I had a completely different experience on Dune than Zaph did. The people there were very friendly and helpful, not just with advice about what to do as a newbie, but advice about different ways to play in the guild I'd chosen and places to go for my level (whatever it happened to be at the time). More than once, someone was willing to meet me where I was and guide me to where I had been trying to go. Some players even logged in their alts that were members of my guild and ran around with me for a while. From a social context, Dune seems to have some pretty friendly people.

From a world standpoint, the game is huge. There are lots and lots of places to go, with more working and active guilds than I've seen in most muds. It helps that there's a lot of advice on how to play available, either from people in the game or from various places online (including the Dune website.) Since every guild has *very* different strengths and weaknesses, this is a huge help. Also, their website is really useful. They've set up a wiki, and the players have obviously spent a lot of time transferring game information (including help files!) to it.

To be honest, the game that Zaph played doesn't sound anything like this mud. Dune is probably the best sci-fi themed mud I've had the pleasure of playing. If you're into the Dune setting at all, or enjoy the genre, it's definitely worth your time.