Just a few points I'll touch on here for now:

If you like exploration you are not obligated to look into databases. Go ahead and explore. You will have fun.

That's not true. If you spend 3 weeks puzzling something out and finally achieve the aquisition of the Widget of Wazoo, it's much less satisfying if everyone and their uncle also has the Widget of Wazoo because they looked up step-by-step instructions on a web site.

What you say can be true of a single player game because in such a case, you are in your own isolated little game - your achievement is yours alone. But part of the appeal of a multiplayer game is to measure your accomplishments, not just in PK but otherwise, against other players. It's much less fun to get the said Widget if other people aren't saying "WOW! JOE has the Widget of Wazoo! Incredible! I've only seen that TWICE!"

Now, this isn't to say I don't understand what you are saying. Games like World of Warcraft have all the mechanics and items and such up on web sites galore for the taking. I on and off play games like World of Warcraft, much of the time using those sources because, because, well, self-achievement on solving a World of Warcraft quest is utterly meaningless. But I still have had fun on games like WoW, but in the end, when I want that, I play WoW. When I play Carrion Fields, I'm looking for something more sophisticated, frankly. I'm not interested in seeing Carrion Fields turn into a text version of WoW.

I will say I've played roughly 742 games over the years, including other MMORPGs/MUDs, and Carrion Fields is the only one I've played fairly consistently for 12 years. There's gotta be something to that.

But if you create a game and win because you know something special that other don't, well, you should be ready to be blamed.

I suppose so. But from the other end, it's also foolish to assume that someone's achievement is entirely because of what they know. I can look at code and snoop and such until the cows come home, and I'm never going to be as skilled in PK as, say, a Jinroh. Just not going to happen. I don't have the personality, game focus, twitch, or style to do it. Period. Similarly, we could make all the game knowledge in the world public tomorrow, and the vast majority of players aren't going to be as good as Nepenthe, either. And I can guara-freakin'-tee you that if all the code was public, and an imm still wiped the floor with his character, everyone would accuse him of cheating/having unfair advantages anyways. It's a no-win situation.

But going with your premise, playing fields just aren't always level. Period. There are people in this world born with a silver spoon in their mouths that crash and burn, and others who have ambition and intelligence and drive and become billionaires. Some of it may be their opportunity and education, but some of it is still just comes from within. That person with ambition AND wealth/contacts/whatever may have advantages that the rest of us don't, and people burn with envy/judgement/whatever, but in the end that person gives the rest of society a whole ####load of jobs and some nice condo complexes to live in or whatever. It works out. Just because someone achieves something you don't, whether it's because they are smarter or born into more wealth or whatever, doesn't mean you're a less valuable person or that you should just throw up your arms and give up on the game of life.

I can say with some level of confidence that the staff of CF is on the straight and narrow WAY more than the majority of MUDs out there. Whatever advantage an handful of imms might have is honestly earned.

Talking about a level playing field, there's nothing to stop you from becoming an imm, doing a buttload of work for years, and knowing just as much as any of us do. We're equal-opportunity "employers".