So who used to play "MUDs"?

[fastbilly1]

You would have to game with a keyboard, or be really good at typing on the on screen keyboard.

Lulz, I think I could make an exception for a text-based game.

Are you sure? I can just see you with a controller rolling through the onscreen keyboard trying to keep up.

To get back on topic, I havent played a MUD since 94 or 95. I dont really have a desire to play another, but I am curiosity to what yall build.

[jp1]

You would have to game with a keyboard, or be really good at typing on the on screen keyboard.

Lulz, I think I could make an exception for a text-based game.

Are you sure? I can just see you with a controller rolling through the onscreen keyboard trying to keep up.

To get back on topic, I havent played a MUD since 94 or 95. I dont really have a desire to play another, but I am curiosity to what yall build.

Well, Bogus just had a pretty cool idea about incorporating some retro game love into it, since it would be a Racketboy thing. That opens up some really cool possibilities and a great deal of diversity while still keeping a main theme. I'll admit, I'm sad at the lack of interest from those who used to play though..."it isn't all about graphics y'all"

[Tanooki]

Isn't this like the old BBC stuff like Legend of the Red Dragon as I put a good year on that one over dial up pretty much every day in the evening. I know it still lives on online through some webservers.

[jp1]

Isn't this like the old BBC stuff like Legend of the Red Dragon as I put a good year on that one over dial up pretty much every day in the evening. I know it still lives on online through some webservers.

I'm not familiar with that, but it does look very similar.

[Key-Glyph]

MEMEMEMEMEMEME I will post something, but was too excited to just say ME!

This is exactly what went through my head when I read this thread. I've taken some deep breaths, though, and think I've gotten my enthusiasm under control... but don't let my serenity fool you. I am extremely interested. I love MUDs.

Like BMF, I spent a lot of time on regular, static text adventures as a kid. There's nothing quite like walking into a new room and being hit with a beautiful wall-of-text description of what's around you.

So when I came across one that I could experience simultaneously with other players while I was in middle school -- one that kept growing, and ran round-the-clock -- I got ridiculously obsessed. It was called Cosrin, and it's apparently still active. It was the standard medieval setting, but it was fairly complicated and lovely. You had to draw maps on graph paper to get around in the catacombs. There was also good class and race variety, and the individual guilds were so lovingly detailed. I was always a monk, and our entire refuge was a sprawling garden of herbs and sand; some afternoons I would just hang out there and LOOK at everything and consider that a good use of my time.

I'd actually checked in on Cosrin some years ago while I was in college, but as much as I wanted to, I just didn't have the time or energy to invest in it. Around that time I also looked into the Discworld MUD based on Terry Pratchett's fabulous fantasy series, which I'd assumed would be more light-hearted and conducive to sporadic play; alas, I started out in the Mended Drum (an infamously rowdy bar in the world's roughest city) and the bar patron players immediately and predictably started eying the noob's changepurse with their enhanced thieving abilities. I got too freaked out to continue.

I've never, ever gotten into MMORPGs in the same way. I still bring MUDs up in conversation every now and again, and frequently wish that it was still a thriving genre. If you make one, I am all over it. I could volunteer to write descriptions for items and areas if needed, as I imagine you're going to need a handful of people to shoulder the sheer amount of text required for the experience.

[jp1]

MEMEMEMEMEMEME I will post something, but was too excited to just say ME!

This is exactly what went through my head when I read this thread. I've taken some deep breaths, though, and think I've gotten my enthusiasm under control... but don't let my serenity fool you. I am extremely interested. I love MUDs.

Like BMF, I spent a lot of time on regular, static text adventures as a kid. There's nothing quite like walking into a new room and being hit with a beautiful wall-of-text description of what's around you.

So when I came across one that I could experience simultaneously with other players while I was in middle school -- one that kept growing, and ran round-the-clock -- I got ridiculously obsessed. It was called Cosrin, and it's apparently still active. It was the standard medieval setting, but it was fairly complicated and lovely. You had to draw maps on graph paper to get around in the catacombs. There was also good class and race variety, and the individual guilds were so lovingly detailed. I was always a monk, and our entire refuge was a sprawling garden of herbs and sand; some afternoons I would just hang out there and LOOK at everything and consider that a good use of my time.

I'd actually checked in on Cosrin some years ago while I was in college, but as much as I wanted to, I just didn't have the time or energy to invest in it. Around that time I also looked into the Discworld MUD based on Terry Pratchett's fabulous fantasy series, which I'd assumed would be more light-hearted and conducive to sporadic play; alas, I started out in the Mended Drum (an infamously rowdy bar in the world's roughest city) and the bar patron players immediately and predictably started eying the noob's changepurse with their enhanced thieving abilities. I got too freaked out to continue.

I've never, ever gotten into MMORPGs in the same way. I still bring MUDs up in conversation every now and again, and frequently wish that it was still a thriving genre. If you make one, I am all over it. I could volunteer to write descriptions for items and areas if needed, as I imagine you're going to need a handful of people to shoulder the sheer amount of text required for the experience.

Awesome, it would be great to have some "builders". The only way to get that same experience is too keep some diversity. I'm glad there is some interest. It was kind of a "thing" among my friends, and since there weren't any other big online experiences to be had back then, it seemed groundbreaking. I grew up on Zork and other text games too, so it fit my tastes perfectly. I just love the endless possibilities of it. BMF sent me a PM to keep track of some chatter and ideas about this, I'm sure if he doesn't mind that we could happily bring you in on that conversation as it unfolds Key, I'd be happy to have you included. We can start to work on a direction for this thing and maybe more people will become interested.

[Key-Glyph]

Awesome, it would be great to have some "builders". The only way to get that same experience is too keep some diversity. I'm glad there is some interest. It was kind of a "thing" among my friends, and since there weren't any other big online experiences to be had back then, it seemed groundbreaking. I grew up on Zork and other text games too, so it fit my tastes perfectly. I just love the endless possibilities of it. BMF sent me a PM to keep track of some chatter and ideas about this, I'm sure if he doesn't mind that we could happily bring you in on that conversation as it unfolds Key, I'd be happy to have you included. We can start to work on a direction for this thing and maybe more people will become interested.

I'd love to be involved in any way. I'm not familiar with the more technical aspects of programming for these, but darned if I wouldn't love to learn. Point me in the right direction of materials to study up on, and we'll see if I can't become a more valuable contributor.

I also have a bunch of personal opinions that I'd love to influence the gameplay design with.

[jp1]

Awesome, it would be great to have some "builders". The only way to get that same experience is too keep some diversity. I'm glad there is some interest. It was kind of a "thing" among my friends, and since there weren't any other big online experiences to be had back then, it seemed groundbreaking. I grew up on Zork and other text games too, so it fit my tastes perfectly. I just love the endless possibilities of it. BMF sent me a PM to keep track of some chatter and ideas about this, I'm sure if he doesn't mind that we could happily bring you in on that conversation as it unfolds Key, I'd be happy to have you included. We can start to work on a direction for this thing and maybe more people will become interested.

I'd love to be involved in any way. I'm not familiar with the more technical aspects of programming for these, but darned if I wouldn't love to learn. Point me in the right direction of materials to study up on, and we'll see if I can't become a more valuable contributor.

I also have a bunch of personal opinions that I'd love to influence the gameplay design with.

Good, I can't wait to hear them. As far as helping with back end, I'm not sure where a good starting point would be without some idea of your experience. Have you ever compiled something from source code under linux? Edited a makefile, or applied patches to source code?

I was looking around a little, and this seems like a good base to start with, a tremendous amount of work has been done to make it very easy to customize without much coding at all. I haven't seen anything this polished in the past, and it was in development well past anything I've used.

http://www.dawnoftime.org/about.html

This is long and not worth a read unless you have an interest in discussing ideas for the project.

One idea that I like is a constantly evolving class and alignment system based on your play style. Rather than choose a set class from the outset, it will develop based on the skills you choose to improve during play. I like the way Oblivion handled this, but in a text based Mud the options would be limited only to our imagination. Skills could be developed in tiers, to pull from your example perhaps you start by growing herbs, as you master that skill it could open up the door for using them in salves or potions, further development could push into the alchemy tier, a medicinal healing tier, poisoning of weapons or food supplies, and each of those could have a new subset of skills.

Perhaps you sink some time in that skill group and decide to take a new direction, focusing on magic, stealth, weaponry, or tactical planning. Then the combination of your first skill set and your second skill set would automatically switch your class in an ever evolving and changing manner as you explore more options. During this time you would earn experience through not only combat but the improvement of all your skills and could then choose to "level up" into a new set of classes which would open a new tier of skills. The more experience you accumulate the better classes available to you when you do choose to level up. So, if you put in the time to build a healthy foundation you will be rewarded not only in a numerical "level 2" but also a previously unattainable class to those who just grind through focusing entirely on one skill set.

Things, I believe could get interesting if you have a group of characters and nearly all of them have different levels of any given skill. Everyone could be the "Go to" for something. Which could open the door for a bartering system or enhance the guild setting, obviously choosing members who are strong in the areas a guild or clan lacks would be desirable especially if there was a member cap.

Be an amazing thief, or only learn to lurk in the shadows to increase the effectiveness of your spells.

Have furiously strong spells, but spend enough time working on your armory tree that you can move into heavier armor.

Be the teams hp "tank" for group hunts and also work a cleric (healer) tree to help with healing as well.

A healthy group of races with unique attributes, abilities, and weaknesses would even better diversify the player pool.

Anyway, just spit balling some stuff. What kind of stuff do you folks have in mind? The examples I gave obviously lean toward a more traditional dungeon setting, but the ideas could be implemented in the same capacity in any setting.

[igflash]

Haha, have not really thought of it! Was a long time ago now! But I used to play Rag in the mid 90's. It was cool back then, but now... Maah, honestly I have lost interest in text-based applications since I became a designer.

[finerion]

Oh yes, I played the heck out of a few MUDs back in the mid-90's. Got started on Legends of Terris (http://www.legendsofterris.com/) back when it was on AOL and continued playing for several years. In a way I really miss it, but to be honest I'm not sure how much time I could really invest these days. I'm definitely down with participating in whatever get's set up here. The social aspect is what really drives a MUD so as long as we have a solid group of friends playing then the mechanics are secondary in my opinion.