I joined and tried out this mud on the recommendation of a friend. I usually play RPIs. I find the RPI ambiance excellent and was very skeptical that a reputed PK-mud could win me over. However, my friend assured me that this mud's roleplaying and immersion were something that I had to see and that would make me leave my other muds.

So, I gave it a chance, and here are my impressions on the whole experience:

- It was a pain to create a character. Now, I am a guy who IS USED to a grueling RPI-type character creation, and let me tell you, this mud went far aboye and beyond anything I've ever seen with steep requirements for detailed descriptions, extensive backstories, justifications for every possible thing, and the sad thing is that later on none of that was used in the game by anyone at all; the effort just went to collect dust.

- The email response from admin (which is required for your new character to be accepted) was very slow and unresponsive. I waited more than a couple days which is usually enough for me to scroll down to the next mud on the list out of boredom; I stuck with this one for the sake of my friend.

- Once in the game, first thing I noticed was people going OOC very often. And almost always for the same reason: To ask if I was really a 'newbie' or rather just some old player's alt-character trying to get a free ride. This annoyed me on two levels: First, this assumpion really lays bare how few new players this mud gets which does a lot to dispel its charm, and second, I wasn't even LOOKING to get anything handed to me, but everybody assumed that since I was new, I must be looking for a handout.

- On a corollary from the above point, I always look forward to building up a little starting wealth, yet in this mud I was freely given so much stuff (after the requisite suspicious are-you-an-alt questions) that nothing had any value.

- Gameplay with other people amounted to typing 'join name' and then being treated to a whirlwind of scrolling rooms and screens of text as I was dragged through various mob-areas and drilled on the intricacies of the fight-engine (which doesn't actually seem that intricate).

- One thing which is surprising is the quality of the emote engine. Here is something which pleased me to no end, as it is flexible, easy to use and powerful. At the same time, it was so very sad that nobody ever used it for anything, or at the most, used it in the most simplified, superficial way possible. Such a waste.

- Finally, the thing that tipped the issue for me is what I would call the strong OOC nature of the MUD. Make no mistake, this is and will continue to be an OOC MUD. Players know each other as players, not as characters. Everybody knows which character is an alt of which other character and how many other alts that player has and will be on the lookout for any metagaming between those chars (and let me point out, players that are constantly policing metagaming in other players is the worst form of metagaming there IS).

- Players go OOC constantly, and not only demand that you explain the reasons behind your roleplay in detail for them to decide whether it's acceptable or not, but also they will actually go OOC to explain THEIR OWN roleplay to justify it TO YOU with no provocation whatsoever, something which I found to be a gigantic turnoff.

To be fair, I should mention some positive aspects of the mud, which is basically a very good single-player game. It basically played out like a very good piece of interactive fiction at certain points, most notable being the dwarven mountains and underground, and an orc castle filled with secret passages and such. However, the considerable charm and atmostphere falls apart once you start interacting and trying to get into the world and the game's societies of silent PK and war.

In conclusion, I gave it a good go, I was assured I would be leaving my mud after trying this one, but all in all, after this I think I'll be going back home.