Review Submitted By: R
Author Status: Player and staff member
Started on The Gathering...: April of 2007
Submission Date: Feb 11, 2011
TMC Listing: The Gathering...
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [R]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
When I first started the gathering, I wanted a place that I could
just relax and have fun and meet people. I didn't know anyone from
the mud, I didn't know the staff. I'm always apprehensive from
staying on muds that are new and I don't know.
The first thing that gripped my attention when I started the
gathering was the people. They greeted me, welcomed me, and there were
several people playing. There is never anything so depressing as
started a new mud and there is no one around. I might stay a few
minutes but usually I get bored and leave.
The next thing that grabbed my attention was that TG is different. I
hadn't ever really played a DoT mud so having to have a short
description instead of seeing a players name was very odd and
different. So, the codebase immediately grabbed my attention also.
Also the fact that I had to be 'in character' all the time was also
new. I came from a mud that you could rp if you wanted but most people
didn't.
What does this say about TG? They have a playerbase that is active
and cares about getting and keeping new players. They have a staff
dedicated to gripping the attention of people and keeping them
interested.
The staff are dedicated and are constantly coming up with ways to
better the mud and create storylines to keep player interest and
enhance the mud. New zones are being created and the use of mudprogs
to enhance areas is being used more often to give a more in depth
feel.
Are there problems with TG, of course, but the staff's ability to
stay united and work around and with problems instead of ignoring or
adding to them is phenomenal. They stick together and never bash each
other. Even if one makes a mistake, they never bash or belittle the
other.
I've been on so many muds that have a divided front and it's
stressful to the players. I was even immortal on a mud that clearly
had favoritism, and as an imm they told me to shut up if I tried to be
fair and treat everyone with respect and honesty. The gathering is
very awesome at not showing favoritism.
There is SRP on the gathering, but instead of looking at the
gathering as an SRP mud, I see it as a mud that tolerates SRP. If that
is your thing you aren't going to be punished or banned for it. If
you don't like SRP there are still rp options available to you and
the use of Profile Sheets aids greatly in finding players that have
the same roleplay tastes as you.
I also like the fact that tg tries to be as realistic as possible. I
recently became staff and one of the first things I was asked to do
was go through every area and make sure the place it was connected
made sense. If I saw an area connected to a swamp, did the city
reflect that and I would note what areas I thought needed to be
changed.
The gathering is all about change and adding and enhancing to the mud
to create a better roleplaying experience. The staff is dedicated, the
mud base is awesome though mostly it is because they have a head coder
that is truly amazing. You want something to happen, you can ask
Trellan and he will make it happen.
I strongly encourage any to at least give the gathering a shot
because it has an immortal staff and playerbase that is just amazing.
