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A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a
multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...
, usually
text-based In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...
or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of
role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
,
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 ...
,
player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...
,
interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
, and
online chat Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time text, real-time transmission of text-based, text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participa ...
. Players can read or view descriptions of rooms, objects, other players,
non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
s, and actions performed in the virtual world. Players typically interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a
natural language In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages ...
. Traditional MUDs implement a
role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
set in a
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
world populated by fictional races and monsters, with players choosing classes in order to gain specific skills or powers. The objective of this sort of game is to slay
monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
s, explore a fantasy world, complete quests, go on adventures, create a story by
roleplaying Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing as ...
, and advance the created character. Many MUDs were fashioned around the dice-rolling rules of the ''
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 ...
'' series of games. Such fantasy settings for MUDs are common, while many others have
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
settings or are based on popular books, movies, animations, periods of history, worlds populated by anthropomorphic animals, and so on. Not all MUDs are games; some are designed for
educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
purposes, while others are purely chat environments, and the flexible nature of many MUD servers leads to their occasional use in areas ranging from
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 ...
research to
geoinformatics Geoinformatics is the science and the technology which develops and uses information science infrastructure to address the problems of geography, cartography, geosciences and related branches of science and engineering, such as Land Surveying. O ...
to
medical informatics Health informatics is the field of science and engineering that aims at developing methods and technologies for the acquisition, processing, and study of patient data, which can come from different sources and modalities, such as electronic hea ...
to
analytical chemistry Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...
. MUDs have attracted the interest of academic scholars from many fields, including
communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
s,
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
,
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, and
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
. At one time, there was interest from the United States military in using them for teleconferencing. Most MUDs are run as hobbies and are free to play; some may accept donations or allow players to purchase virtual items, while others charge a monthly subscription fee. MUDs can be accessed via standard
telnet Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control i ...
clients, or specialized MUD clients, which are designed to improve the user experience. Numerous games are listed at various web portals, such as
The Mud Connector The Mud Connector, abbreviated TMC, is a computer gaming website that provides articles, discussions, reviews, resource links and game listings about MUDs. The site lets MUD owners, administrators and enthusiasts submit information and reviews a ...
. The history of modern
massively multiplayer online role-playing game 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 (MMORPGs) like ''
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 ...
'' 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. ...
'', and related
virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...
genres such as the social virtual worlds exemplified by ''
Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...
'', can be traced directly back to the MUD genre. Indeed, before the invention of the term MMORPG, games of this style were simply called graphical MUDs. A number of influential MMORPG designers began as
MUD developers A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboard, storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack ...
and/or players (such as
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Matt Firor Matt Firor is a video game producer and designer of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). He is best known for his involvement in games such as ''Dark Age of Camelot'' and ''The Elder Scrolls Online''. Biography Matt Firor's f ...
, and Brian Green) or were involved with early MUDs (like Mark Jacobs and J. Todd Coleman).


Early history


Origins

''
Colossal Cave Adventure ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' (also known as ''Adventure'' or ''ADVENT'') is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the pl ...
'', created in 1975 by
Will Crowther William Crowther (born 1936) is an American computer programmer, caver, and rock climber. He is the co-creator of ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' from 1975 onward, a seminal computer game that influenced the first decade of video game design and ins ...
on a DEC
PDP-10 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especi ...
computer, was the first widely used
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
. The game was significantly expanded in 1976 by
Don Woods Donald Woods (1933–2001) was a South African journalist and activist. Donald or Don Woods may also refer to: * Donald Woods (actor) (1906–1998), Canadian-born American film and television actor * Donald Devereux Woods (1912–1964), British m ...
. Also called ''Adventure'', it contained many D&D features and references, including a computer controlled dungeon master. Numerous
dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...
ers were created on the
PLATO system Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
at the University of Illinois and other American universities that used PLATO, beginning in 1975. Among them were " pedit5", "oubliette", " moria", "avatar", "krozair", "dungeon", " dnd", "crypt", and "drygulch". By 1978–79, these games were heavily in use on various PLATO systems, and exhibited a marked increase in sophistication in terms of 3D graphics, storytelling, user involvement, team play, and depth of objects and monsters in the dungeons. Inspired by ''Adventure'', a group of students at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in the summer of 1977 wrote a game for the PDP-10 minicomputer; called ''
Zork ''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
'', it became quite popular on the
ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
. ''Zork'' was
ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
, under the filename DUNGEN ("dungeon"), to FORTRAN by a programmer working at DEC in 1978. In 1978
Roy Trubshaw ''Multi-User Dungeon'', or ''MUD'' (referred to as ''MUD1'', to distinguish it from its successor, ''MUD2'', and the MUD genre in general), is the first MUD. History MUD was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle at the Unive ...
, a student at the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
in the UK, started working on a multi-user adventure game in the
MACRO-10 MACRO-10 is an assembly language with extensive macro facilities for DEC's PDP-10-based Mainframe computer systems, the DECsystem-10 and the DECSYSTEM-20. MACRO-10 is implemented as a two-pass assembler. Programming examples A simple " Hello, ...
assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game ''MUD'' (''Multi-User Dungeon''), in tribute to the ''Dungeon'' variant of ''Zork'', which Trubshaw had greatly enjoyed playing. Trubshaw converted MUD to
BCPL BCPL ("Basic Combined Programming Language") is a procedural, imperative, and structured programming language. Originally intended for writing compilers for other languages, BCPL is no longer in common use. However, its influence is still ...
(the predecessor of C), before handing over development 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 ...
, a fellow student at the University of Essex, in 1980. The game revolved around gaining points till one achieved the Wizard rank, giving the character immortality and special powers over mortals.


Wider access and early derivatives

''MUD'', better known as ''Essex MUD'' and ''MUD1'' in later years, ran on the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
network, and became more widely accessible when a guest account was set up that allowed users on
JANET Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...
(a British academic
X.25 X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet-switched data communication in wide area networks (WAN). It was originally defined by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (CCITT, now ITU-T) in a series of drafts ...
computer network) to connect on weekends and between the hours of 2 AM and 8 AM on weekdays. It became the first Internet multiplayer online role-playing game in 1980, when the university connected its internal network to
ARPANet The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
. The original ''MUD'' game was closed down in late 1987, reportedly under pressure from
CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
, to whom Richard Bartle had licensed the game. This left ''
MIST Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in the cold air, usually by condensation. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where water vapor in warm, moist air meets sudden cooling, such a ...
'', a derivative of ''MUD1'' with similar gameplay, as the only remaining MUD running on the University of Essex network, becoming one of the first of its kind to attain broad popularity. ''MIST'' ran until the machine that hosted it, a
PDP-10 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especi ...
, was superseded in early 1991. 1985 saw the origin of a number of projects inspired by the original ''MUD''. These included ''Gods'' by
Ben Laurie Ben Laurie is an English software engineer. He is currently the Director of Security at The Bunker Secure Hosting. Laurie wrote Apache-SSL, the basis of most SSL-enabled versions of the Apache HTTP Server. He developed the MUD ''Gods'', which was ...
, a ''MUD1'' clone that included
online creation User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
in its endgame, and which became a commercial MUD in 1988; and ''MirrorWorld'', a tolkienesque MUD started by Pip Cordrey who gathered some people on a BBS he ran to create a ''MUD1'' clone that would run on a home computer. Neil Newell, an avid ''MUD1'' player, started programming his own MUD called ''SHADES'' during Christmas 1985, because ''MUD1'' was closed down during the holidays. Starting out as a hobby, ''SHADES'' became accessible in the UK as a commercial MUD via British Telecom's
Prestel Prestel (abbrev. from press telephone), the brand name for the UK Post Office Telecommunications's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979. It achieved a maxim ...
and Micronet networks. A scandal on ''SHADES'' led to the closure of Micronet, as described in
Indra Sinha Indra Sinha (born 1950 in Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a British writer of Indian and English descent. '' Animal's People'', his most recent novel, was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize and winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writ ...
's net-memoir, ''The Cybergypsies''. At the same time,
Compunet Compunet was a United Kingdom based interactive service provider, catering primarily for the Commodore 64 but later for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. It was also known by its users as ''CNet''. It ran from 1984 to May 1993. Overview Compunet ...
started a project named ''Multi-User Galaxy Game'' as a science fiction alternative to ''MUD1'', a copy of which they were running on their system at the time. When one of the two programmers left CompuNet, the remaining programmer, Alan Lenton, decided to rewrite the game from scratch and named it ''
Federation II ''Federation II'' was a free-to-play online text-based game also known as ''Federation 2'' or ''Fed2''. It was designed by British programmer Alan Lenton and developed by IBGames. It centers on the intergalactic trade and economy in the distant ...
'' (at the time no ''Federation I'' existed). The MUD was officially launched in 1989. ''Federation II'' was later picked up by AOL, where it became known simply as ''Federation: Adult Space Fantasy''. ''Federation'' later left AOL to run on its own after AOL began offering unlimited service.


Other early MUD-like games

In 1978, around the same time Roy Trubshaw wrote ''MUD'', Alan E. Klietz wrote a game called ''Scepter'' (Scepter of Goth), and later called ''Milieu'' using Multi-
Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...
on a
CDC Cyber The CDC Cyber range of mainframe-class supercomputers were the primary products of Control Data Corporation (CDC) during the 1970s and 1980s. In their day, they were the computer architecture of choice for scientific and mathematically inten ...
6600 series mainframe which was operated by the
Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (later Corporation), most commonly known as MECC, was an organization founded in 1971 best known for developing the edutainment video game series '' The Oregon Trail'' and its spinoffs. The goal of ...
. Klietz ported ''Milieu'' to an
IBM XT The IBM Personal Computer XT (model 5160, often shortened to PC/XT) is the second computer in the IBM Personal Computer line, released on March 8, 1983. Except for the addition of a built-in hard drive and extra expansion slots, it is very simila ...
in 1983, naming the new port ''Scepter of Goth''. ''Scepter'' supported 10 to 16 simultaneous users, typically connecting in by modem. It was the first commercial MUD; franchises were sold to a number of locations. ''Scepter'' was first owned and run by GamBit (of
Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
), founded by Bob Alberti. GamBit's assets were later sold to
Interplay Productions Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca ...
. In 1984, Mark Peterson wrote ''The Realm of Angmar'', beginning as a clone of ''Scepter of Goth''. In 1994, Peterson rewrote ''The Realm of Angmar'', adapting it to
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
(the basis for many dial-in
BBS BBS may refer to: Ammunition * BBs, BB gun metal bullets * BBs, airsoft gun plastic pellets Computing and gaming * Bulletin board system, a computer server users dial into via dial-up or telnet; precursor to the Internet * BIOS Boot Specificat ...
systems), and renamed it ''
Swords of Chaos A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for th ...
''. For a few years this was a very popular form of MUD, hosted on a number of BBS systems, until widespread Internet access eliminated most BBSes. In 1984, Mark Jacobs created and deployed a commercial gaming site, ''Gamers World''. The site featured two games coded and designed by Jacobs, a MUD called ''Aradath'' (which was later renamed, upgraded and ported to
GEnie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...
as ''
Dragon's Gate Dragon's Gate was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the sprin ...
'') and a 4X science-fiction game called ''Galaxy'', which was also ported to
GEnie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...
. At its peak, the site had about 100 monthly subscribers to both ''Aradath'' and ''Galaxy''. GEnie was shut down in the late 1990s, although ''
Dragon's Gate Dragon's Gate was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the sprin ...
'' was later brought to
AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017â ...
before it was finally released on its own. Dragon's Gate was closed on February 10, 2007. In the summer of 1980,
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
classmates John Taylor and
Kelton Flinn Kelton Flinn is an American computer game designer who is a major pioneer in online games. He is a co-founder (with his University of Virginia classmate John Taylor) of the seminal online game company Kesmai, which they began in 1982. His ...
wrote ''Dungeons of Kesmai'', a six player game inspired by ''
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 ...
'' which used
roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player characte ...
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
graphics. They founded the
Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering video game developer, game developer and online Video game publisher, game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John R. Taylor III, John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim ''Air Warrior'' ...
company in 1982 and in 1985 an enhanced version of ''Dungeons of Kesmai'', ''
Island of Kesmai ''Island of Kesmai'' was an early commercial online game in the multi-user dungeon (MUD) genre, innovative in its use of roguelike pseudo-graphics. It is considered a major forerunner of modern massively multiplayer online role-playing games ...
'', was launched on
CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
. Later, its 2-D graphical descendant ''Legends of Kesmai'' was launched on AOL in 1996. The games were retired commercially in 2000. The popularity of MUDs of the University of Essex tradition escalated in the United States during the late 1980s when affordable personal computers with 300 to 2400 bit/s modems enabled role-players to log into multi-line Bulletin Board Systems, BBSs and online service providers such as
CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
. During this time it was sometimes said that MUD stands for "Multi Undergraduate Destroyer" due to their popularity among college students and the amount of time devoted to them. ''Avalon: The Legend Lives'' was published by Yehuda Simmons in 1989. It was the first Persistent world, persistent game world of its kind without the traditional hourly resets and points-based puzzle solving progression systems. Avalon introduced equilibrium and balance (cooldowns), skill-based player vs player combat and concepts such as player-run governments and player housing.


Popular variants


AberMUD

The first popular MUD codebase was AberMUD, written in 1987 by Alan Cox (computer programmer), Alan Cox, named after the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Alan Cox had played the original
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
MUD, and the gameplay was heavily influenced by it. AberMUD was initially written in B (programming language), B for a Honeywell L66 mainframe under GCOS3/TSS. In late 1988 it was ported to C, which enabled it to spread rapidly to many Unix platforms upon its release in 1989. AberMUD's popularity resulted in several inspired works, the most notable of which were TinyMUD, LPMud, and DikuMUD.


TinyMUD

''Monster'' was a multi-user adventure game created by Richard Skrenta for the VAX and written in VMS Pascal. It was publicly released in November 1988. ''Monster'' was disk-based and modifications to the game were immediate. ''Monster'' pioneered the approach of allowing players to online creation, build the game world, setting new puzzles or creating dungeons for other players to explore. Monster, which comprised about 60,000 lines of code, had a lot of features which appeared to be designed to allow ''
Colossal Cave Adventure ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' (also known as ''Adventure'' or ''ADVENT'') is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the pl ...
'' to work in it. Though there never were many network-accessible Monster servers, it inspired James Aspnes to create a stripped-down version of ''Monster'' which he called TinyMUD. TinyMUD, written in C and released in late 1989, spawned TinyMUD family tree, a number of descendants, including TinyMUCK and TinyMUSH. TinyMUCK version 2 contained a full programming language named MUF (programming language), MUF (Multi-User Forth (programming language), Forth), while MUSH greatly expanded the command interface. To distance itself from the combat-oriented traditional MUDs it was said that the "D" in TinyMUD stood for Multi-User "Domain" or "Dimension"; this, along with the eventual popularity of acronyms other than MUD (such as MUCK, MUSH, MUSE, and so on) for this kind of server, led to the eventual adoption of the term MU* to refer to the TinyMUD family tree, TinyMUD family. UberMUD, UnterMUD, and MOO were inspired by TinyMUD but are not direct descendants. TinyMUD is also used to refer to the first database run under the TinyMUD codebase, which is also known as TinyMUD Classic; it ran from August 1989 to April 1990, and still comes back up every August during a holiday called Brigadoon Day, a reference to the Scottish village in the musical Brigadoon.


Hourglass

The first version of Hourglass was written by Yehuda Simmons and later Daniel James for ''Avalon: The Legend Lives'' which debuted in 1989 at the last of the London MUD mega Meets aptly named ''Adventure '89'' and initially hosted on the IOWA system. Initially written in ARM assembly language on the Acorn Archimedes 440, in 1994 it made the leap from the venerable Archimedes to Debian Linux on the PC and later Red Hat where, other than shifting to Ubuntu (operating system), Ubuntu, it has remained ever since. An early version of Hourglass was also ported to the PC, named Vortex, by Ben Maizels in 1992. Although written specifically for ''Avalon: The Legend Lives'', it went on to spawn a number of games, including ''Avalon: The First Age'', which ran from 1999 to 2014. The now defunct 1996 ''Age of Thrones'' and notably ''Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands'' started life in Vortex prior to moving to its own Rapture engine. Hourglass continues to be developed as of 2016 and ''Avalon: The Legend Lives'' currently has 2,901,325 written words and 2,248,374 lines of game code (with 2,417,900 instructions). The original game came in at 1 KB in 1989, compared to 102 GB in January 2016.


LPMud

In 1989, LPMud was developed by Lars Pensjö (hence the LP in LPMud). Pensjö had been an avid player of TinyMUD and AberMUD and wanted to create a world with the flexibility of TinyMUD and the gameplay of AberMUD. In order to accomplish this he wrote what is nowadays known as a virtual machine, which he called the LPMud driver, that ran the C-like LPC (programming language), LPC programming language used to create the game world. Pensjö's interest in LPMud eventually waned and development was carried on by others such as Jörn Rennecke, Jörn "Amylaar" Rennecke, Felix Croes, Felix "Dworkin" Croes, Tim "Beek" Hollebeek and Lars Düning. During the early 1990s, LPMud was one of the most popular MUD codebases. LPMud family tree, Descendants of the original LPMud include MudOS, Dworkin's Game Driver, DGD, SWLPC (programming language), SWLPC, FluffOS, and the Pike programming language, the latter the work of long-time LPMud developer Fredrik Hübinette, Fredrik "Profezzorn" Hübinette.


DikuMUD

In 1990, the release of DikuMUD, which was inspired by AberMUD, led to a virtual explosion of
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 ...
MUDs based upon its code. DikuMUD inspired DikuMUD family tree, numerous derivative codebases, including CircleMUD, Merc (MUD), Merc, ROM (MUD), ROM, SMAUG (MUD), SMAUG, and GodWars. The original Diku team comprised Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Staerfeldt. DikuMUD had a key influence on the early evolution of the Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPG genre, with ''
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 ...
'' (created by avid DikuMUD player
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 ...
) displaying such Diku-like gameplay that Verant developers were made to issue a sworn statement that no actual DikuMUD code was incorporated.


Simutronics

In 1987, David Whatley, having previously played ''Scepter of Goth'' and ''
Island of Kesmai ''Island of Kesmai'' was an early commercial online game in the multi-user dungeon (MUD) genre, innovative in its use of roguelike pseudo-graphics. It is considered a major forerunner of modern massively multiplayer online role-playing games ...
'', founded Simutronics with Tom and Susan Zelinski. In the same year they demonstrated a prototype of ''GemStone IV, GemStone'' to
GEnie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...
. After a short-lived instance of ''GemStone II'', ''GemStone III'' was officially launched in February 1990. ''GemStone III'' became available on AOL in September 1995, followed by the release of ''DragonRealms'' in February 1996. By the end of 1997 ''GemStone III'' and ''DragonRealms'' had become the first and second most played games on AOL.


Gameplay

The typical MUD will describe to the player the room or area they are standing in, listing the objects, players and non-player characters (NPCs) in the area, as well as all of the exits. To carry out a task the player would enter a text command such as take apple or attack dragon. Movement around the game environment is generally accomplished by entering the direction (or an abbreviation of it) in which the player wishes to move, for example typing north or just n would cause the player to exit the current area via the path to the north.Basic movement commands
The Lands of Evermore Manual
MUD clients are computer applications that make the MUD
telnet Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control i ...
interface more accessible to users, with features such as syntax highlighting, keyboard macros, and connection assistance., "The ''TinyFugue'' system has long been a popular client interface for players of MOO, MUCK, and many TinyMUD-derivative systems. With a robust feature list supporting multiple sessions, macros, triggers and automation, command history and other functions, TinyFugue offers users maximum control over their environment. Although more recent programs such as Tintin++ have gained large followings, many MUD players continue to use TinyFugue because of its power and flexibility in the hands of an experience client programmer." Prominent clients include TinyTalk, TinyFugue, TinTin++, and zMUD.


Style

While there have been many variations in overall focus, gameplay and features in MUDs, some distinct sub-groups have formed that can be used to help categorize different game mechanics, video game genres, game genres and non-game uses.


Hack and slash MUDs

Perhaps the most common approach to game design in MUDs is to loosely emulate the structure of a ''
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 ...
'' campaign focused more on fighting and advancement than role-playing. When these MUDs restrict player versus player, player-killing in favor of player versus environment conflict and Quest (gaming), questing, they are labeled hack and slash MUDs. This may be considered particularly appropriate since, due to the room-based nature of traditional MUDs, ranged combat is typically difficult to implement, resulting in most MUDs equipping characters mainly with close-combat weapons. This style of game was also historically referred to within the MUD genre as "adventure games", but video gaming as a whole has developed a meaning of "
adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
" that is greatly at odds with this usage.


Player versus player MUDs

Most MUDs restrict player versus player combat, often abbreviated as PK (Player Killing). This is accomplished through hard coded restrictions and various forms of social intervention. MUDs without these restrictions are commonly known as PK MUDs. Taking this a step further are MUDs devoted ''solely'' to this sort of conflict, called pure PK MUDs, the first of which was ''Genocide (online game), Genocide'' in 1992. ''Genocide'' ideas were influential in the evolution of
player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...
online gaming.


Roleplaying MUDs

Roleplaying MUDs, generally abbreviated as RP MUDs, encourage or enforce that players act out the role of their playing characters at all times. Some RP MUDs provide an immersive gaming environment, while others only provide a virtual world with no game elements. MUDs where roleplay is enforced and the game world is heavily computer-modeled are sometimes known as roleplay intensive MUDs, or RPIMUDs. In many cases, role-playing MUDs attempt to differentiate themselves from hack and slash types, by dropping the "MUD" name entirely, and instead using MUX (Multi-User Experience) or MUSH (Multi-User Shared Hallucination).


Social MUDs

Social MUDs de-emphasize game elements in favor of an environment designed primarily for socializing. They are differentiated from talkers by retaining elements beyond online chat, typically
online creation User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
as a community activity and some element of Role-playing game, role-playing. Often such MUDs have broadly defined contingents of socializers and roleplayers. Server software in the TinyMUD family tree, TinyMUD family, or MU*, is traditionally used to implement social MUDs.


Talkers

A less-known MUD variant is the talker, a variety of
online chat Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time text, real-time transmission of text-based, text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participa ...
environment typically based on server software like ew-too or NUTS (talker), NUTS. Most of the early Internet talkers were LPMuds with the majority of the complex game machinery stripped away, leaving just the communication commands. The first Internet talker was ''Cat Chat'' in 1990.


Educational MUDs

Taking advantage of the flexibility of MUD server software, some MUDs are designed for educational purposes rather than gaming or chat. ''MicroMUSE'' is considered by some to have been the first educational MUD, but it can be argued that its evolution into this role was not complete until 1994, which would make the first of many educational MOOs, ''Diversity University'' in 1993, also the first educational MUD. The MUD medium lends itself naturally to Constructionism (learning theory), constructionist learning pedagogical approaches. The Mud Institute (TMI) was an LPMud opened in February 1992 as a gathering place for people interested in developing LPMud and teaching LPC after it became clear that Lars Pensjö had lost interest in the project. TMI focussed on both the LPMud driver and library, the driver evolving into MudOS, the TMI Mudlib was never officially released, but was influential in the development of other libraries.


Graphical MUDs

A graphical MUD is a MUD that uses computer graphics to represent parts of the virtual world and its visitors. A prominent early graphical MUD was ''Habitat (video game), Habitat'', written by Randy Farmer and Chip Morningstar for Lucasfilm in 1985. Graphical MUDs require players to download a special client and the game's artwork. They range from simply enhancing the user interface to simulating 3D worlds with visual spatial relationships and customized avatar (computing), avatar appearances. Games such as ''Meridian 59'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
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 ''Dark Age of Camelot'' were routinely called graphical MUDs in their earlier years. ''RuneScape'' was actually originally intended to be a ''text-based'' MUD, but graphics were added very early in development. However, with the increase in computing power and Internet connectivity during the late 1990s, and the shift of online gaming to the mass market, the term "graphical MUD" fell out of favor, being replaced by Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, a term coined by Richard Garriott in 1997.


Development

Within a MUD's technical infrastructure, a mudlib (concatenation of "MUD library") defines the rules of the in-game world. Examples of mudlibs include Ain Soph Mudlib, CD gamedriver and mudlib, CDlib, Discworld Mudlib, Lima Mudlib, LPUniversity Mudlib, MorgenGrauen Mudlib, Nightmare Mudlib, and TMI Mudlib.


Community

MUD history has been preserved primarily through community sites and blogs and not through mainstream sources with journalistic repute. As of the late 1990s, a website called The Mud Connector has served as a central and curated repository for active MUDs. In 1995, ''The Independent'' reported that over 60,000 people regularly played about 600 MUDs, up from 170 MUDs three years prior. ''The Independent'' also noted distinct patterns of socialization within MUD communities. Seraphina Brennan of ''Massively (blog), Massively'' wrote that the MUD community was "in decline" as of 2009.


Psychology and engagement

Sherry Turkle developed a theory that the constant use (and in many cases, overuse) of MUDs allows users to develop different personalities in their environments. She uses examples, dating back to the text-based MUDs of the mid-1990s, showing college students who simultaneously live different lives through characters in separate MUDs, up to three at a time, all while doing schoolwork. The students claimed that it was a way to "shut off" their own lives for a while and become part of another reality. Turkle claims that this could present a psychological problem of identity for today's youths. "A Story About A Tree" is a short essay written 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 ...
regarding the death of a ''LegendMUD'' player named Karyn, raising the subject of inter-human relationships in virtual worlds. Observations of MUD-play show Bartle Test, styles of play that can be roughly categorized. Achievers focus on concrete measurements of success such as Experience point, experience points, levels, and wealth; Explorers investigate every nook and cranny of the game, and evaluate different Game mechanics, game mechanical options; Socializers devote most of their energy to interacting with other players; and then there are Killers who focus on interacting negatively with other players, if permitted, killing the other characters or otherwise thwarting their play. Few players play only one way, or play one way all the time; most exhibit a diverse style. 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 ...
, "People go there as part of a hero's journey—a means of self-discovery". Research has suggested that various factors combine in MUDs to provide users with a sense of ''presence'' rather than simply communication.


Grammatical usage and derived terms

As a noun, the word MUD is variously written MUD, Mud, and mud, depending on speaker and context. It is also used as a verb, with to mud meaning to play or interact with a MUD and mudding referring to the act of doing so. A mudder is, naturally, one who MUDs. Compound (linguistics), Compound words and Portmanteau word, portmanteaux such as mudlist, Cybersex, mudsex, and mudflation are also regularly coined. Puns on the "wet dirt" meaning of "mud" are endemic, as with, for example, the names of the ROM (MUD), ROM (Rivers of MUD), TinyMUCK, MUCK, MUSH, and CoffeeMUD codebases and the MUD ''Muddy Waters''.


See also

* MUD trees * Chronology of MUDs * Bartle Test * Online text-based role-playing game * Integrated development environment * Virtual economy * Cyberformance * Digital architecture


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Source code repositories


Erwin S. Andreasen
Home of the 16k MUD competition, and other resources.
MudBytes.net
MUD code repository and discussion.


Resources


The Mud Connector
Extensive mud portal with hundreds of mud listings
Top Mud Sites
MUD listings, reviews, discussion forum and rankings by category.
MUDseek
Google custom search engine indexing MUD and MUD-related web sites.
MUD Stats
MUD statistics. *
MUDbase
{{Authority control MUDs, MUD terminology, Multiplayer online games Telnet Video game genres