Games - FiranMUX

	Games - FiranMUX

FiranMUX (or Firan) is an online text-based role-playing game which is set in an original world with a strong Greco-Roman flavor.

Overview

Based on the TinyMUX codebase, it could be considered a hybrid of the plot-based roleplay of a MUSH with much of the coded detail and objects of a MUD. For example, Firan's combat is fully code-based, and coded commands even exist for procreation, with appropriate rolls made by the game for pregnancy and so on.

History

The game is the creation of Stephanie & Adam Dray. A couple hailing from Maryland, the Drays began the game as a table-top role-playing game in the mid-1990s. After a few years, the Drays decided to start an online game, and in January 1997 FiranMUX was brought online. Firan has been in (more or less) continuous operation since that time. A staff of almost thirty volunteers keep the game in operation, and the game peaks around 100-120 players connected per night, which makes it the one of the largest MUXes in existence .

The design of the game was influenced by other MUSHes and MUDs of the late 1990s, by computer games such as Civilization (computer game), by modern table-top role-playing games, and by Greco-Roman mythology.

Thematic Information

FiranMUX focuses on the lives and times of a people called the Firans. The game is set mostly in the republic capital of Anarinuell, where characters engage in social battles running the gamut from intrigues to epics to romances. Players attempt to gain social power and political influence for their characters as well as spread rumors, trade goods, practice a craft, worship their respective gods, go to war, and so on. While there is day-to-day role-play and individual "tinyplots" depending upon each character, some of the major events within the game revolve around Bronze Age-style battles with the Shamibelians, another unique race in the game which at one time placed the Firan people in slavery. Though the Firans have been freed from bondage, the Shamibelians still hold several Firan cities.

Characters

Unlike most MUSHes, FiranMUX offers pre-generated characters that come ready to play with detailed histories, drives, motivations, skills, and a list of relationships which connect each character to other players’ characters. Many of them can be played by just browsing through the roster, choosing one, and providing an E-mail address, to which the game will send a password needed to play that specific character. Some characters require an application for administrative approval which requests reasons as to why the player would like to play the said character, and plots that the player would like to be involved in (this is similar to the "app" process on many other MUSH games). As of August 2005, Firan does allow players to create completely new characters if a player so wishes.

Praise

FiranMUX is one of the largest role-playing games in the online community of role-playing. Many players boast that the game is "newbie friendly," and that both staff and fellow players alike are willing to give a helping hand to acclimate new players to the game. Firan won a peer "Andy Award" in 2001 for being the "Most Newbie Friendly" .

Firan also has a rich history, most of which was written by the players. Firan's storyline has run with little interruption since 1997 (spanning roughly 19 years of in-game time as of 2005). Thus, entire generations of characters have been born, grown up, and died. Characters marry and have children on Firan. Their children grow up over time and become available on the roster to be played by other individuals. FiranMUX has seen the birth of the great-grandchildren of characters played in the original table-top game.

Firan's virtual community is another strength. Players generally treat each other well and grow close to one another. Since 2000, the Drays have hosted an annual "real life" get-together called FiranCon. In 2005, around 60 players and staff convened at a hotel in Maryland to party, talk about Firan, and have fun. Players came from Germany, England, Scotland, and Hong Kong, as well as the United States and Canada.

Criticism

As with many large role-playing environments, FiranMUX does have its detractors. Players with bad experiences often report staff burnout, and on one side of the coin, complain of too much staff involvement in the plot of the game and every minute detail — to objects sold at the market to continual monitoring of a character's actions. In Firan's defense, a policy stated up-front and agreed to by every prospective player states that there is no expectation of privacy on the game .

Older players sometimes say that the flavor of the game has begun to degrade as many of the older and active characters have taken staff positions, and are no longer available to play their parts that are often instrumental in the game. Other players complain that the pre-generated character roster is too abundant — so abundant that many playerless characters have been on the roster so long and are in need of updating.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for FiranMUX ]

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