[indigochill]

I personally feel there's a distinction between what's probably usually meant by "mellow games" (my drug of choice is still Euro Truck Simulator on that front) and MUDs, though. MUDs can be mellow, sure, but at least the ones I played had a lot more variety to them than the "X Simulator" genre which tend to have a narrower scope (and maybe more detail within that scope).

I guess I'd compare my experience of MUDs most closely with the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory genre in that you can fight monsters and level up or socialize with other characters (in this case, real people!) or take part in various in-character activities/festivals/etc. Much like some modern MMOs like WoW or Final Fantasy in some respects except I find the creativity lies more with the players even in the modern MUD scene.

[grimgrin]

I always like to link this when MUDs are mentioned

http://mudstats.com/Browse

[munk-a]

I'd really suggest going by one of the vote based rankers - since they tend to reflect more active communities much better. So... http://www.topmudsites.com/forums/mudlist.html