I have found that mudding is an unusual business. I remember the glory days of muds and wonder where those days have gone.  The cookie-cutter, mud-in-a-box era has really hurt mudding in general, but I think there are still some pretty cool ones out there.  Highly modified, with admins and players who care.  I just wonder if a time has come where the glut of unmodified, unloved muds will soon start to disappear.  If this happens I hope a new era begins for mudding--one where community spirit is strong, new codebases are released, and we start to take back our own from graphical games and the thievery of some pay-to-play muds. 

I don't think all of those things will happen.  There has been quite a bit of bad blood between certain sects of the mud community.  I don't think that can be easily resolved.  The other things I am quite hopeful about.  It probably will take a bit before things start to change.  Hopefully we might see a new day for muds. More of our players, skilled coders, admins and builders will return.  At least I have the dream.  That will do for now.