Today the MUD and the MMO turn 30
by Samuel Axon 
Oct 20th 2008 at 7:00PM
Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Opinion, MUDs
Today marks the 30th birthday of the original MUD, created at Essex University by Roy Trubshaw in 1978. We recommend you check out what Richard Bartle -- who worked on later iterations of the project -- has to say about this event, as well as Raph Koster's words on the subject. The question at hand, as presented by Bartle, seems to be: does this matter?
While he is skeptical, we would like to posit that it does matter a great deal -- or at least that it should. Graphics alone shouldn't lead to a strong distinction when the fundamentals are the same, so let's consider the modern MMO to be part of the same tradition as the MUD -- let's say that this is the MMO's 30th birthday too.
While he is skeptical, we would like to posit that it does matter a great deal -- or at least that it should. Graphics alone shouldn't lead to a strong distinction when the fundamentals are the same, so let's consider the modern MMO to be part of the same tradition as the MUD -- let's say that this is the MMO's 30th birthday too.
Unfortunately, the era before EverQuest -- nay, before World of Warcraft - is largely forgotten to most inhabitants of virtual worlds today. The most old-school folks around might when pressed remember Ultima Online, but The Realm? Meridian 59? Not so much, and certainly not the pre-graphics era.
Developers and users are only just beginning to scratch the surface of potential in virtual worlds and online games, but it's hard to look forward without first looking back and asking some questions. Where did the conventions and elements we take for granted originate? Have they existed in every game? Were there some elements that fell by the wayside that deserve to be revisited?
Take this evening as an opportunity to do some digging, if you'd like, to find out more about how all this got started! There's a lot of forgotten wisdom to be had, and a lot of modern assumptions to be challenged.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brad said on 8:12PM 10-20-2008
"The most old-school folks around might when pressed remember Ultima Online, but The Realm? Meridian 59? Not so much, and certainly not the pre-graphics era."
Maybe if the age limit for "most old-school" is 21. I fondly remember my MU* days from around '94 to '97 in high school.
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xtrm said on 8:57PM 10-20-2008
I consider myself lucky, being 19 at the moment, of having the opportunity to play MUDs during a 3 years span, several years ago.
It presented me new opportunities to express myself and made me an avid roleplayer in current MMOs.
Looking back, in a way, I slowly transitioned from MUDs, taking a spin at Meridian 59 for example, and this made me "feel" like part of the people that throughly enjoyed this old school games.
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Justin Nolan said on 9:26PM 10-20-2008
t2tmud.org ftw
I played that in 6th grade... over 10 years ago. t2t was around long before that, and is still kickin today. I still consider it one of the most immersive games I have ever played.
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Ian Au said on 3:29PM 10-22-2008
haha. figures that you'd be replying to this post regarding t2t. who's the best? i am. logs.dyndns.dk/
Way said on 10:58PM 10-20-2008
Brings me back to mid 90's, playing RotJ CircleMud on dialup. Still some of the most fun I've had gaming.
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Ichthus said on 8:03AM 10-21-2008
My best friend played The Realm. It was really cheesy, but he had internet and could do those 'cool' things. I played BBS doors and then moved onto MUDs when I got internet.
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Jon said on 9:09AM 10-21-2008
I still jump into MajorMUD on free BBS' online from time to time. Thats all I played back when the internet was seen by my parents as just the porn swap meet.
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Lemmo said on 6:14PM 10-21-2008
My first MUD experience was NannyMUD in 1994. What was cool, was that they had a guild (class) called Fighters of Khorne, lifted from Warhammer.
Needless to say, they're now playable as Mauraders in Warhammer Online. So WAR has me waxing nostalgia over my MUD days.
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reuben said on 12:26AM 10-22-2008
I started playing MUDS at uni and then soon after started in one called Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands.
There are several great free ones still today with hundreds of players.
I am fortunate enough to be working on the development of one for Raymond E. Feists world, Midkemia which will be launched in the new years.
Things have come a long way over the past 15 years and I still play WOW and Imperian, Achaea and now build in Midkemia.
MUDS are still alive and kicking and everyone should give them a go if nothing else to see the depth they provide.
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Aaron said on 12:00PM 10-22-2008
This is great...fun times. I've been working on a web-based MUD for people to play at work. It is in beta now if you want to check it out. www.DomainOfHeroes.com
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spincycle said on 7:34PM 10-23-2008
"The most old-school folks around might when pressed remember Ultima Online, but The Realm? Meridian 59? Not so much, and certainly not the pre-graphics era."
Speak for yourself! I started text-based adventuring around 1980 on single-line BBS systems at 300 baud, and migrated to textbased MUDs (a la Gemstone, etc) as they became available.
Unlike today's kids, I prefer text-based adventuring to the silly, childish graphics of today's games.
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Andrew said on 7:11PM 10-23-2008
MajorMUD was so much fun, until the scripters started in.
Frankly I still prefer TradeWars. Damn that was good times.. until the scripters started in.
*senses a pattern*
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Stanley F. Quayle said on 12:21PM 12-15-2008
In college I did a lot of single-user Star Trek playing on an IBM mainframe. My first multi-user experience was on the CDC PLATO system as a grad student.
Been out of gaming for 30+ years, but still have fond memories.
"You are in a maze of twisty passages that all look alike."
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