I found this place kind of charming when I first arrived, but that quickly faded out, the only real draw was a few decent players in my sphere and on the grid. Not a place I'd recommend anyone play, although the player base seems to be down to a maximum of five players total these days so this review may not really matter at this point.

Extremely tight, Nazi-esque control of what players can do ICly or how they can build and play their characters via staff, A refusal to allow players to advance in any way or spend their XP on legitimate rules-legal things (unless you submit a novel about all the IC things you've done to deserve a third point in... Drive or something), Overtly snarky and passive aggressive remarks from the site head for legitimate requests or complaints, meant specifically to make you feel like garbage for having opened your mouth at all, Staff that logs on once every six months, if that, who then get offended that you'd like to do something and need their assistance, The outright inability to do anything of any kind in or out of the extremely rare plots allowed to take place, unless you're in a very specific staff loved clique, in which case there seems to be a constant stream of mini plots for these few beloved players run by the site head herself...

Another reviewer compared Masquerade to an abusive relationship with a partner that degrades you, makes you feel like and tells you you're worthless, sapping away your enjoyment and smothering the idea that you have a choice to go anywhere else... Yeah, that description is accurate. New players that would like to do anything other than being forced exclusively into bar-RP should find another place to play and give this one a hard pass unless you're just attracted to very tight restriction and have no desire to do anything except chat.