Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Top MUD Sites

Traditionally one of the best MUD resources out there in the world wide web has been Top MUD Sites (TMS). Hundreds of MUDs have registered with Top Mud Sites and a potential player can search Top Mud Sites database and control the results through advanced searching. There is an active community on the TMS forums. Many of the members are MUD administrators, staff, or veteran players. This is a good place to ask for general help or to search more specifically for a game you like. There is a MUD article database with topics on roleplaying, storytelling, and building MUDs.

One of the most useful tools I have used when trying to select a new MUD to play is TMS's top MUD list which is located on their home page. Honestly, this is not an indication of the best built MUDs on the web or the best environments. It is more of an indication of how active and passionate both the administrators and players for a MUD are. From my experience, a MUD will not even get listed on the front page for the top 20 MUDs without having an active and larger player base. There are still many MUDs out there that have few players at all. If a MUD is not within the top 40 on TMS it is a good indication that the MUD has a very small player base, likely too small for robust interactive play.

Unfortunately, what I deemed one of the most useful features of Top MUD Sites has gone inactive. TMS has not been accepting new MUD reviews from players since September of 2006. While the old reviews are still there, I had found it historically useful to read what players liked or hated about a game. It is true that some disillusioned players could write scathing or untrue reviews or admins could write over glowing reviews for their game, but the discerning reader can weed through both extremes to find some semblance of the truth about a game. I hope that this is a feature that they reinstate soon, though with the amount of time it has been down I'm not holding my breath.

Even with this inactive feature, Top MUD Sites is still one of the best MUD resources out there today. I've enjoyed many years of researching, writing, and reading on the site.

Hats off to you, TMS!

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