There was a review posted, a few months back, that I pretty much have to agree with 100%: http://www.mudconnect.com/mud-bin/prev/review.cgi?rid=29256
I've played this game off and on since long before 85% of the current staff members had even heard of the game, and even did a brief stint on staff myself, back in the early days.
As the previous reviewer posted, it is very much an 'our sandbox' mentality. The staff view is summed up by a quote from an early staff member (who still holds an oversight position) 'My mud would be perfect, if it wasn't for all of the players.'
I do mourn for the mud, it used to be a place of wonder. The downhill slide began a number of years ago when rumors of a so-called notification from Wizards of the Coast started to spread, notifying the mud staff that Armageddon was violating the d20 license in their use of Darksun material since the game accepted donations. This moved on to how the staff needed to change the mud to remove all of the Darksun references, and as such planned to destroy the current game world through a series of 'End of Arm' plots, while they created a new 'Armageddon Reborn' mud, which was the mud minus the Darksun material. This strangely happened about the same time that one of the head staff members started talking about wanting to write a book about Armageddon. Needless to say, over the following year, a hefty chunk of good, older staff members quit the game, the End of Arm plots all stalled out, doing nothing but chasing a way a lot of players. Over 4 years later, Armageddon Reborn is still in the works. And I gotta say, this is the -most- patient group of WotC lawyers I've ever heard of. Typically when they send out a cease-and-desist, you've got a month, not several years, to comply.
There are a few staff members that are top notch. There to help. Always keeping in mind that yes, this is a game. And then there are the rest, who want things done how they want them done, even if they screw over PC after PC. This especially happens during the rare occasions that a PC is able to gather a good amount of power for themselves, without staff sanction. These PCs are almost universally smacked down, in the end, as those who run the game want all the big decisions in their hands alone. Which is truly a shame, because 'back in the day' a PC was able to keep their power, if they were able to grab a hold of it. For good or for ill. Another issue is the blatant favoritism. There are definitely 'pets' who get almost anything they ask for. Much of the time this is due to out-of-game friendships with staff members. In other cases, an example that has come up a few times over the last few months, is the staff member who is the wife of one of the mud forum's top trolls, and the good friend of another of its top trolls. Using thread delete and lock privileges just to support a husband and a friend who everyone else agrees are out of line is sadly very much in line with the way the game staff works these days.
So in the end, if you think you can manage a very low key, low power role that requires no staff interaction, give the game a try. It's one of the oldest and one of the best. But if ever want to move out of the corner, I'd have to reverse quote that earlier phrase: 'This mud would be perfect, if it wasn't for (most of) the staffers.'
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