I might never have played a game with more available mechanics. Each game truly feels unique, as does each role and each space station. Unfortunately, the learning curve is a cliff and there are no good & in-depth resources available online to learn how to play all the roles. You really need to have a friend that already knows how to play if you want to properly enjoy Space Station 13.
janky brilliance made on possibly the worst still-functional engine of all time. many have tried and failed to remake this disasterpiece, and ss14 might get there eventually. ranges between hectic chaos and mundane banality between servers based on their culture or even between rounds, on occasion. much harder to get away with fucking around than it used to be as the culture has shifted towards more active admin styles where the staff adjudicate even minor disagreements or infractions immediately, which has its pros and cons. the code base has split so many times that you may not even know what your character is capable of on a functional level if you're not establishing yourself on a particular server, but these splits have led to a lot of player choice in the kind of game you're playing, as well. the best game you can play with a group of exactly 35 people, and the most fun you can pawsibly have fucking with people in minor ways
Only got into it recently but on the right server that doesn't punish new players that don't know shit and light RP, this might the perfect MMO experience that isn't a RPG (which would be Ragnarok Online). The amount of systems and interactivity is insane, and with the right people there is a constant stream of funny and novel situations. Took me a whole session to learn just how to do my job as botanist, meanwhile the whole station around me was in chaos with demonic rituals taking place in the hospital.
this is the only game that i will sometimes open up just to spectate rounds of. i have a couple hundred hours as of writing and there is a lot i still do not understand about the game (atmospherics) but i understand enough to know what is happening generally and that is enough for this to be the most entertaining multiplayer game ever for me