Multi-user dungeon: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:25, 22 November 2022

Revision as of 19:30, 10 December 2022

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Such fantasy settings for MUDs are common, while many others have [[science fiction]] 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 MUDs|educational]] purposes, while others are purely [[#Talkers|chat environments]], and the [[Turing completeness|flexible nature]] of many MUD servers leads to their occasional use in areas ranging from [[computer science]] research to [[geoinformatics]] to [[medical informatics]] to [[analytical chemistry]].{{R|hansen|boring|cruickshank|schaefer}} MUDs have attracted the interest of academic scholars from many fields, including [[communication]]s, [[sociology]], [[law]], and [[economics]].{{R|turkle|grimmelmann|castronova-mmorpg}} At one time, there was interest from the United States military in using them for teleconferencing.{{R|shefski}}

Most MUDs are run as hobbies and are free to play; some may accept donations or allow players to [[Virtual Asset Sales|purchase virtual items]], while others charge a monthly subscription fee. MUDs can be accessed via standard [[telnet]] clients, or specialized [[MUD client]]sclients, which are designed to improve the user experience. Numerous games are listed at various web portals, such as [[The Mud Connector]].

The history of modern [[massively multiplayer online role-playing game]]s (MMORPGs) like ''[[EverQuest]]'' and ''[[Ultima Online]]'', and related [[virtual world]] genres such as the social virtual worlds exemplified by ''[[Second Life]]'', can be traced directly back to the MUD genre.{{R|castronova-mmorpg|stuart-mmorpg}} Indeed, before the invention of the term MMORPG, games of this style were simply called [[#Graphical MUDs|graphical MUD]]s. A number of influential MMORPG designers began as [[:Category:MUD developers|MUD developers]] and/or players{{R|taylor}} (such as [[Raph Koster]], [[Brad McQuaid]],{{R|guru3d}} [[Matt Firor]], and [[Brian Green (game developer)|Brian Green]]{{R|greenmud}}) or were involved with early MUDs (like [[Mark Jacobs (video game designer)|Mark Jacobs]] and [[J. Todd Coleman]]).