I really appreciate anyone giving an honest opinion of the game, good or bad, since I think it's always helpful. Even if I think something isn't accurate, knowing someone felt that way still allows me to see things that could be done better, or are not as clear as I'd like to make them. I'm definitely not perfect, and there's always things I can improve on, so I owe anyone thanks that takes the time to write up about any negative or positive experiences. We definitely have problems with scale. When I made Arx, I intended it to be a game for a couple dozen people that might enjoy playing in a very story driven, tightly focused narrative, more of an online tabletop writ large in a persistent world rather than a MMO writ small. Instead of a couple dozen players, there's been 916 unique players that have tried the game at some point since it opened. Now the game is designed around each of those people being able to have a story around the development of their character and work it into a cohesive, ongoing plot for the game which has a few dozen strands. That is pretty challenging, and presents some problems that I think don't come up too much in other MUs. Like the main problem is from the original design of 1/30th of the game size, I intended to be very hands on with each player and be able to make sure they were having fun and were finding satisfying roleplay. And I can't really do that. We have a small staff because I insist on it being only people whose primary passion is for GMing, and they would never get personally invested in any kind of player conflict that could bias their GMing, and they are willing to forgo any kind of personal participation in the story as a player if necessary to keep it focused on players. The problem here is that results in a very tiny pool (since the overwhelming majority of people that want to become staff want to still keep their own PCs where they can shine in stories), and with so few people to entertain a huge player base, we're forced in a very reactive role, when really we'd want to be proactive in making stories for people. Like when the reviewer mentions favoritism, the truth is I just don't know or talk to almost any of the players at all. Like he talks about 'actions' and 'investigations', both of which are essentially coded heads up to the GMs of, 'Hey I want to try to do this thing offscreen with my character' or 'I want to try to find out more about this topic'. The latter can match with already existing lore that I've written, but still an overwhelming majority of the 'I want to find out more about X' results in us writing something new about X, and all actions are still written by the people... Read More

Apostate is actually telling you the truth. Yep, I'm banned. Doesn't matter what for. And its Perm! So nothing to lose or gain. Anyhow... Arx is a great game. Even if I got smacked with the ban hammer, it would be dumb for me to give a wrong review because of that. And because I have zero investment in it, there is no reason for me to lie about it. It's a very good game and well crafted. Every person is pretty much treated with a level of importance even if they were criminals and such. The staff really do try to make the best for everyone and their actions and such. And every position is player based. Like the High Lords and the King. Players can also run Player Run Plots, which I found absolutely interesting. I am also pretty sure this has earned its RPI status with incredibly deep roleplaying, permanent death and a plethora of In Game options to do things. Arx is probably the best RPI I have played in some time. While there is only one Crown and Five Major Houses, Players get a LOT of leeway in making new Organizations (Orgs) and a lot have been made by other players. From new Vassal Houses to entirely new groups that do this or that. I believe the +crime system will open even bigger avenues for players. As will the systems that they will be putting in such as shields, dual wielding, poisons and magic. The game has, at least in peak time, over 150+ players who are NOT idling. Its also the first game I have played that isn't the standard Fantasy trope. The fact people can get the skills they want allows for a very deep customization as they can build a combat skilled character or perhaps a scholar or a politician. Arx politics are HUGE. What about Lore? Yes, in spades. From books to theories to clues. Oh and the secrets and such? Without revealing anything, let's just say Arx has a lot of secrets. Also there is in fact players in Team Evil, Team Good and Team Neutral. Which obviously you'd have to find IC about all that. And there is a lot to find out. As well as do. And considering the amount of Events I tried out, I can say you won't be dissapointed. Events for everything under the sun. If this game is this solid NOW, pretty sure it will be even more solid later on. And Apostate and Co. have made such a unique game despite being set in the fantasy trope, you'd be hardpressed to dislike it. I encourage anyone who loves roleplaying games to try it out. It's a great game and I don't think I'll ever bad mouth it.

Honestly I have to revise my earlier review, after having seen more and more of how the game progressed. So really, I'll just start out blunt here I think the mu has descended down a path where honestly it is just a matter of time before it is a hollow shell of its former self. What could have lead from such promise down to killing itself slowly? In short it's a toxic atmosphere cultivated by the staff and a number of their favorites. Every mu* has drama, this can't be avoided but where Arx has a singularly bad problem is where the staff feed into some of their more vitriolic players who effectively run a meta lynch mob that dictates who gets to play and who gets black listed, with black listing meaning anything that requires staff input being destined to fail or be purposefully misconstrued. So where does this happen you might ask? Well where all good things go to die in the mu* community MuSoapBox. It's here that you can find staff and certain players sometimes broadly shit talking the rest of the player base, or when the stars are right, whipping themselves into a fervor that spills IC so that you see people who previously had no part in an altercation rallying as a mob to descend on some poor sot. Another interesting problem that I've yet to see really in any other mu* is the trend of where if a male character disagrees with a female one it can quickly lead to cries of misogyny both IC and OOC (after all, only someone with ooc hatred of women could dare disagree with the actions of one) ...Which is baffling to say the least, considering that theme of the mu* has all but stamped out misogyny in the culture with it having been built into one very particular fealty as a battlefield where it could be stomped out once and for all....Continuing this trend (and the one above) is where occasionally someone will gain the wrong person's scorn and using the mean girls network, they'll slander the player relentlessly and see they get all but made a pariah IC. Of course if you ask them, they'll say they were doing the right thing and that it was deserved, so there isn't much that can be said there....Were some of the players creeps? Undoubtedly. Were all of them? No. Now how is staff fostering this? Well aside from shit talking their players on musoapbox, the favoritism situation has gotten that much worse. Working on a pet project that you wish to see succeed? Well you better hope that one of the favored few don't show interest in that direction or they'll end up being favored by plot to head up your project. Did you disagree with one of their favorites, well I hope you're ready to never actually do anything that isn't hard coded again, because anything that involves staff arbitration isn't going to go great... Read More