1. We are not based on any existing game world.

While our predecessors may have claimed to be loosely based on the Forgotten Realms AD&D campaign setting, we are not.

2. Evils should not be more powerful and not have more hardships.

Both sides should be relatively equal, with neither side having it easier/harder, and neither side having more/less powerful race and class combinations overall.

3. We want the game to be challenging, but not frustrating.

Challenging means you have to be smart to survive and get ahead – you have to know how to play your character well and need to have solid knowledge of the game world to do well. Frustrating means being picked on for no reason – for instance, having unavoidable insta-spam-death ropers outside your hometown that you can't avoid and just have to stop playing to avoid dying to is the very definition of frustrating and not fun.

4. There should be a general balance to things, but not all things should be equal.

In general, each race/class combination should have its strengths and weaknesses and may not be able to go one-on-one with certain other race/class combinations and walk away alive. Even so, no one combination should be able to dominate and one's success should depend more on strategy, skill, and equipment than innate power levels. If a Troll warrior or Human monk can go AFK when sparring every other race/class combo and still win, then we have not done our job.

5. There should be plenty of places and things to explore.

We do not want a game like Everquest 1, where you kill the same creature over and over again for three levels. Instead, we want to have a lot of different places for people to explore and level up, and we want to slow the advancement of players who decide to stay in one place repeating the same thing over and over again. Gaining experience is about experiencing new things, not killing Drow elders over and over.

6. Not all powers and abilities should be immediately available.

This means, for example, that if your character has 5 new spells that should be available next level, not all of them will necessarily be available. Some might have to be researched or quested for in order to obtain. The same goes for some skills.

7. The game economy should be dynamic and self-correcting.

Sometimes items that are very easy to obtain can be sold for large sums of money. That really doesn't make sense, so if an expensive item becomes common and lacks buyer demand, it should decrease in value. The same goes for items that are exceedingly hard to obtain but sell inexpensively.

8. For the most part, racewar PvP should be optional.

In the history of online games there have been many systems of PvP, from free-for-all to only allowing registered arena combats. We believe the game that has done things best is Dark Age of Camelot, which has safe, “mostly safe”, “somewhat safe”, and “free for all” areas depending on where you are.

In that type of system, safe areas include hometowns and most zones exclusive to that side, mostly safe includes the keeps and strongholds of that side which can be raided by stealthers at great personal risk, somewhat safe includes the wilderness of a particular side which has guards and towers to assist and protect adventurers, and “free for all” includes all shared or unguarded wilderness and battlegrounds. Players can choose what level of risk to put themselves in and have things to do at all levels.

9. Builders should get credit for their work.

We don't mean that you should get in-game items – no no no. You should be given credit on the website, in the zone credits, and anywhere else we can show our appreciation. Put it on your resume and we’ll vouch for you to future employers (we won’t make things up, but will say you independent work for us).

We would like to have the resources to compensate builders – at least treat you to a combo meal or a new CD if you spend the hours necessary to build a high-quality zone – but the non-commercial nature of MUDs makes that difficult. Working in some method of builder compensation should be one of our goals, though we can’t make any promises.

10. Admins/immortals should not affect the game in any direct way.

There’s nothing that makes a game un-fun faster than a privileged insider using their power and influence to dominate other players.

This means no cheating, no using inside information to level up characters, and no disclosing game secrets and mysteries to other players. In fact, if you are an admin, you should not have a playable character. If you want to play, you should retire your admin. If you want to admin, you should retire your character.

11. Even though PvP will be optional, it should be relatively easy to find opponents when you are interested in PvP.

Having a massive multi-continent game world map with hundreds of zones and tens of thousands of rooms can make it very difficult for enemy players to find each other. The ‘shared combat area’ should be smaller so that players are more likely to run into each other.

12. Mobs should be smart enough to offer a challenge.

Most people have played stock MUDs where the creatures just stand there waiting to die without doing much of anything to try to take players down. They don’t remember previous aggressions and don’t offer a challenge. We want to have mobiles that at least try to win.

13. Players should be able to solo or with a group and still progress.

Whether in PvP or PvE, Some people prefer to run solo, and some prefer to group. Either one should be a viable method of playing, although progress should be easier with help. Things should not be so difficult that you need to get a group of 20 just to start killing creatures tough enough to give experience points.

14. Equipment will not be artifact-driven with a few super-powerful items that make the owner nearly invincible.

That’s not to say there won’t be powerful or unique items. It’s just that they won’t be artifacts and have godlike powers, nor will they have ‘frag or lose it’ requirements.

15. It should be possible for area builders to create interesting and detailed zones.

This often means special routines/procs/AI/abilities for creatures that they create. It should be possible to do this with a minimum of hassle with the tools that we provide.