I found FieryMUD as a link on gopher in 1995. What struck me initially was the friendliness of the players, and a willingness of established players to adopt newbies and show them the ropes of playing the game. The world seemed vivid and alive, and I enjoyed playing on Fiery very much. I worked my way up the ranks and through the levels and became witness to the expansion and development of the mud. Once I had proven myself as a mortal of the realm, one of the major deities of the realm took me under his wing and promoted me to an immortal, a position where I would help interact with the administrators and players of the MUD. I became a player advocate, and helped express player concerns to the administrators of the mud. I was promoted to quasi deity position and began to run player quests, helping increase player enjoyment of the realm and the MUD.

A hardware failure destroyed the mud as we knew it. Areas had been saved, but much of the coding was gone. It took some time to get the mud back online, and when it did come back, it was based on another code base that made the realm feel more generic than the home we had all come to know and love. With a new code base came a push to make the game more roleplaying, which included an effort to require roleplaying names, and removal of global chat among other things. This also happened around the time that Ultima Online became popular, and players were lost to more appealing realms where imagination was replaced with graphics and sound. I stopped playing.

Many years passed, and I began to long for a text based adventure, where my imagination could create scenes more vivid than anything a graphic artist could come up with. I looked up FieryMud again, and found them still operating, and players still enjoying the realm I came to know and love. The mud is still expanding, and the code base is constantly being worked on to improve playability, and to create a unique experience that is truly one of a kind. Many of the more harsh restrictions placed on roleplaying had been abolished, as global communication channels now flourish, and while roleplaying names are encouraged, they are not as heavily regulated.

Fiery has been blessed with many incredible authors over the years, and many areas have been written that truly stimulate the players imagination. While the players are still very friendly, I would say that the one thing that sets Fiery apart are the rich descriptions of every room, mob, and object in the database. Fiery is truly a wonderful place to explore and I would recommend everyone interested in playing a unique and exhilarating experience to give Fiery a try. I believe you will be glad to call Fiery your home too.