Around since 1994, RetroMUD is one of the old MUDs out there that is still around and flourishing. Under constant construction, RetroMUD has expanded itself to have six vast worlds worth of exploration, 18 very unique and individually themed primary guilds to join, with many, many more secondaries and literally hundreds of tertiary guilds, as well as having over 60 different races (and UNIQUE races, like unicorns, dragons, floating eyeballs, energy people. . . We're NOT talking about 60 different flavors of humanoid with minor stat changes. This is a MUD, not a Star Trek convention, after all.) to choose from, giving an unparalleled level of customization to every character.

Now, I'm a roleplayer, though not everyone is and that kinda' makes RetroMUD interesting. The game is a 'roleplay encouraged' game, so there are perks for roleplayers, in order to keep enough around for a stable roleplaying community, yet without the mind-breaking rp enforcement of some games. This means, for the roleplayer, that if you ever feel like just relaxing and talking about game related things in an ooc context, you're perfectly free to do so, without an angry admin breathing down your neck about how ooc things don't belong here and you need to find another MUD, etc. It also means, unfortunately, that you might be trying to roleplay, and along comes Billbob, the level 89 powergamer, saying things like 'Any of you wanna' midrow blast for a farming party? We're also short a protter.'

RetroMUD offers an outlet for pvp activities, but pvp is not a part of standard gameplay. This means if you want to constantly live your life on the edge, fearing an attack while plotting out the destruction of another player, this isn't the place for it. Pk is essentially outlawed, except under special circumstances or in special places. To let out your pvp urges though, there's wars and capture the flag arenas, where anything goes, and fields may be mapped out with ancient shrines, flying islands and bridges, and even trebuchets, to name just a few. Plus, it's anything goes, and with a game as diverse as RetroMUD, with as many classes, spells, powers, skills, weapons, and a well ordered party system, this means group tactics can quickly become quite diverse, altering the whole face of gameplay with everything from teleportation, barriers, summoned pets, and attack spells, to diverse status effects, stealth abilities and prots.

In general, though, RetroMUD is a party MUD. As your level increases, you'll find that it becomes more and more necessary to cooperate with your fellow players to accomplish your goals. There are always places to farm or mess around solo, of course, but after a point, one cannot expect to tackle the local boss monster alone, eventually needing to get as many as eight different people together and combining powers in order to finally take out the foe. Parties aren't usually hard to find, fortunately, and the social aspect of this makes for a great community, but the anti-social be warned: this is an online game. You play here with the expectation of playing with others.

-Kereth