUD has devolved into a petty world where currying favor OOCly gets you much further than in-character work would alone.

I have wanted to write this review for quite some time, but the nature of my departure from this MUD prompted me to take a couple months to compose myself. In essence make sure that what I was writing was not motivated by some form of anger, but a genuine desire to rate, and perhaps forewarn prospective players.

Awakened worlds is admirably coded and the effort put into every room description is impressive. The coders have done their best to take all the available rules of SR 3.0 and integrate them into the game, making it easy for those who have available copies of the books to log in and maximize their potential.

Where this MUD falters and fails utterly and completely is when it comes to managing and growing their player-base. While most auto-runs have had their rewards drastically diminished, a corresponding increase in more interactive Immortal-led runs has not occurred, leaving players with very little to do, and very little possibilities for improvement outside of character gen.

Exploration of the world is not encouraged, with many traps, pitfalls and extremely powerful and hostile NPCs littering many rooms outside of the beaten tracks. Some fellow players with older characters, dating back from before many of the changes act surely towards newer player characters, with attitudes bordering on bullying. Their relative power, combined with an absent or conciliatory Imm population makes playing something unpleasant.

Furthermore, the MUD's claim that it is RP optional is an outright lie. True, you can not RP, but to do so alienates you from fellow players and Imms, who refuse to indulge those that are not RP-inclined.

To top this all off, those Immortals in charge of the player-base have serious issues, some of which are borderline pathological. Unreceptive to suggestions or criticism, they (or in this case 'he') blew up when offered suggestions, claiming that I was ungrateful and did not know anything, and that he knew how to obtain something, and the fact that I did not know that was an indication of my laziness and ineptitude as a player.

I have long since quit playing Awakened Worlds as I have indicated, not wishing to spend my free time insulted by people I have never met and obviously have their own, highly revealing, thoughts on what a typical player does. I have little doubt that should the staff see this review they will attempt to discredit it. Whatever may happen, I do hope that this will be an adequate warning to prospective players about the happenings inside Awakened Worlds.

I am a current player of AW. I'm also very new to Mud games in general. First, up until I found AW I didn't know what the world of Shadowrun was even like. I had no knowledge of the game. What I found most interesting about AW was that it was a mix of two genres that mesh so well together. On one side you have cyberpunk, high tech weapons, cyberware, bioware, hacking, and all things cutting edge. The other element is the fantasy world that usually only makes sense in the medieval era. AW meshes these two worlds into one, and it works very well. Everything in the thick history of Shadowrun gives this world a very heavy feel.

The world of AW for me is both pleasing for RP savvy players, for those that aren't, and even people new to it. RP is reinforced, but any new player can easily get into the game and have fun.

Item wise, this game is flooded with all kinds of weapons, firearms, blades, and the cyberdeck for those hackers out there.

You can choose to be an Ork that drives a big truck, uses assault rifles, and has respect on the streets for being a one of the best Shadowrunners around. If you always wondered what it would be like to play a mage that apart from flinging spells, and could also snipe a troll dead from a distance, do it here. Be a cybered up runner who has spur implants in his fists, mechanical muscles, almost impossible reflex, and can down a foe with a staff, it's your choice.

This game is the most free form game I've played. It's the only mud I've played and liked so far, and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. If you want to try something interesting, that has years worth of canon to back it up in-game, with nearly limitless choices of character customization and many races to choose from. Give this one a try, it may quickly become a favorite as it did with me.

As nearly every other review has pointed out, the code is fantastic. However, I personally found the game to be incredibly unfriendly to new players.

The roleplay is often sub par at best, yet the older players tend to insist against all logic that theirs is the only way to roleplay. One or two line tidbits quickly inserted into a scene with no discernable read order does not interest me, but I at least don't mind putting up with them - people have different styles, after all. This attitude of tolerance is not returned by most players of AW. If you take the time to actually pose something worth reading from a literary standpoint (As some simply prefer doing), they will spend the next few minutes ridiculing you over public channels and OOCly mocking your roleplay ability. While this is clearly very hypocritical - them mocking anybody's roleplay ability when they learn toward such a simplistic version of RP themselves - no complaint can be rightly made against established players on this game.

Asking in any polite terms for a bit of patience while you adjust or for them to perhaps realize that their style isn't the only one worth using (or even just suggesting they not RP with you if they are going to do nothing but ridicule) is strictly ignored. When it isn't ignored, it's used as yet another means of ridicule. I found staff and players alike to be hideously pretentious and uncomfortably cliquish. They (particularly the very established older players) seem so terrified of change that any slight difference in a player is obsessed over till the person no longer wants to stick around - Which, oddly enough, sure feels like the underlying intent.

All in all, though, I feel like I have been too negative. The game IS a fun one, but don't go into it expecting to be accepted into roleplay with established players without studying their very simple methods first.

Until this past Halloween night I was a player and Immortal staff member for Awakened Worlds. I had been playing there for nearly three years when after a heated exchange with another member of the Immortal staff I decided that I wanted no more to do with Awakened Worlds.

For those of you who do not know, Awakened Worlds is a ShadowRun themed Mud which uses the CircleMud codebase. The setting for AW is Seattle in the year 2064, in a world where magic and technology are parts of everyday life.

The site administrator, Che, has done fabulous things as far as making changes in the coding to make the experience more interesting and the build team has been working diligently to improve and add zones in the Mud for players to explore. During my time there I had witnessed many of these changes, first as a player and then later as an Immortal. Overall my experience there has been pleasing and I have enjoyed it immensely. However, there are far worse underlying reasons for my departure from AW. Ones that I personally believe are most important for the survival of any roleplaying game whether it be pen and paper or online.

During my exchange with the other Immortal we were arguing over many things that we disagreed upon. The largest among these were styles of roleplaying that players have and his dislike for it. While I agreed that this form of roleplaying was not very good I still protected the players right to roleplay how they chose as long as they were enjoying themselves, not disrupting the enjoyment of others, and not violating policy. This other Immortal, however, made it clear that his objective was to drive off such players because in his opinion they did not deserve to be playing on AW.

I think this is inconsiderate of the players and an elitist attitude to have when he is trying to force others to play his way or leave. When I presented this to a senior Immortal with the evidence of his own words she turned a blind eye to his actions because she shares those same beliefs. I cannot say I was surprised though by her actions when she disregarded my claims about him. She had been doing so for any accusation brought against him as an Immortal and as a player prior to his ascent to being an immortal as they have been roleplaying partners for some considerable time.

Another topic we argued over was the difference between my contributions to the Mud versus his. I had already conceded that since my becoming a part of the staff I had contributed little due to real life interferences which was the original reason I was handing in my resignation. Also I acknowledged his work as one of the builders with his improvements and additions to zones. This exchange continued endlessly, most of which resulted with his accusations of me doing nothing more then stalking players and watching them while they do what we call mudsex.

I informed him that while I had on occasion done so, I also watched players for roleplaying so that I could reward them for it. He accused me of lying about that since every time he saw me watching players it was in private areas of the Mud, which in his ridiculous belief, is that no roleplaying goes on in these areas, just mudsex. I informed him that if he had actually watched players once in a while instead of generally acting like a jerk to them he would see that such was not the case.

This brings up my next and final topic of this review. Some time back, Che decided to lower the payouts received from auto-quests, selling stolen information, and mob-farming. This caused some complaint among players since it took away a good deal of their livelihood and most had to scrape by just to get their characters the most basic of necessities. Still though AW thrived since the players found a means to get by via doing heavy mob-farming, they just were unable to afford some of the more expensive equipment. During one of his tirades, the Immortal of whom I am speaking berated the players for this publicly over the OOC channel and said he was going to slash more farms because of how heavy they were harvesting. He also indicated that he was displeased with them not appreciating the work he had put in the MUD by adding new zones and auto-quests for them. However the players were skeptical to how beneficial these new additions were really going to be to them since everything else that had been so far had been nerfed to the point that they could gain almost nothing from them. I cannot say that I blame their skepticism and in fact agree with it because I don’t see how the reductions in payouts were meant to make the Mud more enjoyable for players when they have to have their characters scrape by to make a halfway decent living.

In closing, I wish to say that if it were not for the elitist attitude of older players and some of the Immortal staff, though both are the same in some cases, AW would be a fabulous Mud to play on. Even with the lowering of payouts for auto-quests and mob-farming I still have had an enjoyable time there until just recently. But with the final straw of a certain pair of Immortals denigrating my roleplaying and that of other players because they don’t think it belongs in a game like AW I decided enough was enough and I have resigned as an Immortal and most likely as a player too. I cannot abide such attitudes and refuse to support a Mud where the admin allows his staff to act as such.

Throughout the past 8 years or so, I'd played Awake or its derivatives off and on. Although never for any given length of time, until September or October of 2006 when I started again and got hooked.

The codebase is exceptionally well done, with a system that's almost perfectly matched to canon Shadowrun. For the most part, players are helpful and engage in interesting and well-performed roleplay, which was I think, the main reason that I was hooked to the game.

I went from having little to no experience with the MUD and having only a general understanding of the concepts of canon Shadowrun rules to having an intricate knowledge of both. After a few months of playing I became a newbie helper. A position designed, as you may guess, to help newbies with my experience and knowledge of the MUD, and awhile after that, I received the position of questor so that I could encourage RP on the MUD.

Awakened Worlds is a fantastic MUD environment, that has kept me vastly entertained for the past year and a half. Most of the players are wonderful, as is the majority of the staff.

On the downside, one will likely experience problems with entrenched older players. Due to changes in the code such as the reduction in the economy, elimination of many bugs, changes in equipment availability, lowering of skill caps, etc. older players have obtained a profound advantage that newer players will have difficulty matching. Furthermore, some older players have become so entrenched that they are nearly immune to the rules that the immortals are supposed to enforce. Often one will encounter a double-standard being in play in any dispute between an older and newer player, and sometimes older players will perform blatantly illegal actions without receiving punishment. After winding up on the wrong end of an older player/newer player dispute, that began via OOC harassment through code exploitation, I lost most of my interest in the MUD.

Despite all of the redeeming factors in its rewarding RP, intricate code base, and for the most part fantastic playerbase, I can't bring myself to persist in playing on a MUD where the rules do not apply equally to everybody. I hope that I've done the MUD justice with a fair and honest review, and hope that those things that are wrong change for the better.

-- Meursault

Awakened Worlds is a Shadowrun, Sci-Fi oriented MUD. I created my character a couple days ago and was rather pleased at the ease it took to immerse myself in this rather expansive MUD. The creation process is well thought out and well detailed, and if one pays attention all their questions about how to actually play the MUD are addressed in the process.

The MUD features plenty of Johnsons (quest-givers), an indepth Magic system for casters, an indepth Matrix for deckers, as well as vechiles, player housing, and a decently long grace period of being a newbie before actually suffering consequences for dying. It is a classless system, allowing you to basically customize your character from the ground up taking a little splash of each as opposed to being hard-wired into one particular path.

The players and staff have been friendly and helpful in fielding my newbie questions or pointing me to where I could find the answers to my questions. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities to explore this customized MUD via the runs given to me by Johnsons and look forward to continue to build up my Shadowrunner and try out a mage and a decker.

The only thing that really irked me about the MUD is the lack of availability on low-cost player housing. As a new player, I can't afford to shell out 60-150k on a room or two in the higher edge areas. You can actually store things in your vechile but to me, it's not much the same. I prefer to have a base of operations to work out of. But this is something that will be remedied by simply checking the available buildings daily for someones rent to run out.

Other than that, I can't think of a single thing I don't like about this MUD so far.

See you in the Sprawl.

- Sindra

This mud is based upon the hard work of Dan 'Dunkelzahn' Gelinske. It appears that while immortals do work hard to provide a rich environment for players, the hard work of Gelinske et al., is hardly represented in the gameplay.

Upon creation, a new player is assailed by conversations that, frankly, should not be occurring in the ooc channel and long-term players bombard their fellows and newer players with insults and criticisms, many of these stemming from in character comments which calls into question the seriousness of the 'RP Enforced' suggested by their entry. Not uncommon is direct copy & paste from in game occurences into an ooc channel letting the world know the most private of interactions. Imm-runs seem to be nothing more than an opportunity for friends of the staff to wave power over fellow players and pick their friends for lucrative opportunities, leaving newer players high-and-dry.

To be fair, the following account is taken from an individual that helped build the foundation of this very game during its infancy and someone who has been roleplaying and acted as a roleplay admin for for almost a decade, has very stringent expectations of a roleplaying environment and is generally a bit older than the playerbase in question.

In sum, if you are an inexperienced roleplayer, between the ages of 13 and 19 or simply love the SR universe enough to put up with incessant angst, then by all means give this mud a shot! For all the flaws, this mud certainly beats the current alternatives and the overall derision of the future SR FPS makes this crowd respectable, well, at least minimally.

This is an excellent mud, but has it's cons, as well as it's pros.

Pros: -The descriptions of most areas seem to be excellent. -The game feels like a real city - you can buy your own vehicles and customise them, take public transport, there's always someone bantering over the radio channel. -The mud truly does encourage RP, unlike many other muds i've seen which claim to accept or encourage it. -It's fun to play. Driving around, fighting, etc, all seem to be slick. -It seems to be very true to the Shadowrun RPG upon which it's based.

Cons: -The description claims that the mud is RP optional. Strictly speaking it's true, but I've seen numerous people being yelled at for asking an in-character question on the OOC channel. There are a lot of RP snobs. -While the descriptions of places and mobs are great, often items have a very rudimentary description. That's fine in the case of something obvious (such as a rifle), but in the case of other objects it can be a little confusing. -I've found the creator and many of the players to be quite defensive when newbies don't understand things. Some of the players are tremendously supportive, but the actual creator and many of the regulars seem to respond with: 'You're dumb if you don't' understand that.' -While there are many friendly players who'll help out, you're really going to need to be into the Shadowrun RPG if you ever want to figure out the ins and outs of combat. It's very true to the Shadowrun RPG, but gives no stats for weapons, armour, etc. You need to resort to the Shadowrun rulebooks if you want to know that sort of information.

Overall: This has actually been one of the best muds I've played. It escapes from tedious XP grinding, replacing it instead with a clever quest system. Combat is slick, it's full of entertaining roleplaying banter. The only downer for me is the attitudes of some of the players and admin. That'll have to change if they ever want to achieve the coveted top-slot of Shadowrun muds.

I'd recommend people to at least try it, however. It's addictive.

Awakened worlds is one of the most entertaining muds I have ever had the pleasure of playing on. It has a large playerbase and during its peak time has anywhere from 10-40 people on at any given time, so there’s always someone to interact with and give you help where needed. The mud is newbie friendly in that dark shadow run kind of way and most of the mortals have a decent sense of humour. This is a game where you can choose to be most anything your imagination will allow, from a powerful spell slinging mage to a lowly corporate programmer or if you prefer to avoid fighting and simply hunt things down you could always try for a job as a fixer and simply acquire items to sell to other interested party’s for your cut. The possibilities are infinite.

The head coder Che is quite possibly insane, I have heard of dedicated individuals but he’s something else entirely. Day in, day out, he’s always adding. I am yet to see him take a break in the four or so years he has been head coder for the Awake Code base. While the builders are a little slow for the moment its because they have recently hired a new crop who seem to be learning the systems at a fairly steady pace. I have been playing on a shadow run mud in one form or another for almost a decade now, there aren’t many muds with that kind of interest holding power. So if you’re looking for something that actually grows and improves with time while still holding true to the shadow run third edition rules come on by and have a look.

If you love Shadowrun or Cyberpunk, this is the mud for you. It caters for all varieties of players, whether you enjoy a bit of hack-'em-up, throwing spells, or RPing it's all available here.

The rules follow the 3rd Edition almost perfectly with a few occasional difference (usually because the rules are presented in different format). There is a large variety of weapons, vehicles, cyberware, bioware, spells, armor and other gear from the source books available. As well as a few new additions.

Players are generally friendly and helpful. Many will stop and give you a hand or tips about how to complete runs or find that certain item. Ideas are also taken seriously, and there is new content on a regular basis.

I highly recommend Awakened Worlds to anyone that wants to relive those SR memories or to try something a little different.

This is it Chummers, the ultimate shadowrun experience. It has everything. Cyberware, Bioware, Magic, Elementals, spirits, toxix shamans, Armor, Decking, Rigging, Vehicle Customization, Seattle, the Tir, orks, trolls, night-ones, o my.

Don’t know Shadowrun; Think William Gibson’s Neuromancer melded with Terry Brook’s Shannara series, and then drizzle Lovecraft all over it. Mmm-Mmm good.

In addition, unlike most other Shadowrun text games roleplay is optional. Money and karma (experience), is set up automatically and if you do like RPing there’s always people hanging out at the Dantes Night Club tossing back a few.

Slot and Run

Awakened Worlds is an indepth, highly detailed mud based on the shadowrun books. The weapons follow cannon rules and the high detail in the matrix is fantastic.

Everything is expanding daily with more and more being coded. From what i have seen the combat and living even jobs are perfectly balanced.

The assistance and helpfiles are top par. The other players are always willing to lend a hand when able. I am extremely pleased with the mud; it has little crashes and all suggestions are taken seriously.

Great mud. I've been mudding for over 9 years now and in that time this is only the third truly great mud I've found. Even if you don't know what Shadowrun is, you should still come by and give it a try. The immortals are the players are very friendly and most of the time there is somebody around to answer questions.

Some of the major things you can do: - Build your own deck to jack into the matrix. - Buy and modify (ie: put an assault cannon on it) bikes, trucks and drones and control them remotly - Learn various types of magic - Buy cyberware or bioware to give you that extra edge. - And many more.

So come on by and give it a try.

Full of fun quests both offered by NPCs and Immortals, with a wide range of races and a personalized character creation that stays true to form. Easy to follow Mudschool to teach you all the basics, and give you an idea of the /many/ different things you do.

Travel the dark streets of the Seatle metroplex as a Street Samurai or Physical Adept. Hack the digital realm as a Decker or travel to the unknown plains of the astral world as a mage. Summon spirits to your aid and venture the wild as a shaman. Stealthfully enter corporate buildings, and take out a target. Whatever you choose to do, whereever you choose to go (Portland, Tacoma, Puyallup, Seatle, or the gang controlled turfs of Redmond and Tarislar).

Maybe you just want to roleplay and hang out at the many bars partying with locals. Remember to make the right friends and watch your neck because you never know when a gun fight will go down.