Review Submitted By: Chains
Author Status: Player
Started on Buffy Mud: Several Years Ago
Submission Date: Jul 10, 2010
TMC Listing: Buffy Mud
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Chains]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
To start with, I'm going to explain the way a Buffy MUD experience
would be. First, character creation may seem quick at first, but once
you get into the chargen area you realize this MUD has a lot of
customization, and your description could be well written, very long,
or very short.
Then you will leave the area and find yourself on the grid. The first
thing that will be introduced to you is your NPC nemesis. For some
players, this has been the reason they had left, but for me, the NPC
nemesis is a good distracting and they are customizable enough for you
to add flavor to your character, and behind the scenes showdowns that
you can post as fiction on the forums. You'll also get an NPC guide,
who you can also customize, who's main function is to alert you when
your nemesis is doing something against you.
The grid is fairly small in comparison to most MUDs, as stated in
many of the past reviews, but at the same time, it's enclosed enough
that it's easy to find RP, and extensive enough where an individual
can hide themselves so they can plot or get experience without being
bothered too much.
Combat is automated fluidly, and certainly looks nice, though it can
be a bit spammy. Donating money will give you access to customized
attacks that you can make look as good as you would like. Styles run
the paper/scissors/rock code mentioned in past reviews, and an
intelligent player can get by, but the name of the styles are rather
useless and no one has ever made an effort to RP the style names out.
The magic system is brilliant, but limited, though playing a magic
character can be rewarding. Most everyone in the game starts off
mastering a dozen different martial art styles, which is sort of odd,
but styles again are usually dismissed as something to make fighting
more tactical, something I think is more of a player issue then an
immortal one. Demon attributes are extensively customizable and fun,
and I really enjoy it.
Many of the complaints I've noticed in the reviews are of the
immortals having mortal characters. Nowadays, however, I've not seen
evidence of an significant immortal interference in player plots as of
late, and if the immortals do have mortal characters, they rarely make
things less interesting for me, and if they do, it may be to challenge
players. In fact, I wish the staff was more involved in RP, player
Villains are nice, but the Buffy spirit would be captured if there
were more one shot Villains then just the guests players run just to
test out builds or beat up someone they OOCly don't like.
Yes, I think my biggest issue with Buffy Mud at the moment is the
playerbase. While the game allows creative freedom, it would be nice
to see some limit to this, at least a limit that fits the BuffyVerse
better. I have seen some concepts that would make Joss Whedon weep
with shame. The line between good and evil is a very thin one, which
sometimes can be interesting but at best involves many 'good' people
befriending or dating mass murderers. Good and evil relationships are
overdone, and there is a number (albeit small) of players who use the
MUD for sexual gratification when there are MUXes out there that are
solely for that purpose.
A lot of bad things have been said below regarding the MUD. For this,
I'm a little disappointed with many of the players. My reasoning is
simple. I've met a lot of good people on this MUD. A lot of nice
people, who have became friends that will last me a lifetime. BuffyMud
is an adult game, with a very bleak and dark environment, but it will
always be on my top MUD list.
