EmpireMUD is a codebase that has been in the general community knowledge for over a decade now. It comes up and now and then and is frequently cited as an excellent unfinished codebase.

This is no longer the case. In April of 2013, Paul Clarke came back to re-initiate development and has made massive strides in the last two years. The game now has an original theme and many of the issues that plagued EmpireMUD 1.0 have been fully addressed. The game is almost completely unrecognizable from how it was previously and the parts that worked well have been considerably improved.

The game features the ability to create your own city with its own unique design on an ASCII map as well as create your character from one of 8 different skillsets with many unique abilities not seen on other games. The game also features an extensive crafting system that scales with your character's skill level, allowing you to be valuable even if you want to be a non-combat character.

Paul is one of the most responsive MUD administrators I have ever met. He takes feedback seriously and on several occasions I have seen him completely change a system over multiple issues being brought up over its design. He also has gone out of his way to make the game extremely screen reader friendly, so we do absolutely want you to play with us if you use one and are constantly taking feedback about how we can improve the game in that regard.

I definitely recommend checking EmpireMUD out. It's unlike just about anything else out there.