I've been with this MUD as a player for six years now, and I feel that it is time for me to share my opinion and experiences on this MUD in order to ensure that new players have a fair and accurate view of 'the way things are' before committing their time to a character on Awakened Worlds.

As many reviewers have done before me, I must first acknowledge that the codebase is full of interesting features and that the world is highly developed; indeed, it is precisely these things that convinced me to spend my six years with Awake. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the level of sophistication and development evinced by the codebase and world is far beyond the level which the Immortal staffers of the game display.

The current Immortal staffers were selected by the head Immortal from within the ranks of the 'oldbies'- players who have been around for many years and have curried favor with the administration in the past. These oldbies are often given preferential treatment, with their mortal characters surpassing the current coded global skill maximums as well as being possessed of bank accounts that are filled to ridiculous levels. These oldbies control both their ranking Staff members as well as their extremely powerful mortal characters, giving them an unmatched amount of influence over the game world in both IC and OOC manners. Rule-breaking amongst these oldbies is common, yet overlooked; the head Immortal refuses to hear allegations of mistreatment or harassment, going so far as to silence players in-game and delete forum topics that allege these sorts of things. Being a friend of one of these staffers gives you free reign to break the rules as well- after all, they are in charge of rule enforcement, and why would they punish a friend?

As other reviewers before me have done, I must recommend that newbies steer clear of this MUD. Although it was once a fun and intriguing place in which to roleplay and experience the world, this RP-optional MUD has devolved into a petty world where currying favor OOCly gets you much further than in-character work would alone.