Well, where to start exactly? I've played Star off and on. I remember the days of guns being like glass. I also remember the days of when tactics were in, which really contributed to some higher powered characters. Tribal being the most notable one, last I checked, he was 3,500 or so Eval, which is short for Evaluation Points.

The population took a dive, badly, and most on these days are idle to the max. Then again, when a mud is on life support, new players breathe new life into it.

Guns are fixed, tactics are gone (or being heavily revised). Cthulhu is now killable (The monster I think is still there, we have an actual player named Cthulhu, I feel sorry for him. He's a Talnid Martialist Yokozuna, man, cut him with a butter knife and he dies because of weaknesses.)

Ravnos is well... he's been around for a long time, some would say since before White Wolf created the World of Darkness. If I'm right, Ravnos has been around since it began, and was wizzed in during early-mid 90's, around the time V:TM became popular. He and I joked briefly a while back how he should sue White Wolf for ruining his name.

Then we've got Zac, hardcore Coke addict (The soda of course, I'm a pepsi guy). Well, he allowed me to test newly coded guns when guns were still glass. Namely the new cobra laser pistol (now micropoint laser I think) and the Fer-de-Lance Gatling Laser. That gun right there? Think the weird minigun the Terminator used in the dream sequence from the original movie, lotsa lasers.

Zac, however, is deathly afraid of touching the code for psionicist profession, which is roughly half my age, so around 11 years old; pretty scary to anyone really.

Back to the mud itself; Xenomorphs! Oh man, fun fun fun, just hope you don't mind nearly everything attacking you as a Xeno.

Androids, well, credit heavy and patience is needed. Experience points for them is gained in significantly smaller amounts, but it's just enough for skillgains, since all their stats are increased by credits.

Choidon are an interesting race. Supposedly they have a huge plasma resistance, which is impossible to have as any other race, which is due to their horn on their head. That is used for the cdraw command, used on energy cells to regain their energy supply, which is food/water for them. They also get cgore command, which switches from bare handed fists to their horn. No weapons or armor with those guys, just a challenge.

Choidon along with the Nightblade subprofession of the Convict profession also have no way of talking or remote emotes, only tells.

(I've been bugging Zac every now and then to give them channels, he won't budge... and after saying that choidon are crunchy with ketchup, i stopped.)

The planets are pretty awesome, domains rather; each has a specific range for players. Some for newbies, some for veteran eval, and some areas for Super Players (can only have 1 per account by the way)

Some classes are easier to play than others, but that also cuts down on their long term playability as well. I have yet to see a Super Player cybermerc.

Also, there are some races which are rather hard to play, one I won't touch, such as E'nai; think floating ferns, that's them.

My highest eval character is a Gazh Psionicist, which is such high in eval with such a hard race. I was told by one of the admin that he respected me for sticking with it for so long. So yeah, I take the harder race/prof combos and get laughed at, but I like challenges.

I could go on and on and if I did, you'd want to just hang yourself about how much I could go on about how great StarMUD is and some of the players and admin as well.

I'll also say that reboots are daily, but you get a good warning before they happen. Plus after each reboot is WAR!

Give it a try, you'll either love it or hate it at first, either way, you will come back; I did, even after a two year hiatus.

I have to start by admitting that starmud has me hooked. I've quit starmud and quit mudding every so often, but I always end up back there.

There are a unique set of races and professions (classes), as one might hope from any mud. But what I find especially pleasing about these sets is that your choices actually do impact the way that you play the game.

Some races don't use armor, relying on their natural defense or their extraordinary healing ability to recoop damage. Some prefer to use their claws or tentacles instead of wielding weapons. Also, different races have different vulnerabilities, making your choices of weapons, etc. actually matter especially when it comes to pk.

The professions you can choose also yield very different experiences. I honestly can't think of examples to provide that don't sound cliche but their strenghts are really very varied.

Above everything else, though, the major pro for starmud is the organic feel to everything. The interface is so nice to use, being able to type commands like 'get all into any backpack' takes away some of the annoyingness of mud commands. You aren't limited to 100% in your skills-- as long as you keep using it, you'll keep on getting better at it. There are a few artificial-feeling limits, but deservedly so-- your stats are capped (a cap which you won't reach until at least a week of playing time) and there are ranges on pk (should you choose to participate).

Part of the organicness of starmud is in it's ever-changing nature. This is a good thing at times, with new areas or features being introduced to try. But other times, it can be frustrating as stuff gets changed or disappears for apparently no reason. Currently being fixed are pk, tactics, and guns among other things that have been available in the past.

Regardless, though, it's an incredibly original mud, some fairly intelligent if opinionated regulars, and for those who don't want role play and don't mind swearing on the channels or coming out of the monsters' mouths, a cool place to waste some time.