Did you MOO/MUD?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have just discovered that the most well-known MOO (Multi-User Domain, Object Oriented), LambdaMOO, is still out there and operational (more or less). I was shocked!

When I was 12-13 or so (c. 1994-5), I was really into MOOs, I even had my own MOO which was mostly a place for my friends and I to hang out and play internet Truth or Dare. I guess for me it was kind of like a chat room or IRC but with more ‘visual’ elements – you could design and create rooms and objects, even games.

It was really fun, and in the relatively early days of the Web, it was a lot more interactive than web pages were.

I never was involved with the more goal-directed MUD games, as much. I wonder if any of those are still going.

Did you participate in MOOs or MUDs back then? Do you still? I’ve never really found anyone IRL (other than the friends from my own MOO) who did.

I have very fond memories of my time on MOOs, but I know it had some of the foibles of other internet spaces. Unfortunately, LambdaMOO’s legacy on the web today is mostly a Village Voice article about a virtual sexual assault and the way it divided the community.

For those who are too young or weren’t a part of MOOs/MUDs, I guess the best way to describe it today would be a text-only ‘Second Life’.

2

SlothMUD is still kicking around, sometimes I get pokes from the current admin asking me to rejoin.

There is a Russian book about the internet which is dedicated to me twice. The author recommended MUDs as “a good way to practice your English” and ours specially, and I’m listed in the dedications both as one of the immorts and as one of the most helpful players (I used to run “kindergarten groups”, specifically geared towards teaching big-group mechanics to new players).

3

I was on VikingMUD for a few years in college…around 1994.

Had a lot of fun with it, there was still a lot of exploring I never got to.

4

I used to mud a little before the transmission went out in the Jeep.

5

Good old WoTMUD (Wheel of Time-themed MUD) is still kicking. Even sends out Twitter updates about notable pkills, in a strange nexus of Webs 1.0 and 3.0.
Used to love RPing my Gleeman (bard) obliviously singing and dancing while hardcore PKers were wrecking and getting wrecked in Fal Dara.
Kinda wish the MMO generation could have held back a little longer… playerbase went from reliably 150+ per night to maybe 30 on a good day. sigh

6

I’ve tried to explain to people what was so fun… blank stares.

“No pictures?”

7

I farted around on a MUD circa 1994 as well. It was kind of fun for a while, but then I met some administrators who enjoyed being the big fish in a tiny pond just a little too much…that sucked some of the joy out of it.

8

I remember hearing about it. And I knew MUD stood for “multi user dungeon”. Had something ever-so-vaguely to do with something called “dungeons and dragons”, I think? Which in turn was a “computer game”. I played a “computer game” once or twice.

(Hey, the problem with this kind of question is that most people for whom the answer is “no” don’t reply. So someone has to represent the nay-sayers) :stuck_out_tongue:

9

Hell that was one of the fun parts… more than once, guys would forget there were women around…

They never really grow beyond kindergarten. Or at least, those didn’t.

10

I used to play a lot during my college years in Barcelona (if any of my old VAX system admins is reading this, please forgive us our trespasses). I have a rather fun story of those years…

I used to play wizards. Dunno, I guess I always felt attracted to blowing stuff up with fireballs and whatnot. One day, I finally went up a level and got a brand new destructive spell: Lightning Bolt! Fantastic – Time to punish my S.O.B. friend who had been beating me in duels the whole time!

I message him, basically saying: “You. Me. Duel, one on one. Now. Main Town Square”. And off I went!

There he was, smug like all hell, doubtlessly expecting to whup my ass yet again. Oh, but now I had a SECRET WEAPON! So, the duel begins, and I open up by summoning the very power of the heavens themselves… “LIGHTNING BOLT!”

Next thing I know, I see myself suddenly at the “resurrection room” where you end up when something kills your character. Basically butt-naked (this was the kind of place where, if your character was killed, you were resurrected in a central location, but all of your belongings were left where you were killed). As I run back to the Main Town Square, I realize what had happened…

I had messed up the syntax of the command to invoke lightning bolt, and had basically launched a lightning bolt at myself.

On my way to the Main Town Square, I could read what other players were shouting in “broadcast messages”. Everybody was saying a variation of: “Hey, guys!! You won’t believe this! A crazy mage has blown himself up in Main Square!” – “Whoa! Have you seen that?? This wizard just went and fried himself!” (and many more).

My Nemesis was whispering to me: “Man, what was THAT about? Were you so sure that you would lose that you killed yourself rather than going through the humiliation?”

I have to say that my friend was very gentlemanly and kept guard next to my belongings to prevent others from looting them. The ribbing, though…

Time passed. I left the place after some time, and didn’t go back for quite a while. A couple of years later I decided that it would be nice to visit, and logged in.

I found out that the people there STILL were talking about the crazy wizard who blew himself up in Main Square.

The tale had grown in the telling, and my character had become some kind of mythical exponent of… Something, that’s for sure.

I had become a legend. That’s a nice thing to be, though :slight_smile:

11

I used to play Discworld MUD a long long time ago. First (although obviously not last) experience hanging out online with a bunch of weirdos and loners.

12

“Read? There’s a perfectly good TV right here!”

13

I used to play MajorMUD back in the mid-90s, on some BBSes (friend actually had a 10 line BBS in his bedroom until a surge caused by a lightning strike killed all of his modems somehow). I played one that I swear started with a U, but the only thing I’m finding is Utopia, which sounds right, but I don’t remember the “Ages” thing so probably not it, just similarly named.

14

I played a MUD called MUME for a while (Middle-Earth themed MUD). A lot of fun and PK was a big, big part of it. Only problem was that the server was located in Norway so Scandinavian players had a massive advantage.

Was fun though.

15

I poked around a few MUDs here and there but I couldn’t commit the time, especially when operating with dial-up and roommates needing to use the phone.

16

The cow went moo while standing in the mud.

17

I played Gemstone, which is still alive. It didn’t call itself a MUD, but I thought of it as one.
I occasionally toy with picking it up again.

18

I dug around a bit and I’m pretty sure the game was called Usurper.

19

Yup… Thieves World MUD, in the late 90s. Based upon a book series by the same title from the 70s.

20

I’m really surprised how many of these appear to still be around.

JoseB, that’s a great story!