Allow me to begin by saying the MUD itself was rather enjoyable. It had the feel of Shadowrun in the descriptions and layout of the game world. The NPCs conveyed that same feel, and it was very easy to immerse myself in the MUD environment. It's very obvious that the staff here know Shadowrun the game and know what they want their MUD to be in relation to it.

I've read other reviews of the MUD regarding both negatives and positives. In my experience, I found there to be both negatives and positives in the MUD itself. As far as positives go, the IMM staff that I had the opportunity to interact with were, for the most part, quite decent folk. There were at least a couple of occasions where I made poor tactical decisions and ended up dead in places where the retrieval of my gear was quite problematic. After several failed attempts to get it and resigning myself to re-acquiring everything from scratch, a staff member was kind enough to allow me to get all my stuff back. I did not -ask- for this assistance, I did not -expect- this assistance...it was merely given. I found it to be very kind and can only hope I was appropriately appreciative.

The restring mechanic in-game allowed me to acquire a nice-looking set of equipment that fit my character's design very well. It took some grinding, yes, but was very much worth it in the end. I wound up with a 'safe' set of gear to wear in the more civilized parts of Seattle, a 'run-ready' set for shadowrunning and a couple of different 'disguises' (purely for RP purposes) that I'd use on runs requiring a less direct approach. All in all, I was able to create the type of character I wanted to play once I put in the time and effort to fine-tune him and his equipment.

Acquiring a vehicle took some time and I did get lost (a lot!), but the game world is complex in its layout and takes time to get used to. After a couple of weeks or so, I was able to get around fairly well and advance my character accordingly.

As far as interacting with other PCs, I'd have to say it's a rare occurrence. Admittedly, the player base seems small and communicating with others via radio and phone is tedious, but it -does- fit within the parameters of the game world as established by the admins. I did interact with a couple of other players (and their RP was quite good), but my character was not a 'people person' and I played him as such, so the fact that the interactions were short-lived and (mostly) non-productive were very likely my own fault.

I did find the overall OOC game environment to be -very- silent. I quite understand an RP-intensive world, but the sense that anything more than the most minimal OOC conversation was frowned upon was rather prevalent. For me, it made the game experience a tad tedious, but I'm also not as...driven, maybe...or focused on the Shadowrun experience as a whole, as were others involved in the game. (All of my previous Shadowrun experience comes from PnP tabletop, where OOC talking and general BS is a part of the whole experience.)

I did not participate in any of the RP events that occurred during my time in Seattle. This was due both to my (admittedly) light experience with the tabletop rules used in the MUD as well as my general avoidance of 'stand-around RP'. I am not saying that the way the RP events are handled in Seattle 2064 is wrong, merely that it wasn't for me. The downside to my avoidance of the events is that participation in them is tied to advancing certain aspects of my character. I found myself hoping there were other avenues for such advancement, but apparently there are not.

Lodging. Acquiring a place to live for my character was, again, time-consuming and a bit of a grind, but very much worth it. At the end of my time in the MUD, I actually had two apartments. One was my 'home base' and had all my nifty customized stuff in it and the other was a remote 'safe house' I could run to if I had the need. Tough to handle on my still-low income as a new runner, but I was settling it and getting it done.

Overall, by this point in my time in the game, I was pleased with my character, his equipment, his skills, his abilities and the knowledge base I was slowly growing about the MUD world he lived in. However, I took some time away from the game (a couple of weeks, a couple of months, perhaps? Again, terrible memory) and when I tried to log in upon my return, my account was gone. Deleted, I suppose, from lack of daily (or semi-daily) use? I've no idea. I don't -remember- reading anything in the help files that mentioned a required play-time amount or schedule. And I'm not saying it wasn't there if it was...only that I don't remember it.

I was a bit put off and considered contacting the game staff concerning the situation but ultimately decided against it. Not because I thought they would ignore my concerns but because I didn't know what the time requirements of the MUD were, and I didn't know if I would be able to maintain them.

Overall, Seattle 2016 is a very excellent depiction of Shadowrun. It's fun to customize your equipment and make your character look -just- the way you want them to. Character creation is a -little- slow and complex, but worth taking the time to figure out. Vehicles and lodging are relatively easy to get compared to many other games. It's easy to get lost but rewarding to learn your way around.

Communication in-game can be tough. OOC vs. IC protocols can make getting answers to simple questions for new players less easy than it could be. This MUD seems suited more for experienced Shadowrun players who are familiar with the current core rules than those less so. It -is- a fun game, but it is also a tough game to get comfortable with.

Thank you for your time.

T.

First and foremost, I'll say I didn't stick around long. Now here are the reasons why: The MUD looks like a blatant code ripoff of Deckeon, where I did play for a time.

However, they took all the good parts of Deckeon and sort of tossed them to the wayside.

It's a MUD, but pretty much all you can do is RP. Now, admittedly RP earns you karma (Shadowrun's version of XP), and this could be -why- it was chosen to use an existing MUD's code, but imo, they would have been better served creating a MUSH.

Additionally, something that was a major turnoff, was that if you're raising a skill, it can take multiple weeks (possibly even months) to do. The wording was:

If you raise a skill, you gain that skill immediately, but there's a timer, and until that timer elapses you cannot gain other skills.

Now, I'm not sure if that timer is RL based, or based on MUD time, or if there's even a difference. Other people might be okay with this, but it is definitely not my preference.

Again, this is all just my opinion, but I tried to list first encounter facts that this opinion was based on.

This may seem like an odd thing to complain about, but i made a black character on this mud. Now, this mud is basically a crime simulator - it has coded depictions of drug abuse, violence, and things like police shooting you if you look too weird. Cyberpunk dystopia basically.

Now, most people who play shadowrun TT or otherwise make white or asian characters, and the distinction in 'flavor' between characters are mostly one of 'punk' vs. 'square', or as it's called 'pink mohawk' vs. 'black trenchcoat'.

So, i decided to make a black 'lowlife' criminal character, putting some effort into descriptions and such. No different from a white mohawk-sporting punk with a gun or whatever. I also decided to make him a decker, and have his backstory be that he uses his appearance and behavior as a criminal part-time- chiphead thug to mask his actual profession as a decker (computer hacker).

What happened a few minutes after i finished entering my description was that an imm teleported me to a segregated room of some sort and asked me to enter something that 'wasn't bullshit'.

When i asked what about my character's description was 'bullshit' the imm in question simply banned me, without further discussion.

To clarify, i'm not one of those alt-right-people and i don't want to drag this into some sort of 'SJW' territory, i think it's a bit more complex than that.

Just want to give a heads up to anyone connecting re. my experience. I like Shadowrun and i like cyberpunk, and I'm used to GMs having very wide standards of play. But people need to know what those standards are before coming to the kitchen table, so to speak.

I played this MUD and its parallel MUD back during their prime. Both suffered from the same 'rite of passage' mentality: Few things about the layout were patently intuitive and relied mostly on trial, error, and mere exposure. Over time, the elders saw fit to impose upon the newer players a sense of 'IC decorum', that you should 'ask ICly.' It seemed like a brand of elitism that would not ensure newbie retention. I do not know what became of this MUD, because, after fatigue with insufficient help files and a fairly discordant sense of community, I departed.

With the release of the Kickstarter-backed, 'Shadowrun Returns', I've been nostalgic for all things SR. I played 'both' console games (omitting that recent xbox abortion), read a couple of books, and found my way here.

Shadowrun, like D&D, should NOT be suffering from the graphic-interface exodus imposed by MMORPGs. Here, that seems to be the case. During my week stay at this MUD, I saw AT MOST 5 players, and the occasional 'someone' OOC'ed about Dr. Who. The environment stagnant and all those incomplete help files and assurances of later updates were still in place. This MUD has been all but abandoned.

It does seem that TPTB do like to have their way with newcomers. As a new player, I visited a, shall we say, NPC relevant to a decker. Overnight, the NPC disappeared. I submitted a bug report, asked for insight OOCLY to the nature of the disappearance (whether it had IC implications or was merely an OOC occurrence that would be remedied). I received no reply. I tried again two days later, then a day after that, and again, received no reply. I beat a hasty retreat from the MUD and shall not bother again.

I know that there are Shadowrun fans that stop this way now and then. I know this based on anecdotes in other venues. You will not be satisfied with what you experience here. The MUD is too far gone, too disinterested in newcomers. You'd do well to find a MUSH or interact with the Shadowrun Returns community. In the end, Null Sheen, nothing invested, nothing lost.

'On.' The system starts pulsing megabauds of data, the deck spurning to life and running through the diagnostic protocols for its persona. Light outside. The sort of clammy filtered lens that artists put on for rustic impressionism, fading through clouds like the electric current sipping on neural impulses through the serpent plugged into my skull. And we dive, and dive, and dive... Slipping through shears of geometric prisons for data, crystalline imperfection in every vertex.

Outside the crumbling room, the Barrens were as lively as ever. Cheeky gangers plugged up to simdecks like sex slaves chained to Jabba the Hutt live out their deepest fantasies of murder and bacchanal glory. Fixers ogling joygirls, and the general slum of human populace dredging through the gutters, human drek and wasted potential alike.

Fires burned in a drizzling sprinkle, spitting sparks of protest and garbage-scented incense. Only plastic ganger rides and cheap jackrabbits clutter roads riveted with potholes, no patrol cars would dare come this route - there was more filth than any one lifetime could clean up. Like roaches, every one disaster averted meant there were droves in the corners and recesses where the light couldn't entirely touch.

Just another day in the Sprawl. ---- I've played here two years. Played MUDs ever since the BBS games were no longer readily available. There are other ShadowRun games out there of course, but this is the only one with grit in my eyes. This isn't a high striker bell for DPS, and has a very concise consistency to the world and its roleplay. You might be blackballed by a fixer one day and in their graces the next, but you're earning it no matter what. Consequences are emphasized, and the characters are intensely human - even if they're metahumans. The game still has room to grow and improve like every good game does, but remains the most faithful recreation of the tabletop that I've ever played.

I've played awake for several years now, and frankly, I've just about had all I can take from the mud. The world is actually very small, with many dead ends and areas/doors that no longer work. Almost half the mud's spaces are just highways that go on for 50+ rooms, with pretty much repeated descriptions and little else. Of all these times I played, not one new zone have been added- just zones getting closed down, a few equipment editings, etc.

The feeling I get from the game is that it can't make up its mind if it's a chatroom or a mud, or something else altogether. There is no 'tell' command for you to talk to other mortal players with other than using your phone, radio, or public channels. Other than using the phone, your conversations have a large chance of being overheard by others on the radio/channels, and even with the phone, it only allows you to talk to one person during each call. This means that while you're on the phone, no one else can reach you privately unless they come to you physically. Most of the time, the only thing you'd hear on the radio is people asking 'where is the party,' and the gameplay is usually the same crowd of people standing around in the same room fake drinking, talking about sex and trying to impress one another with how much they know about the shadowrun rules. This brings us to my next point...

When they say that the mud is 'RP-encouraged' and not 'enforced,' that's not the truth. If a new player, who's not into shadowrun as much as he's just in for a good mudding fun time, who has no idea where to buy gear and what is good, asks on the radio/newbie channels for help, the best he'd get is some obscure answers with thinly covered threat like 'we don't talk about weapons here,' or 'watch what you are saying,' and at the worst, a bunch of insults and bad remarks about how stupid the person is to ask about 'what's the best gun for my level?' After a long day at work, and all you feel like is a bit of casual mudding and mindless killing, you better be sure that no one catches you while you're at it. As soon as the other players find out you've been killing mobs, it's like you have spoken up against God himself on there. You'll be shouted at, threatened, and pretty soon the admins flag you as a 'powergamer' and no one will let you play with them. I have even heard people that say powergamers are not allowed to talk on even the out-of-character channel just because 'WE DON'T LIKE YOUR TYPE HERE.'

If you don't know shadowrun well, and don't own the books of game rules, then awake can be a horrible place for you. No one is willing to explain the way combat is roleplayed, most would just tell you to go buy the books yourself. Also, when you don't know the rules and dierols and other little things you'd not have to worry about on other muds, you're constantly at a disadvantage when roleplaying with other people on there. Most of the RP sessions I attended turned out to be what you'd expect in a family court- everyone's saying they're right, that their rules/abilities come from this and that book, completed with page and line numbers to show that they just knew that their 30d1 dierol is better than your 25d2. Moreover, things that are not general knowledge, such as the distance one can snipe an enemy with which particular type of rifle, how far can a Ruger Thunderbolt shoot, etc, are not explained with grace- in another word, even if you have the right equipment, but you happen to actually go to a real university instead of a shadowrun college, you're condemned.

The game has a good restring policy and system for you to tailor your equipments to the way you like them, but that again is tainted by the way the policies are enforced. If an admin happens to like you or be your friend, he/she can let slide all kind of things, but once you displease them, they start purging your equipment. I personally had this happen to me the time when I spoke up against the unfair treatment towards casual mudders on the out-of-character channel. All of a sudden this admin appeared and purged some of my equipment and threatened me that if I didn't keep quiet, he/she'd purge my character too. What was I to say? I couldn't even appeal to other admins since said admin was invisible to me and I couldn't tell who it was.

My conclusion is that if you're a shadowrun fanatic and just like to emote and roll dice, awake is ok, but if you are looking for somewhere you can settle down and play whatever way you see fit, it's not the place for you. There are too many favoritisms and inconsistencies on this mud, and if you don't 'please' to the right people or crowd, you might as well move right along. The roleplaying sessions go up to 5 hours at a time, much longer than many people can stand sitting in front of a keyboard, and if you're not on at the time the session's announced, no one will tell you.

As it stands now, Awake 2062 is a detailed representation of the infamous Seattle metroplex. As it exists in the relatively well known Shadowrun setting, circa 2062. It must be said that Awake shines most clearly in its role as a ready made setting for more standard tabletop style roleplay. Having said that, I musn't understate the fact that Rivet, Gerhal, Serge, and numerous other coders have done exceptionally well in creating coded equivalents of most SR3 rules.

As has previously been stated, the MUD strongly encourages roleplay of all types. From your standard full fledged event to the more humble social roleplay that occurs between the hardened criminals that make up the majority of our player characters. It should be mentioned that hosting an event is open to any player willing to do so, but long term effects on other players are generally by consent only in these cases.

The relatively alien rules system can be intimidating for players unfamiliar with Shadowrun. Fortunately, the helpfiles are detailed enough to handle all but a handful of questions. For the rest, the playerbase is generally willing to provide the missing details.

Whether you're a fan of the Shadowrun universe, or simply want a roleplay environment with a more adult theme. Then you're likely to find something to interest you here.

I've been around the internet game world a while now, mostly graphical mmorpgs. I just recently started gettin into muds. I've played a few and BY FAR awake 2062 is THE BEST mud i've played so far. Its not just hack n slash to gain exp and level your character. There's a ton of great helpful people that play it, and they've got a LOT of custom features that i'm in awe over. Granted there's small bugs, and everything is not exactly finished, but there's still a LOT of great things going on there.

I'll be hanging around awake 2062 for a while. Just thought i should get some more people on it...its a superb game in every way, and i recommend it to any out there that like a great mud.:)

Harsh neon glares from it's place perched on rooftops. 'XXX fun!' and 'Hot! Hot! Hot!' make up the majority - this isn't the good side of Seattle. A lone priest walks the garishly lit streets, his head lowered and hands stuffed into the small pockets of his robes. It still amazes him at such corruption existing on this world. Why does God do nothing? Why wont he cleanse the world of the filth?

In Seattle, a single wrong turn can lead to a world of hurt. The priest turns down an alley, his home is right on the other side. A simple place. A one room coffin in the No-Tell Motel. A rustle behind him. he turns, a massive, horned troll stands, decked out in gang colours and grinning.

'Give money now. You go free.' the hulking figure speaks, a long chain wrapped around it's massive hand like a set of knuckles.

'I have no money. I am a man of God.' the lone priest spoke, confident this would make the smelly troll simply leave.

Another voice however, from above, wouldn't make that so easy. 'Money or your life.' This one was human, decked out in the same colours as the troll as he sat on the fire-escape, a pistol aimed down at the defenseless priest. Chrome marred his skin - evidence of extensive implants. Cybernetic augmentation was a big deal in 2062 - Most everyone but the mages had at least a little. This guy however, had a lot. A laser, coming from his eye stared down at the priest, his arms completely metallic up to the shoulders.

'I assure you -' the dark-haired priest started 'I have no money, and my life is worth little. What could you possibly gain by killing a man of God?' he was afraid now, and it showed.

The man leaped down from the fire-escape, standing opposite the troll. The priest was boxed in.

'We kill. Killing fun. Mebbe eat.' spoke the troll as he began to lumber forward. The priest, in terror, turned and began to run, but only managed to bump into the heavily chromed man with a gun. 'Don't go runnin' now ya fraggin' drekhead. The funs just startin'! You're the main attraction.' he began to laugh, pointing his gun at the priests head.

'Where is god?' the terrified priest thought as he began to sob. 'Why has he not come? What did I do wrong? Why is he punishing me?!' Something snapped in that priest then. God wasn't coming for him. God had abandoned him. God had left the filth, because God must no longer care. The priests tears stopped, and in a split second, to save his own life he grabbed at the gun, turning the chromed man's hand inward, slipping his finger into the trigger and squeezing twice.

Two shots rang out, the gangers head exploding into a fine mist of blood and brain. The priest quickly grabbed the gun from the limp hand, unloading the full clip into the troll, who had stopped in surprise at the site of his leaders head turning into confetti. A few bullets from a pistol are rarely enough to take down the tank-like troll however.

Roaring angrily the troll began to rush forward, the priest gasping and starting to run with all his strength towards the end of the dingy alley. Screaming for help he he ran, stumbling over trash and plastic boxes, the troll plowing forward like a train after him, the priest thought he would die. Luck however, did seem to be on his side.

As he reached the street - the troll close behind, a rigger from a rival gang - one who can become one with vehicles noticed the commotion. A car suddenly came screaming down the street, no driver in it's seat. A machine gun mounted on the side opened fire, high-caliber rounds ripping through the troll, tearing flesh away from bone until there was nothing but a large pile of indistinguishable flesh, bone, and blood laying in the street. Without even slowing the car turned a corner and disappeared.

The priest panted and gasped, entering the hotel. Only then did he realize that still in his hand was the gun, the clip empty, his finger twitching, clicking the trigger repeatedly. He silently stared at it for several moments, before pushing it into the pocket of his robe. If god wouldn't cleanse the world - then maybe he would.

If you want a game with atmosphere and attitude to spare, then Awake 2062 is your game. Based on the 3e rules of Shadowrun, with a friendly playberbase, and a group of imms who run quests and encourage Roleplay and story development, this is one of the best Cyberpunk Muds around in my opinion. Come join us today!

Okay, here's the basic rundown of awake 2062 as it currently stands. It is a heavily roleplay encouraged MUD, with an active playerbase and immortal base. The code is continually being improved upon and altered, but we generally schedule copyovers in such a way as to avoid inconveniencing anyone overmuch. We're also constantly building new areas, and hosting roleplay runs that are based on the shadowrun 3.0 rules sets. (All the questors are thoroughly knowledgeable about shadowrun, and will be happy to answer most questions about what a piece of cyberware does, or how combat works, or whatnot, though we encourage you to support Fanpro and buy the Big Black Book yourself.)

As far as Shadowrun 3.0 compliance goes, every bit of cyber and bioware in game, (And we have most of the major bits of cyberware, the only notable exception being headware decks) works how it is supposed to work. We have skillsofts, linguasofts, nearly all useable bioware, including cosmetic bioware, and of course all the classic cyberarm replacements and wired reflexes for you super duper street samurai out there. Alpha and Betaware are available, but that's dependent on availability rolls. Deltaware is restricted, and is earned by roleplaying interaction with the imms. Similarly, initiations for magicians of all stripes are handled by imm interaction.

The playerbase as a whole is relatively newbie friendly, particularly the imms, however there can occasionally be some snobbishness from some players. Generally the imms will step in if someone is griefing, or similarly messing with the play experience of others on an ooc level. In other words, in character, you're own your own to some extent. We do have a playerkilling flag, however most fights are best resolved through imm rulings, as no mud can accurately simulate the complex modifiers of a properly run shadowrun combat, so if two characters are facing off in a possible permdeath situation, it is not a problem at all if you want an IMM there to assure a fair fight. Permdeath is entirely voluntary, except in extreme cases or if cheating is involved.

Cheating, spamming, botting, are forbidden, and random mobkill is generally watched and enforced by the imms. Run around putting random schlubs on ice, and eventually lone star (Seattle's police force) will get wise and start hitting you with SWAT teams and the like, generally under imm control. This mud is roleplay encouraged, so you don't have to interact with people if you don't want to, but most of the best equipment, and all magical advancement can only be had through roleplaying and interacting with both players and imms on a fairly intensive basis.

We have a working mudmail system useable for both in character and out of character communication, and we encourage players to utilize it for communication with the imms and other players.

Shadowlands, the massive data haven which is part of shadowrun's roleplaying environment, is simulated in game, and to some extent can even be a meta game of posting, debating, earning karma and getting goodies depending on the questions you ask and comments you make. We have a great deal of stock NPCs we use to comment on shadowlands, and it's a good place to brag about your last successful shadowrun or go looking for the latest state of the art toys.

I will be honest, the code is a sort of patchwork code, but we're improving it constantly, and do our best to work around it entirely with mort on imm interaction.

Me, I've been a player since 2002, and was promoted first to Imm, then head roleplaying administrator during the 2004 period. I've played mostly street samurai and physical adepts as a player, but have immed for virtually every race and class combination in the game, and have learned the system through a lot of reading, as well as practical in-game use.

The present administration of the mud (Myself excluded) consists of Enola, Serge, and Gerhal. They all love the Mud, and are very honest and forthright people. Like me, they are intolerant of cheating, so you will not find any cheaters among the player base or immortals on the mud. All of them are experienced administrators and are skilled in their particular areas of specialty. They work pretty hard at it, too, generally in combination with one another. Like Enola will build a new area, Serge and Gerhal will code in new functions for items in it, and I'll run a roleplay event introducing it.

Awake has a pretty high fun factor, particularly if you participate a lot in the roleplaying, as there are overarching story threads, and global events going on which makes the place more dynamic. Impressively, if a building gets demolished during a roleplay run, soon after this demolition, our build staff will copy over and have the said building gone, or replaced in some way if important things ere inside it.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you in our game. Best wishes, -Reclaimer