Multi-User Dungeons - A 2010 Guide For Beginners

What is a Multi-User Dungeon?

A Multi-User Dungeon, or MUD, is a text based online multiplayer game.  Although originally for low-speed or otherwise limited internet (which it is still useful for), the text oriented gameplay allows the player to create any situation, scenario or world they can imagine.  Thus there are a multitude of MUDs, MUSHes, MUCKs and MOOs out there, set in universes made popular through film or literature (like Final Fantasy, Wheel of Time, or Star Wars), based on Dungeons and Dragons rules, or completely new and original worlds.

Rather than go into great detail about the history of MUDs, and the kinds available, I provide a few relevant links instead:

Wikipedia article on MUDs
The MUD Connector


Why MUDs are still around in 2010

Given that graphical MMOs are so popular these days, why are there still so many people playing MUDs?  There are a lot of good reasons why MUDs are still popular, but to name a few:

• Story - Remember when games were good because they had a gripping storyline that pulled you in and made you want to finish them?  Have you ever read a really good book, that you couldn't put down and stayed up till 2am to finish?  Then you know that a game doesn't need top of the range graphics to be great.
• Graphics - It doesn't have any.  Unless you count the occasional ASCII art image.  The upside of this?  You don't need a brand new computer to play a MUD.  In fact, it will run well on a very old computer.
• Gameplay - This will vary between MUDs, but in general the game is player-driven.  New scenes and scenarios are generated through player interaction, and trusted players can become builders and administrators, allowing them to create content for other players.
• Game Engine - Without the need for graphics, programmers (a.k.a. coders) can spend more time on gameplay features and the internal game engine, so there are more commands, abilities, races, classes and worlds.  Graphics computations typically take up 80% of a game's CPU usage, so without them internal components such as computer-controlled character AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be made much more complex.
• Robust and Ubiquitous - MUDs generally use the TELNET protocol to transfer data over the network.  This technology is mature and reliable, uses next to no bandwidth, and every modern operating system has a built-in client to access it (although they're usually not much good for MUDs).
• Accessibility - Blind people can easily access and play MUDs at a competent level, as the text format makes it amenable to a 'screen reader'.
  

Getting Started

So you've decided you want to see what the fuss is all about, and try out a MUD.  Well first you need to grab a client program.  While this step isn't vital, a good client will vastly improve your Mudding experience by adding features like saving MUD details, a more user-friendly text input than standard telnet, and various ways to automate certain tasks.

Some (free) clients I have used and would recommend are:
Kildclient - A great client for Windows or Linux, it has in-built Perl scripting support.
MUSHClient - Windows only, or Linux under Wine, it is popular and user-friendly.
PuTTY - Actually this is a fully featured SSH client as well, but what I like is that it is very light-weight and self-contained.  It comes as a single 'exe' file, that you can put on your flash drive and take with you anywhere.  Its only drawback would be that it's not as fully-featured for MUDs as the other clients.

If you don't see your favourite client above, post it in the comments and I'll add it in.

Once you have got your client, it should prompt you for a server and port number.  This is how you connect to a MUD.  As an example (shameless plug):

Server - fotr.mudmagic.com
Port - 8888

Most clients have an option for saving your account details as well, and profile information for each MUD you play on.  For more detailed information, please read that client's documentation and experiment for yourself.


Account Creation 

So continuing with the above example, you have browsed The Mud Connector and have decided you want to try Fate of the Republic, a MUD set in the Star Wars universe.  Having been assured that no prior knowledge of Star Wars is neccessary, you put in the server and port details, and click 'Connect'.

 Most MUDs, FotR not being an exception, greet the player with some sort of splash image and welcome text, and prompt for the player's username and password.

eg.
Welcome to FotR,
Enter your account name:

Enter a name for your new account.  On FotR, this is your player account, where you will create your characters and can contact immortals if you have difficulties.  On other MUDs, this is usually the name of the character you will play as.  If the name is taken, it will prompt for that account's password, so you should disconnect and try another name.

If the name is free, you will be prompted to choose a password for your account, and will then be taken to the account menu.  Be sure to remember your account details, as they are not recoverable in general.  You will use them to log in every time from now on (most clients have an option to automate this however).

Type in help to find out more about what you can do from the account menu.  To start playing, type create to make a new character, and follow the on-screen directions.


More Help

Rule 1: Don't Panic!

If you need help, your first port of call should be the main website for the MUD.  For Fate of the Republic, you can click on the banner image above, or go here.  The website has lots of information about  how to navigate the MUD as well as some specific Star Wars tips and hints.  I've put some links below to some key pages new players should check out.

Basic MUD commands and newbie guide to Fate of the Republic
Fate of the Republic FAQ
Star Wars Races Guide (including racial specialisations)

The next place you should check is the in-game help command.  Use it like this:

help [keyword]
eg.
help talk
______________________________________________________

                TALK

Syntax: Talk

Talk allows you (once you have selected a channel
using 'TUNE') to talk over a comlink frequency. You
can also use the 'BEEP' command to let your friends
know what frequency you have tuned to.

See also: "Beep" "Tune"
______________________________________________________


Last but not least, ask other players.  If you are having trouble, chances are they had problems with the same thing too.  There is a MUD-wide chat channel you can use to ask for general help about the game.  Most players are happy to respond to a polite question, since we were all beginners once too.  The command to use is ooc (Out Of Character chat) or just '.' for short.

eg.
ooc Can someone please explain how to rescure the mayor's daughter?

Read the help page for ooc chat for details on what is appropriate to talk about on which channels (help ooc).


The End Beginning 


Hopefully you have everything you need to get started and find out what MUDs are really about for yourself.  They are a unique form of online gaming with many features not found in even most modern graphical MMOs.  I hope you have as much fun learning about the various kinds of MUDs and the community that surrounds them as I did.

See you at Fate of the Republic!

OOC Competition.

So, we ran a little room description comp this week and here are some of the entries. Plus what I asked to be done.

We are going to hold a little ooc competition. The winner gets a nice prize and if its successful and Asher approves, we might do it more often. For now I want the best room description each of you can give in line with your characters. Everyone gets 3 attempts you don't need to use all three if you don't want to. And I'll judge it. Use ooc for now until I find out if we can use the forums.. but it should be something your character might be situated in, not an actual 'room description', but an rp scenario placed around that room and your character.

Lunar: The sharp sound of saws fills the air noticeably, along with the occasional shower of sparks from a walkway somewhere overhead. The lower levels of coruscant are dark to say the least, and the industrial level's shady areas are no exception. Shuffling, muttering figures move across walkways suspended across falls a hundred feet and beyond into the darkness of the slums. A slender chadra-fan in dirt colored rags doesn't look amiss, working at one of the many dark work areas, only a head mounted flashlight to assist her. Overhead the sound of saws fills the air again, and the chadra-fan is covered in a cascade of sparks. She reaches back and pulls her hood about her head with one paw, the other reaching across to fold the cover of an old and faded book shut.

Veetal: A shadowy figure approaches a strange black door and wuffs while tapping a small keypad.. The door slides open and Veetal enters the strange cell and stands before his prisoner he wuffs again and grabs the human girl by her short blackish brown hair and drags her from the cell down a long black corridor, stopping at a boarding hatch Veetal bends down over Zio and wuffs quickly several times as he sniffs her. With her short hair still firmly in his grasp Veetal pulls the girl to her feet and spins her around towards the boarding hatch and shoves her out. Veetal wuffs to himself and closes the boarding hatch with satisfaction.

Judd: Judd snorts heavily, his scowled features heavy with thought. Between thumb and forefinger, the man swirls a tumbler of paint-thinner whiskey, his gaze fixed on the witness report. Lifting the holodoc in his spare hand, he grunts, knocking back the hard liquor. Scum. It was proving harder to wash from the streets than this man thought. The roots of dissent and corruption deeper than he could ever have imagined. Reaching for a pre-rolled cigarra, Judd puts it to his lip, and sparks. The heavy smoke choking his lungs as he hacks for breath. The future never looked so bleak.

It would be nice to see more entries next time. But, as it stands Judd, congratulations please meet Anock to collect your qp. And I hope we can get some more interest in future competitions. Put up any suggestions you might have and we'll see what we can get going. If you would like to comment or vote for a peoples choice winner, leave a message. Thanks. :)

Developer Update #1: Pirate Hunting (Ship to Ship)

So, I promised a series of developer updates, and kind of lapsed.

One of the main features we'll be introducing with the update is a system for hunting varying vessels, similar to the "pirates" that spawn when one drops into an uncharted system, but far more dangerous...and also more rewarding.

Hunting:
- Random systems now spawn rogue fighters, otherwise known as
'pirates'. These pirates now come in waves, and their numbers
increase towards the end of each wave if not kept in check.
Immortals have access to commands to vary the timing of waves,
to keep players on their toes.
- What would convince players to fight in such unpredictable and
deadly situations? Each 'pirate' destroyed gives the player a
bonus that can only be obtained through similar feats of daring
and cunning.
- Pirates have new AI (sounds good), they stay near asteroids
while idling and only attack players if they enter a certain
distance of them. Even then, players are only targetted and
attacked when they get within pirate sensor ragne. Before then
pirates will just 'investigate' the player when they get closer
in. More AI improvememnts to come, including ambushing and
pincer movement attacks invloving hyperspace jumps.
* Action Points (AP) - These are a new kind of player reward points.
Instead of being RP and player-based, like the
current QP system, AP are based on player activity.
- These points can be used to buy special items that
cannot be purchased through any other method.