A very highly developed
MUD that can be found at
www.avalon-rpg.com. It is complicated and has been around since
before the Internet. I had a tiny bit of
creative input myself and have a character called
Kazaroth who I, very occasionally these days, log on.
The aim of the game is to become a god. Is that like E2 then? :)
The game is set in your standard medieval style world with more than a good dollop of Tolkein - e.g. Uruk-hai, Wargs and so on. It has a highly developed and complicated combat system but don't worry, you are protected the first 5 hours of play.
There is often a quite hostile atmosphere and a lot of very ambitious people play it. Try to find some people from the same town as you to start with.
The weirdest thing is that is has a fairly high regular player base (for an entirely text-based MUD) and yet it costs more to play than Ultima Online or Everquest. If you want to give it a try though, don't worry, you get your first 5 hours free.