A Multi User Dungeon/Dimension/Domain/Database. A computer program where users log in and can explore a text landscape. Its like a text game over the Internet, although you can get LAN ones too, but these aren't exactly popular anymore. Many MUDs are based on novels, television programmes, etc, etc, and you can log in and take control of a character and roleplay and ineteract with other players and the landscape. Its like a big interactive story. Some MUDs consist entirely of PlayerKill (PKill), so you just go around trying to kill players. Some are entirely logical puzzles, some are entirely roleplay, and some are even educational (I've never actually come across one of these ;). Its all in real time, so if you get into it it can take up a large chunk of your free time (I can usually be logged in for about 10 hours a day on a weekend, not all focused on the MUD, but generally all I do is chat). Some opinions of MUDs I've heard are that they're 'pointless, stupid, addictive and fun'. Addictive is about right, I now get deprivation symptoms if I stay away for too long, things like managing to connect everything I see to the MUD, or beginning to think in MUD actions.
Not a lot. Well, there is a lot, but not to a normal player. Of course all MUDs/MUCKs/etc will be different as they're orientated at different things. But the only difference between them is the codebase they run on. Of course some of them tend to be more social than others, or more roleplaying, as the code is more suited for these kind of things. LPMuds- like AberMUDs tend to be more quest-orientated, and TeenyMUDs/TinyMUDs tend to be more social, but there's no rules for any of this. MUDdom has variety, lots of it.
There thousands of them. Simply put. For more info, and a huge list, ratings and player comments see the Mudconnector.
It differs for each MUD. But, some basic things that seem to stay the same or at least be similiar:
Immortals/Imms/Wizards/God: the folks who run the MUD, who own the database, build new areas and objects for it, work hard on fixing bugs in the code. They're the Admin, don't piss them off.
Newbie/Noobie/N00b: A player new to the game.
PlayerKill/PKill: Killing other real-life Players, usually frowned upon or at least restricted on non-PKill MUDs
MUDClient: the program you use to connect to a MUD, more about these later.
Lag: the time between when you enter a command, and when something happens. It depends on your Internet connection, and how choked up the server the MUD is running on is.
OOC/OPlay/OT: out of character/OutPlay/Other Topics other than in role
RP: roleplay
IRL/RL: Real Life. We all know we don't need it really, life outside MUDs doesn't exist. (On cryosphere you get to it by typing 'endprogram'.)
Most Operating systems come with a default telnet client, but usually they are crap.
The default Windows one (except for Windows XP) doesn't support colour, or dark backgrounds, which makes text very hard to read, and no scrollback doesn't help matters. The default Mac OS X one isn't much better, only it does support some colours.
If you've got Windows I recommend Putty. It supports colour, so looks very pretty. Doesn't crash as often as my machine does, or survives the crashes well, and is free.
For Mac I can't find a decent MUDClient, many recommend TinyFugue, but I've never actually tested it. I use CanTrip, which is useless for the MUD I go on, but then I don't have to use a Mac very often. If you know of any good Mac MUDclients, give me a bell and I'll put links up here.
For Linux Crystal is recommended, not that I've ever used it, but apparently its very good.
There's also things like GMud or Zmud, which have some funky features like auto-mapping and speed-walking to zoom you form one place in the MUD to another. But these kinds of features are banned on a a lot of MUDs and using them counts as cheating. And, yes, the Admin can tell when you're using them. Plus, you have to pay for some of these clients.
Many MUDs, when you first connect and create a character, log you into a newbie zone where you learn the basic commands you'll need to make your way around the MUD and work through Quests or Missions. You'll need the commands to move from place to place and to interact with other players and the landscape. These differ from MUD to MUD so I can't give you any hints. Some MUDs have better action codes than others, allowing you to buy things for other people, drop or pick up more than one thing, and sort objects using the colour of them. (Although there's only one MUD I know of that does all of these well, I think you can guess which one)
Find a MUD you like, with Admin you get along with. And ask them how to start about building. Usually you'll have had to have got a fair way on the game, and they'll have a test site that you can practice building stuff on. Ask the Immortals for tips, they're the ones who'll know what you're on about.
With great difficulty. You'll need a machine to run it on. You'll need to be commited to spending a great part of your life as Immortal/God, watching over things, building new areas and fixing bugs. You'll need to find a codebase to adapt or start work on your own. You need to make it good enough to get players on it that aren't people you know. So, you have an idea? Good Luck to you.
If you're stuck on anything, ask an Immortal, they've built the MUD, they generally know what they're on about, and most of them are pretty helpful. There's often an online manual as well for the MUD, so make sure you read that before bugging the immortals endlessly for help.
Some people say MUDs are like an extension of real life, some laugh and say its only a game. I'm not going to put my opinion here, because you'll laugh at me. Whatever it is, its damn addictive and incredible fun.
Basically MUDdom is very strange, or maybe that's just the MUDs I go on?
No. I have no idea what kind of MUDs you'd like. Search around MudConnector for something that catches your eye and imagination.
Personally, although I've not been on a lot of MUDs (having a distinct loathing for the plain AberMUD codebase, for no particular reason, I just dislike it) the only one I get along with is The Cryosphere. Its in pretty, but sensible colours if your client supports it, so you don't have to damage your eyesight to play. The Admin are all completely nuts, so that fits in with me fine. They had a fantastic Newbie zone which was the thing that got me playing in the first place. They've got a completely custom codebase, MusicMUD, which is fantastic. They've made their own custom client, Crystal, which is allegedly very good. It has an action system where you drop more than one thing at once, and drop things according to their properties, which very few MUDs have. I probably couldn't praise Cryosphere enough, but I'll stop now, because no doubt your already laughing at me.
A better introduction to MUDding
Cryosphere
MUDConnector
MUDs at Everything2
The dragon ate my homework- history and some other notes on MUDs
MUD articles at Northern Lights AberMUD
MUDconnectors MUDFAQ- very long and over-written, no one in their right mind would want to wade through all of this stuff before starting to MUD. Just drop the articles and login for crying out loud!!
Note: I've only been playing MUDs (well, technically, a MUD) for 6 months, all of this document is pretty much made-up, I know nothing about coding or MUDs other than Cryosphere, which I still don't know much about at all. So I'm probably wrong with half of this, if you could correct me on any drastically wrong things, e-mail me at oozamaflipz(at)hotmail.com. Remember to change all the (at) in the addresses to @.
Copyright- Charli2003
Disclaimer- I don't own all the stuff that I don't own, no copyright infringement intended. Everything that no one else owns belongs to me.
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