Hey there kids. Some of you long time players might remember me as that one imm who didn't really do anything, Pez, or before that, the Gypsy imm, Shlain, and before that, the morts...ah, you almost got me to admit that. Sneaky you.

Anyway, I figured I'd share with the rest of you all my impressions of the number one ranked mud on mudconnector.com, Dark Risings. 'But Pez' I hear you cry, 'didn't you and Mark have a huge fight in September of 2004 and he kicked you off the mud?' Well no, that kids, is what we call a rumor. Rumors are bad, m'kay? First, let's give some background.

I started morting on DR, my first mud ever, January 2001. June of that same year Micheal asked me if I wanted to imm Gypsy. Yes, I was only a 6 month old mudder when asked to be on staff. How'd I obtain that title? I roleplayed the heck out of my characters, even roleplaying during traditional whack-a-mob quests. So, at least in my eyes and in my experiences, if you give a good attempt to roleplay, people notice and you are rewarded. (Mark even gave me, after I was pked, all of my killer's items, way back when. 'This doesn't happen that often, so don't tell anyone.' ...oops)

So I took charge of Gypsy. I did some good, and I did some bad as an imm there, it all depends on who you ask. That lasted for a while until I asked to change positions on staff. I then moved over to help Astyron build, as well as run some fun quests. (To this day, I'm still one of the only people to use the -NR-, or no restring tag, in my quest items. Take that restringers! Wait, I'm a restringer...d'oh)

But after being on staff for three years, things got a bit dull for me. (Yes, Pez can be dull, who knew?) Mark asked me to step down, and since other games had grabbed my attention, and at the point I left I really hadn't done anything of value for 6 months, I totally agreed with his decision.

Now, flash to the future, a year later after my leaving. I've slowly been returning to the mud, morting, when the push for number one began. As an experienced player, one who was familiar with the game on a higher level then a lot of players due to my imm positions, I can say things have definitely changed for the better. New zones, are still slowly but steadly being rolled out. These new zones seem to have a much more dynamic, complex feel to them, as the builders are finally starting to not only use mprogs, something the originoal imps were against, but also using them in fun, creative ways, at least creative for DR.

Many of the minor mechanics have been improved over time as well. Things like a portal for newbies to gate to zones, better newbie equipment, commands to optimize stats for gains, among others have all been added. These small 'quality of life' changes, things that really don't need to be in, but make life better because they are, really seem to give a much more enjoyable play session.

A lot of older players, myself included, are starting to come back around, those of us who 'remember the good old days' as well as a wild influx of newbies. I mean, the days of Nemos' tattoo and Valek mischanning are probably gone for good, but I am seeing a lot of old familar names, and I am sure people are shocked to see some of my chars as well. (Still not telling)

Is the staff perfect? Heck no, Marc and the rest of them will be the first to admit it. (I mean, who doesn't remember the ~ incident?) But they all deeply care about this MUD, and that much is evident. There seems to be a vision the staff has, something that was missing back when I helped out up in immland, that gives Dark Risings a new, coherent feel to it.

I may not be able to spend 10 hours logged in at a time these days, stupid real life and all, but I am most definitely back, even if not as an imm, playing a fun game with intellegent (Ok, mostly intellegent -mgrin-) people. If you're mature, a bit patient, and want to get hooked into a great game with great people, give DR a try. It might not be for you, even I, the champian of roleplay on the game will admit that at times the rp can be hard to come by, but it's still one of the best run games out there.

And for those who remember me, yes, I still like potatoes. And be sure to check out the help pez file, it's still there in game. :)

Pez has restored you. Only not, remember the Pez fake restores?