Original M.U.L.E. player, trying to figure this out

[PantherDave]

I used to play the original M.U.L.E. game on our C64 with my family many years ago. I discovered Planet M.U.L.E. a few years ago and played singleplayer a bit. With the situation around us now, I thought this might be a good game to play online with my friends, so I wanted to give it a try.

I just played my first multiplayer game of Planet M.U.L.E. Gameplay-wise, it was fine. After seeing inappropriate comments in the chat, I covered up that part of my screen so my family and I would not have to see that. I didn't interact with the other players via chat at all. I had no interest in speaking considering the level of immaturity present. If there is a way to disable the chat feature entirely, I'd like to know about it.

The game progressed normally, and I was enjoying it even if I wasn't very good at it. Sadly, as the end of the game approached (I think we were in month 11/12), I received a message saying that I was kicked out and the game disappeared. I have no idea why that would be. I also notice the statistics say "Abandoned". Is that just another term for kicked out? It's strange, because I certainly did not abandon the game and really wanted to see it through.

Per the instructions in the forum, here is the link to the game I'm referring to.
http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game/?game_id=140434

Hopefully someone can shed some light here. M.U.L.E. is not a 5-minute game, so I really don't like being unable to complete something I've already invested quite a bit of time into.

Thanks,
PantherDave

[PantherDave]

Here's an update after a bit more digging:

I found the log files.

Evidently the player who was in last place was hurling profanity and got his buddy to help kick me out. I honestly thought he might beat me anyways, but perhaps since we only had 1 part left he didn't want to take the risk of having his rank would go down. Please tell me the Planet M.U.L.E. community doesn't support this. Is this how people rank up? Kicking out players who are about to beat them? And then it goes on my record as if I did something wrong?

[AlpenCactus]

Hi Dave,
Sorry to hear about your bad experience.  There is certainly some of that here, though I wouldn't say that language is the norm.  As for the kick, I had a quick peek at the log.  Looks to me like you missed plot selection a round or two and they probably figured you weren't playing seriously and would soon be quitting.  I can assure you it had nothing to do with ranking.  Cyber Ranger couldn't care less about that, as you can tell by looking at his Skill Rating.    Anyway, with the right players you can actually learn quite a lot from the chat at times.  The rest of the time it's fine to ignore.

Best Regards,
AlpenCactus