I'll start by saying this -- I came from a MUD background, with some heavy RPI influence in my later years. I had never played Hero Systems before, and Olympus Island MUSH was my first foray into the MUSH'ing community AND the Champions rules.

From the beginning, I was captivated with the point-based system that allowed for total control over character creation. The code of the mush was very helpful in the aspect of figuring up points or whatnot, and the staff was EXCEEDINGLY happy and resourceful to get me started. Understand, especially, that if you are not familiar with the system, that will have no bearing on you being able to play. As a complete newbie to Hero Systems rules, I was aided in every way by players and staff alike to get me familiar with the system.

To this day, I am still surprised at the complexity and intensity with which their plots are run and finished, which from what I hear, by far outdoes many other MUSH's out there. The theme is highly defined and as realistic as anybody might ever want a 'Comic Book Hero' game to be. Extremely dark or overtly hostile vigilantes are not allowed, and the spirit of the game revolves around teamwork and inter-character play. This is not to say it's overly happy and joyous all of the time, but instead treads the path of a decent medium between 'dark' and 'sappy'.

There are always a few players on, except for the late night/early morning hours (for me, CST), and almost always ready or willing to roleplay inbetween staff or player run scenes.

That's another bonus of the MUSH -- both staff AND players are allowed to run scenes and create villains for everyone else to interact with. The result of this, as is venerated in the description to this MUSH, is a huge amount of scenes being run.

I would say that I stay as a player of Olympic Island MUSH because of the quality of roleplay that I find there. I play on a heavily enforced Roleplay Intensive Mud (Armageddon), and the MUSH exceeds my expectations for in character play.

To close, I will continue with the only negative aspect that may influence new characters. The character generation is brutal. But again, the results are admirable after you get past the initial difficulty. Every character becomes an indepth being, and at no time will you ever be submitted to sub-par play after you get approved. My advice? Hang in there, and work with the staff. Their knowledge of the system and rules will get you playing before you know it, and they always seem happy to help.