I've played many MUDs over the past 12 years and Hell was one of the more interesting.

I put off playing Hell for a while because I never tried a MOO before. But it has guns and other such stuff I like so I figured I'd give it a shot. When you first make your character (after requesting a temporary password that is sent to your e-mail) you start out as an orphan. Ten years old, low stats, no skills, no equipment, etc. About five minutes after emerging from the 'orphan hole' I was promptly grabbed by a player and raped(and I mean actual rape). I should have left right then and there, but I didn't. And oh yeah, to become a non-orphan you have to 'grow up'. This involves finding the museum basement (if you don't get raped/killed a few times in the meantime) and killing or 'performing oral services' on an NPC to be allowed to the room where you can start actually creating a character.

That's one thing you should know about Hell..it's a VERY 'adult-themed' world. However, as I later found out, the 'MUST BE EIGHTEEN OR OVER' rule isn't enforced, ever. One of the somewhat-sane(very few of those) admins flat out told me that, personally. That's right..minors are subjected to rampant drug use, alcoholism, rape, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, etc. etc. Hell has all that and much, much more.

After a few weeks of trying to get stronger but constantly being ganged up on and all of my stuff stolen (and my apartment robbed) I got tired of actually trying to PLAY Hell and decided to just hang around in my apartment and talk to some of the very few decent people on there. You see Hell is populated by Somethingawful goons and 4chan addicts. And the result is exactly as you'd expect. There are a few good people on there, but they are few and far between and they don't last long (every single one of the people I used to talk to no longer play). The majority of the people are 'griefers' which are pretty much kids that were picked on too much in high school and feel the need to try to get back at society by being jerks on the internet. Sometimes it can be funny, but most of the time it isn't. A few days ago I made a new character to try to 'get back into' Hell. It lasted about an hour or two before I was again overly bored and didn't feel like doing jack-all but sitting in my apartment and talking over the various nets.

Now, with the normal clientele Hell attracts there are quite a bit of immature arguments and jokes slung around. However, you better make sure you know who is listening in and who the joke is aimed toward. Today one of the head Wizards (which outrank admins) made yet another controversial decision and the entire place went into an uproar. In the newbie corporation (don't refer corporations as a guild/clan unless you want to die..a lot) we were jokingly brainstorming ways to 'deal with the problem'. I made a joke about molotov cocktails(tame by Hell standards), someone else made a joke about killing the admin in his sleep. Now I was gone for a few hours but during those few hours that convo was leaked and I was falsely accused for the sleep-killing bit. I came back on to everyone wanting me dead and to an overly emotional/hysterical (not in a funny sense) admin. I tried to speak with that admin to calmly and maturely explain that what I said was merely a joke and that I didn't say the death-threat. The only response I got was 'shut the *expletive* up' and all of my characters were promptly banned over a false accusation by a abusive/emotionally disturbed admin. Thus ends my adventures in Hell.

But before I end this I shall talk about the admins/wizards a little bit. Most of them are good, however, there are quite a few knee-jerking overly-emotional (read: EMO) types that are slowly dooming the game. One of the head admins himself (the one in question in the paragraph above) had said that he didn't care about new players since most of them leave within 6 months anyway. Which is proven in his, and other admins', latest decisions..which are turning gameplay, especially for new players, into a chore instead of a fun activity. The numbers of players are steadily dropping and if Hell stays on this current path it probably won't be around too much longer. Which really is a shame since it's a game with quite a bit of potential. But just like most games that have the best potential these days they are ruined by leadership that care nothing about the players. Not to mention the knee-jerk reactions when it comes to 'balance' or when suddenly deeming something against the rules even though it didn't say anything about it in the rule help file. Once something is deemed 'overpowered' they gank it into uselessness.

Now when the denizens of Hell find out about this review I'll likely be insulted, threatened, etc. behind my back. As has happened with previous Hell reviews. I'll also probably be permanently banned if I'm not already. It is with this that I can not recommend this game to anyone. That is..unless you frequent Somethingawful's forums and/or 4chan and were repeatedly picked on in school.

Thus is Hell.