One of the most impressive things about Sherwood Dungeon is its simplicity. Entering the world-- and returning once you've left-- is virtually instantaneous, there are no frills, and simplified textures keep loading times, if any, to a bare minimum. Especially bearing in mind that there's no money required, or even optional, ever, the solid modeling and the fluid interface feel like genius.

Notable is that the only ads that run with the game are small, unintrusive Google ads-- for other MMOs. In an interview with FreetoPlay.biz's Adrian Crook, creator Gene Endrody said that these ad revenues are the source of all his income on Sherwood, with 50% of that going right back into game development.

Some interesting things about Sherwood Dungeon I noticed (that Crook's factsheet also mentions): players can't see one another's levels. Endrody told Crook that this is to encourage a more supportive environment. The random, purpose-driven fashion in which other characters readily assaulted my green (in the tunic) lady makes me wonder, momentarily-- but then, other characters' levels and mine don't come to bear on PvP battles, so there's no chance of experienced players easily snuffing newbies. Admittedly, it's more fun to battle other warriors than it is to hack the spider legions.

One of the things I notice in general while composing this atlas is that despite prominent chat features, conversation tends to be sparse and uncommon, even in worlds touted as major social networking hubs. Compared to my previous experiences, the residents of Sherwood Dungeon are positively loquacious-- it's a veritable Tower of Babel, with most of the chat happening in languages I can't understand. Wonder if Endrody will ever include a translator?

One minor issue-- there's no way to preserve one's own handle. While you can't impersonate other characters merely by using theirs (your info is always consistent with each login) your name is a much more fluid thing, and you needn't have an original one. Since characters can't see one another's levels, there's no way, really, to prevent someone from emulating you by assuming your name and selecting the same avatar set. It isn't really the sort of environment where a player acting up while copying you will really make a tremendous difference-- but as I visited Sherwood a few times, even on different servers, I had the opportunity on a couple of occasions to see players I'd seen before, so reputation's possible. On the other side of the coin, though, this transience makes it possible for a user to change their name and avatar set-- from pretty lass Celestine to skeleton knight Caesar, for example-- without losing any of their accumulated gains the way they would if they had to make a new character.

There aren't a lot of bells and whistles in Sherwood Dungeon-- which makes its efficacy, depth and enjoyment factor all the more special. It's a homegrown MMO whose creator has treated his game with such dignity and attention to detail that it'd definitely make a strong example for others. If Endrody can create something so stable and fluid from the ground up, we should expect quite a lot from more elaborate projects with millions of funding dollars!