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The program was also becoming unmanageable, as it was written in assembler. Hence, he rewrote everything in BCPL, starting late 1979 and working up to about Easter 1980. The finished product was the heart of the system which many people came to believe was the 'original' MUD. In fact, it was version
522:
Zork was too much of a nonsense word, not descriptive of the game, etc., etc., etc. Silly as it sounds, we eventually started calling it
Dungeon. (Dave admits to suggesting the new name, but that's only a minor sin.) When Bob the lunatic released his FORTRAN version to the DEC users' group, that was
818:
Due in part to a fortuitous coincidence (MUD was written for the same DECSystem-10 computing platform that CompuServe used for its information service) MUD was licensed by CompuServe in the mid-1980s where it ran as a popular game until late 1999. It was eventually retired along with other software
837:
Viktor Toth had had a copy of the BCPL source code for MUD1 for some years, and decided that now was the time to do something with it. In a 9-day programming blitz over
Christmas, he rewrote the BCPL MUDDL engine in C++ and opened it up alongside MUD2. The ex-CompuServe players gravitated there,
568:
Viktor Toth had had a copy of the BCPL source code for MUD1 for some years, and decided that now was the time to do something with it. In a 9-day programming blitz over
Christmas, he rewrote the BCPL MUDDL engine in C++ and opened it up alongside MUD2. The ex-CompuServe players gravitated there,
461:
In 1980, Roy
Trubshaw, a British fan of the fantasy role-playing board game Dungeons and Dragons, wrote an electronic version of that game during his final undergraduate year at Essex College. The following year, his classmate Richard Bartle took over the game, expanding the number of potential
799:
October of 1987 was chaos. The MUD account was deleted, but the guest account on Essex
University remained open. I guess it wasn't causing any trouble so they simply left it. ROCK, UNI and MUD all ran from the MUD account so they had gone but... MIST ran from a student account and it was still
120:
45:
621:
Roy graduates from Essex
University, and Richard takes full control of the game, fleshing out the database and adding additional commands. A proper persona communication system is introduced, along with the concepts of points and
253:, a fellow Essex student, contributed much work on the game database, introducing many of the locations and puzzles that survive to this day. Later that year Roy Trubshaw graduated from Essex University, handing over
729:
Furthermore, it only ran on DEC-10, and although copies were sent to other institutions in the U.K., Sweden, and Norway, only two of these allowed outsiders access (Dundee
Technical College and Oslo University).
257:
to
Richard Bartle, who continued developing the game. That same year, MUD1 became the first Internet multiplayer online role-playing game as Essex University connected its internal network to the
420:
Slator, Brian M. et al "From
Dungeons to Classrooms: The Evolution of MUDs as Learning Environments", in Jain, Lakhmi C., Tedman, Raymond A. & Tedman, Debra K. (eds.) (2007)
297:
Trubshaw and Bartle (with the assistance of Simon Dally) subsequently formed the company Multi-User
Entertainment Limited, and proceeded to work on MUD version 4, also known as
862:
The code has landed at Stanford University, which says it has secured permission to redistribute the game's blueprints from the authors Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw.
356:
In 2014, with permission from the authors of MUD1, the C++ reimplementation of MUD1 was deposited within the archives of Stanford University for historical purposes.
684:
Essex University allows outside users to access its DEC-10 via BT's Packet Switch Stream network (PSS) during the normally idle period from 2am to 8am each night.
324:
with similar gameplay, as the only remaining MUD running on the Essex University network, becoming one of the first of its kind to attain broad popularity.
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network between 2 am and 7 am each night. MUD became popular with players around the world, and several magazines wrote articles on this new trend.
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Many MUDDL databases were written by students at Essex University, the most well-known being 'Mist', 'Rock', 'Blud' and 'Uni'
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408:
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604:
778:
A new version of the game, which came to be known as MUD2, was written in 1985 to be run as a service for British Telecom.
314:, that was still running at Essex University. This resulted in the deletion of the MUD account in October 1987. This left
294:
users, licensed MUD1 and ran it from late 1984 until 1987, when CompuNet abandoned the DEC-10 platform they were using.
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643:
490:
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players and their options for action. He called the game MUD (for Multi-User Dungeons), and put it onto the Internet.
224:
Multi User Dungeon Definition Language (MUDDL). Its first version was written by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw in
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The "D" in MUD stands for "Dungeon" ... because the version of ZORK Roy played was a Fortran port called DUNGEN.
992:
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712:
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17:
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implementation of MUD1 (as of 1986) was released on Github (with permission from the authors), under the
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on CompuServe "your typical text-based multi-player role-playing game with an emphasis on magic."
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The incarnation of MUD1 on the CompuNet network in the UK, the first commercial MUA in the world.
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completed by Richard Bartle. Essex goes on the ARPANet, resulting in Internet MUDs!
310:, who pressured Richard Bartle to close down the instance of MUD1, better known as '
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1167:
455:
446:
93:
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where it now runs as a direct continuation of the defunct original BL incarnation.
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where it now runs as a direct continuation of the defunct original BL incarnation.
303:(released in 1985). MUD2 was intended to be run as a service for British Telecom.
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until late 1999 and was retired along with other software during CompuServe's
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Evolution of Teaching and Learning Paradigms in Intelligent Environment
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for MUD1 to C++ and opened it alongside MUD2 on British-legends.com.
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119:
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852:"Source code for world's first MUD, Essex Uni's MUD1, recovered"
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which was one of the few institutions to allow outside access.
249:), to conserve memory and make the program easier to maintain.
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Between 1984 and 1987, MUD was hosted on the DEC-20 of
508:
875:"MUD1/British Legends source code, 1999-2014 M2013"
574:
552:
401:Digital Fictions: Storytelling in a Material World
633:
1352:
634:Mulligan, Jessica; Patrovsky, Bridgette (2003).
241:In 1980, Roy Trubshaw created MUD version 3 in
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849:
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196:, which Trubshaw had greatly enjoyed playing.
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665:
602:
435:
167:MUD was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw and
1386:Video games developed in the United Kingdom
636:Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide
528:
1325:
993:
979:
43:
915:
819:during CompuServe's Y2K cleanup efforts.
328:ran until the machine that hosted it, a
268:allowed remote access to its DEC-10 via
145:, to distinguish it from its successor,
118:
14:
1391:Video games with available source code
1353:
558:
537:
359:In 2020, the full source code for the
349:In 2000, Viktor Toth rewrote the BCPL
974:
414:
393:
956:Richard Bartle's MUD related website
222:domain-specific programming language
290:, a UK-based network primarily for
24:
762:", mud.co.uk, retrieved 2010-12-18
25:
1402:
944:
200:in turn was inspired by an older
1335:
1334:
1324:
403:, Ablex Publishing Corporation,
332:, was superseded in early 1991.
155:genre in general), is the first
1376:Science and technology in Essex
1103:Bartle taxonomy of player types
892:
867:
843:
824:
805:
765:
752:
734:
704:
689:
659:
627:
232:and used in other MUDs such as
596:
502:
467:
306:In 1987, MUD1 was licensed by
13:
1:
961:Michael Lawrie's MUDDL Manual
387:
966:Source code of MUD on GitHub
451:"The Dragon Ate My Homework"
370:
281:Dundee College of Technology
7:
951:The British Legends website
923:"A Survey of On-Line Games"
698:"MUD Magazine Bibliography"
638:. New Riders. p. 444.
459:. Vol. 1, no. 3.
10:
1407:
650:1980 ... Final version of
182:. Trubshaw named the game
162:
1322:
1279:Iron Realms Entertainment
1264:
1232:
1178:Player versus environment
1083:
1040:
1009:
795:"Escape from the Dungeon"
228:. It was later ported to
107:
92:
84:
72:
51:
42:
37:
1241:Designing Virtual Worlds
714:Designing Virtual Worlds
479:Designing Virtual Worlds
850:Simon Sharwood (2014).
831:Richard Bartle (2002).
812:Richard Bartle (2007).
772:Richard Bartle (2002).
741:Richard Bartle (1999).
711:Richard Bartle (2004).
696:Richard Bartle (1995).
207:Colossal Cave Adventure
929:. May 1993. p. 84
127:
927:Computer Gaming World
833:"Incarnations of MUD"
666:Eddy Carroll (1995).
603:Eddy Carroll (1995).
564:"Incarnations of MUD"
514:"The History of Zork"
512:; Stu Galley (1995).
399:Sloane, Sarah (2000)
377:Computer Gaming World
122:
1304:Mythic Entertainment
1248:A Rape in Cyberspace
1183:Player versus player
1158:Non-player character
1043:codebases, libraries
904:, PDP-10, 2 May 2024
520:on 16 January 2009.
274:Packet Switch Stream
245:(the predecessor of
186:, in tribute to the
79:Platform independent
1381:University of Essex
1093:Alternate character
1002:Multi-user dungeons
586:"Early MUD History"
338:ran under the name
220:was written in the
173:University of Essex
320:, a derivative of
184:Multi-User Dungeon
132:Multi-User Dungeon
128:
123:A screenshot from
1348:
1347:
1309:Plaintext Players
1299:The Mud Connector
814:"A Brief History"
774:"MUSE background"
523:the name he used.
447:Rheingold, Howard
430:978-3-540-71973-1
409:978-1-56750-482-8
346:cleanup efforts.
117:
116:
16:(Redirected from
1398:
1371:1978 video games
1338:
1337:
1328:
1327:
1173:Player character
1168:Persistent world
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988:
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760:MUSE's Personnel
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750:
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687:
686:
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670:. Archived from
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607:. Archived from
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516:. Archived from
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266:Essex University
141:(referred to as
47:
35:
34:
21:
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1396:
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1366:Mainframe games
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1349:
1344:
1318:
1266:
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1185:, Playerkilling
1085:
1079:
1042:
1041:Minor branches,
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560:Bartle, Richard
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539:Bartle, Richard
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485:. p. 741.
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382:British Legends
380:in 1993 called
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340:British Legends
270:British Telecom
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33:
32:1978 video game
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27:1978 video game
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1214:Video game bot
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1163:Online wedding
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1128:Hack and slash
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1010:Major branches
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945:External links
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791:Michael Lawrie
782:
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743:"CompuNet MUD"
733:
723:
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668:"MUD Timeline"
658:
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605:"MUD Timeline"
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582:Richard Bartle
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475:Richard Bartle
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251:Richard Bartle
204:game known as
202:text-adventure
169:Richard Bartle
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1209:Virtual goods
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879:oac.cdlib.org
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724:9780131018167
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674:on 3 May 2016
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645:1-59273-000-0
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611:on 3 May 2016
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19:
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1253:
1239:
1233:Publications
1153:Mob, Monster
931:. Retrieved
926:
917:
906:, retrieved
900:
894:
882:. Retrieved
878:
869:
861:
857:The Register
855:
845:
836:
826:
817:
807:
798:
785:
777:
767:
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746:
736:
728:
713:
706:
691:
683:
676:. Retrieved
672:the original
661:
651:
649:
635:
629:
620:
613:. Retrieved
609:the original
598:
589:
576:
567:
554:
546:
521:
518:the original
510:Tim Anderson
504:
496:
478:
469:
460:
454:
443:Kelly, Kevin
437:
424:, Springer,
421:
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292:Commodore 64
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137:
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131:
130:
129:
124:
60:Roy Trubshaw
53:Developer(s)
29:
18:Roy Trubshaw
1314:Simutronics
1086:terminology
901:PDP-10/MUD1
351:source code
190:variant of
112:Multiplayer
74:Platform(s)
1355:Categories
1265:Companies,
1255:Terra Nova
1224:Zone, Area
483:New Riders
432:, p. 121-2
388:References
312:Essex MUD'
308:CompuServe
151:, and the
1361:MUD games
1084:Concepts,
800:playable.
371:Reception
367:license.
286:In 1984,
264:In 1983,
1341:Category
1204:Twinking
1194:Spawning
1138:Immortal
1123:Grinding
1108:Cybersex
1075:TinyMUCK
793:(2003).
622:wizards.
584:(1990).
562:(2002).
541:(1999).
477:(2003).
449:(1993).
411:, p. 168
288:Compunet
94:Genre(s)
1289:Lysator
1118:Griefer
1055:GodWars
1022:DikuMUD
1017:AberMUD
678:12 July
615:12 July
543:"MUDDL"
259:ARPANET
188:Dungeon
171:at the
163:History
108:Mode(s)
99:Fantasy
85:Release
1294:Kesmai
1219:Wizard
1133:Healer
1098:Avatar
1070:Talker
1004:(MUDs)
933:7 July
908:5 June
884:5 June
721:
642:
489:
428:
407:
365:GPL v3
361:PDP-10
330:PDP-10
212:ADVENT
180:PDP-10
1284:Jagex
1274:Areae
1189:Quest
1027:LPMud
456:Wired
175:on a
135:, or
1331:List
1199:Tank
1148:Loot
1065:MUSH
935:2014
910:2024
886:2024
719:ISBN
680:2008
652:MUD1
640:ISBN
617:2008
487:ISBN
426:ISBN
405:ISBN
336:MUD1
326:MIST
322:MUD1
317:MIST
300:MUD2
243:BCPL
235:MIST
226:BCPL
218:MUD1
198:Zork
193:Zork
148:MUD2
143:MUD1
125:MUD1
88:1978
38:MUD1
1113:God
1060:MOO
1050:DGD
1032:MU*
344:Y2K
272:'s
255:MUD
230:C++
210:or
177:DEC
157:MUD
153:MUD
138:MUD
102:MUD
1357::
925:.
877:.
860:.
854:.
835:.
816:.
797:.
776:.
745:.
727:.
717:.
682:.
648:.
619:.
591:3.
588:.
566:.
545:.
530:^
495:.
481:.
453:.
445:;
261:.
238:.
214:.
159:.
1250:"
1246:"
994:e
987:t
980:v
937:.
888:.
758:"
700:.
247:C
20:)
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