After becoming disillusioned with a previous game set in the world of Rowling's novels I was pleased to find this one. It's setting is creative and refreshing and allows you as a player to delve into a world before even the parents of The Boy Who Lived were born.

While it was relatively small when I started it has certainly grown. Like all game still in its infancy there have been a few teething problems, this has been mainly down to the way some players have found it difficult to interpret the fantastically creative setting the staff have placed everyone in.

There can be challenges in playing a game in a modern historical setting. People can struggle to place their own minds in the past; use the wrong slang, dress or behave inappropriately or find it difficult to understand why the world in the 1930s was a crueler, darker place where we did not know the horrors happening across the world and if we did we were maybe not as bothered about them as we are now.

That is where the staff come in. Though there are just two staff; a husband and wife duo, they work tirelessly to help orient new players and also older ones like myself. They are polite and firm, consistent as possible in their work and what is more they admit they make mistakes.

Unlike a lot of games this one practices transparency. You know who staff are. There are set hours when you can approach them, but they also are willing to deal with smaller matters anytime. You know which players play which characters. You know that you are playing a game which is populated by mature adult players who behave accordingly.

In my period playing this game I have taken on a more difficult job, become seriously ill and been hospitalized and throughout it all the staff and the players have been supportive of me. It is not often you find a game which is as welcoming as it claims. This one is. But don't come to Witchcraft and Wizardry and expect everything to be done for you, this is, as I said, a game for mature players who push their own plots and find their own roleplay. It is a place for you to be independent and most of all to have fun otherwise none of us would be there.

This game has an incredibly unique setting. Taking place just as WW2 begins, as Dumbledore begins to rise to power at Hogwarts and as Tom Riddle begins attending Hogwarts, this game features fantastic period settings and wonderfully antiquated takes on the Harry Potter universe. Unfortunately, staff ruins it.

They are a husband and wife team. The wife, Boo, is emotional and talks down to players nearly every time she posts. Her husband, Seancee, seems to spend as much time trying to smooth over her poor written people skills as he does running the game. Their marriage makes them function much like a clique. They encourage discussion, input and suggestions, but if they do not match what they are already thinking or want, it is dismissed with condescension, curt 'You're wrong' messages or disinterest.

Staff also keeps office hours, which is just silly. They claim it's so they can RP with their own characters (of which, they each literally have a dozen alts), but yet they hardly ever RP with any of them. Frustratingly, the idle policy applies to everyone BUT those alts: Players are required to not just log in, but must actually have a scene to keep from idling out. If they spent less time creating characters they didn't play, and more time staffing, the game might be better.

This staff also has a tendency to spend all of their efforts on making the magic and quidditch code mechanics as complicated as possible. They have spend so much time on this, that they don't have any time to run any plot, which is the greatest frustration of all. Tom Riddle is at school, but is NEVER NPCd (I recall only one single scene with him in the entire life of the game, and he was used as background in an 'arriving at Hogwarts' scene). WW2 is starting, but they would rather have characters debate whether or not muggles should know magic exists (a pointless debate, since the result is already determined by canon in the Harry Potter books that take place in the future). The period in time is so filled with interesting places and things, but the only thing to do is RP sitting in the Great Hall or sitting in a pub. That gets old after a year. Players need plot, and staff isn't interested in hearing that.

There's another review here that notes that if a game isn't willing to listen to their players, the game is destined to die. It's very true. Just ask all the people that have left this game bored in the last few months.

The Staff can be a bit uppity, as they are a Husband and Wife team, the lack of other staffers can have it's benefit but in reality it more often or not seems like it is their way or the highway. The information is scattered across the wiki and mush, they have a +news system but do not use it, which seems to me a huge mistake IMHO.

The biggest issue is not that it is in BETA or that the information is scatter but once again the lack of diversity with staff. They even say they are like minded on most things, the issue with this is the same as having a clique with Staff, no diversity means that you might as well have one person running it and you do what he/she says. They do not like it, it will not happen. I really do not see the two sitting in the same room debating things.

They also have 'Office Hours' which I think is one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard of, as a staffer for 4+ MUSH in the past, it seems like they want to limit when they have to deal with player issues or questions, if the office is closed, you will not get a response. Sucks to be you, ask on the question channel and maybe you will get an answer from a staffer but you might have the playerbase try and answer the question, which can get fishy because the game keeps changing as it is in BETA.

It has potential but I see the Staffer duo getting burnt out with the lack of relief that other staffers would provide, I forsee some players will leave, as they can not stand the my way or the highway attitude, which is why I am leaving actually. If you can not bend to your playerbase then your MU* is destined to die. Yes they have a discussion board, but really this MU* is not New Player friendly, it is more of the 'Been Here' club setting.

Two out of Five Stars

Pros: Good Setting Friendly-Enough Playerbase Nice World

Cons: Horrid CG Need more Diverse Staff Unorganized Wiki is a Requirement Tad Bit Elitist Not New Player Friendly

While we are still working on the grid, the game is open to create characters for Sandbox RP. For those who do not know about sandboxing, this is the time to flesh out your character without the worry of retconning or finding yourself in a position of needing to change the character or create a new one. During the Sand Box period, you have the option of keeping your RP as IC development or tossing it. Play just for fun or character development. It is your choice. The staff and players alike are all ways ready to help you with any request.

The staff is a huge extended family who readily welcomes all. New to MUSHing or on Oldbie. While Wizard/Witch is all that is available at this time we will be having a extended race selection. This time period is your chance to get your foot in the door and start working with staff in fleshing out those special characters for later.

Newbie friendly. There is usually a staff member available any time of day or night to help you through.