DikuMUD is a multiplayer text-based role-playing game, which is a type of multi-user domain (
MUD
A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
). It was written in 1990 and 1991 by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe,
Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Stærfeldt at
DIKU
The UCPH Department of Computer Science ( da, Datalogisk Institut, DIKU) is a department in the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). It is the longest established department of Computer Science in Denmark and was founded in 1 ...
(''Datalogisk Institut Københavns Universitet'')—the department of
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
in
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
.
Commonly referred to as simply "Diku", the game was greatly inspired by
AberMUD
AberMUD was the first popular open source MUD. It was named after the town Aberystwyth, in which it was written. The first version was written in B by Alan Cox, Richard Acott, Jim Finnis, and Leon Thrane based at University of Wales, Aberystw ...
, though Diku became one of the first multi-user games to become popular as a freely-available program for its gameplay and similarity to ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
''. The gameplay style of the great preponderance of DikuMUDs is
hack and slash
Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...
, which is seen proudly as emblematic of what DikuMUD stands for.
Diku's
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
was first released in 1990.
Development and history
DikuMUD was created by the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
's Department of Computer Science among a group of student friends: Katja Nyboe, Tom Madsen, Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, Michael Seifert, and Sebastian Hammer. According to
Richard Bartle
Richard Allan Bartle FBCS FRSA (born 10 January 1960) is a British writer, professor and game researcher in the massively multiplayer online game industry. He co-created ''MUD1'' (the first MUD) in 1978, and is the author of the 2003 book ''Desi ...
, co-creator of
the first MUD, DikuMUD's developers sought to create a better version of
AberMUD
AberMUD was the first popular open source MUD. It was named after the town Aberystwyth, in which it was written. The first version was written in B by Alan Cox, Richard Acott, Jim Finnis, and Leon Thrane based at University of Wales, Aberystw ...
. Unlike
TinyMUD
A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...
and
LPMUD
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of MUD server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö (hence the LP in LPMud). LPMud was innovative in its separation of the MUD infrastructure into a ...
, which encouraged live changes to the virtual world, DikuMUD hard-coded its virtual world.
The making of DikuMUD was first announced on Usenet by Hans Henrik Stærfeldt March 27, 1990. At the time Madsen, Hammer, and Stærfeldt were the only developers, joined by
Michael Seifert in June 1990. Stærfeldt stated that their intention was to create a MUD that was less messy than AberMUD, less buggy than
LPMud
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of MUD server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö (hence the LP in LPMud). LPMud was innovative in its separation of the MUD infrastructure into a ...
, and more like ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
''. The first DikuMUD was in working development as early as October 1990 and officially opened publicly running at
freja.diku.dk port 4000
on February 3, 1991.
A second DikuMUD appeared in January 1991, running at
hayes.ims.alaska.edu
. In March 1991, the first public version of DikuMUD, known as Diku Gamma, became available at
beowulf.acc.stolaf.edu
. Afterwards the DikuMUD at
freja.diku.dk
was shut down and the game and development moved to
alfa.me.chalmers.se
.
Other Diku Gamma MUDs appeared in March 1991 running at
eris.berkeley.edu
, followed by a multiprocessor version running at
sequent.berkeley.edu
. By early April 1991, there were DikuMUDs running at
spam.ua.oz.au
,
goldman.gnu.ai.mit.edu
,
bigboy.cis.temple.edu
, and
elof.iit.edu
.
Diku Alfa was released in July 1991 and the DikuMUD team hereafter continued with the development of DikuII. That version was however never released to the public but continues to run today under the name of Valhalla MUD.
On June 21, 2020,
Michael Seifert released DikuMUD III for HTML 5 with Websockets. This is now the last official release of DikuMUD.
Legacy
As a result of its easily operable codebase, several major standalone MUD codebases were spun out using DikuMUD's code, namely Circle, Silly, and Merc. In turn, Merc led to ROM (Rivers of MUD) and Envy), which each spawned their own codebases. One such derivative of DikuMUD and Merc was SMAUG (Simulated Medieval Adventure Multi-user Game).
It has been proposed by
Raph Koster
Raphael "Raph" Koster (born September 7, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, game designer, and author of '' A Theory of Fun for Game Design''. Koster is widely recognized for his work as the lead designer of ''Ultima Online'' and the creative di ...
(lead designer of ''
Ultima Online
''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems.
Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. ...
'' and chief creative officer of ''
EverQuest II
''EverQuest II'' is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment for Microsoft Windows PCs and released in November 2004. It is the sequel to the original ...
'') that Diku has resulted in the greatest proliferation of gameworlds due to being the easiest to set up and use. He further pointed out that "Diku codebases did eventually popularize many of the major developments in muds", and that the Diku gameplay provided inspiration for numerous
MMORPG
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
s, including ''
EverQuest
''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Americ ...
'', ''
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'' and ''
Ultima Online
''Ultima Online'' (''UO'') is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems.
Set in the '' Ultima'' universe, it is known for its extensive player versus player combat system. ...
''.
There was a minor controversy in late 1999 and early 2000 regarding whether the commercial
MMORPG
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.
As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...
''
EverQuest
''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Americ ...
'', developed by
Verant Interactive
Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...
, had derived its code from DikuMUD.
It began at the Re:Game gaming conference in 1999, where the Director of Product Development for EverQuest, Bernard Yee, allegedly stated that ''EverQuest'' was "based on Dikumud". He did not specify whether he meant the code itself was derived from DikuMUD, or if it just had a similar feeling. Some attendees had understood it to mean the former, given that the chief designer,
Brad McQuaid
Brad McQuaid (April 25, 1969 – November 18, 2019) was an American video game designer who was the key designer of ''EverQuest'', a highly successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 1999. He later co-founded S ...
was an avid player of SojournMUD and
TorilMUD
''TorilMUD'' is a MUD, a text-based online role-playing game, and is one of the oldest and largest of its kind.
Game characteristics
''TorilMUD'' is set in the Forgotten Realms ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. (Toril is the name of the ...
that was based on the
Sequent
In mathematical logic, a sequent is a very general kind of conditional assertion.
: A_1,\,\dots,A_m \,\vdash\, B_1,\,\dots,B_n.
A sequent may have any number ''m'' of condition formulas ''Ai'' (called " antecedents") and any number ''n'' of asse ...
DikuMUD derivative, and reported to that effect on Usenet. After the Diku group requested clarification, Verant issued a sworn statement on March 17, 2000 that EverQuest was not based on DikuMUD source code, and was built from the ground up. In response, the DikuMUD team publicly stated that they find no reason whatsoever to believe any of the rumors that ''EverQuest'' was derived from DikuMUD code.
See also
*
Chronology of MUDs
This is a chronological list of notable MUDs with summary information.
__TOC__
Legend
List
References
{{Chronology of role-playing video games
MUDs
Timelines of video games
MUDs
A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, ...
*
Immortal
Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life.
Immortal or Immortality may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film
* ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
*
Rent
Rent may refer to:
Economics
*Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property
*Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production
*Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...
*
Consider
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
CircleMUD's copy of the DikuMud licenseThe MUD Connector: 700+ Dikumud MUD Listings AvailableMud Magic: 1,200+ Diku Based Code & Snippet DownloadsMudBytes DikuMUD code and derivative downloadsrec.games.mud.diku FAQ from 1997MUDseek MUD games search engineRaph Koster: "What is a Diku?"*
{{MUDs
MUD servers
MUD games
Video games developed in Denmark
Video games with available source code