Monthly FAQ Posting
Ling
K.L.Lo-94 at student.lboro.ac.uk
Thu Apr 2 15:27:13 CEST 1998
Mud-Dev FAQ
Last modified: 8 March 1998
1. Frequently Asked Questions
2. Previous Topics
3. List Invitate
4. The Members
5. Resources
6. Glossary
Please email any corrections, suggestions or constructive criticisms
to Ling, elkll at student.lboro.ac.uk.
Changes:
980308 -- Mailing list invite.
980301 -- Even more addresses for the resource section.
980201 -- More bios, more addresses for the resource section.
980107 -- Added a few more questions. Previous topics now has its own
universe as suggested by Adam Wiggins. Plonked in a resources
section. Took out standard technical terms as suggested by Adam
Wiggins.
971201 -- FAQ created.
To Do:
Conventions of example scenarios (Bubba, Boffo, Buffy, etc)
List of references for specific scenarios/docs (Bungle/Habitat/Great
God GooGoo, Crystalline Tree, recognising Sting in the weapons shop,
etc).
Solutions for the scenarios?
Obtain addresses for the muds in the resource section.
Subscription instructions.
Statement of topic definition (cf welcome message).
Acknowledgments:
Everyone on the list who contributed with a bio, everyone on the
list who posts and special thanks to Jon A. Lambert, Adam Wiggins,
Nathan Yospe and lastly but definitely not the least, J C Lawrence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Frequently Asked Questions
1. What should I do now I have joined?
If you have not already, please read the rec.games.mud.* FAQs to
familiarise yourself with all the different sorts of muds out there
<URL:http://www.cs.okstate.edu/~jds/mudfaqs.html>.
Next, lurk for a few days to a week to get the gist of what is going
on. Chip in when you think you have something relevant to say or
perhaps start up a new thread on something you want to talk about.
2. What is the accepted standard for posting?
In short: No more than 80 columns wide, and only use 7bit ASCII. If
you are posting from a country/language which uses "special"
characters, such as with umlauts or other diacritical marks, then
please ensure that your mailer properly MIME wraps them. Most modern
mailers will do this properly.
MIME, HTML, RichText and similar are discouraged. This encludes
"vcard" attachments from NetScape mail and similar. Small MIME
attachments, such as a graphic used to illustrate a point discussed in
the text of a message are acceptable. The guiding rule is that the
brunt of the value of a message must always be in the text.
A reply to another posting must have at least the name of the original
author if your mailer does not automatically prepend one, eg:
[Bubba]
>On 4 Jan 98 at 22:20, Boffo wrote:
>> Buffy <Buffy at players-r-us.com> wrote:
>>> I just found a cool mud at <URL:http://web.mud.com>
>>
>> Golly Gosh! Cover me in eggs and flour and bake me for 40 minutes!
These are commonly referred to on the list as "attributions".
Web pages are usually referenced in angled brackets as above.
When quoting a log from a game, put at least two spaces at the start
of each line so that when it is quoted it does not become confused
with other conversation text:
--<example>--
I have a maze in my game:
> look
You are in a maze of twistly little passages, all alike.
Isn't it neat?
--<example>--
Will be quoted as:
--<example>--
>I have a maze in my game:
>
> > look
> You are in a maze of twistly little passages, all alike.
>
>Isn't it neat?
--<example>--
Use a bit of common sense when quoting. Include enough of the
original message to make sense; no more or less. Avoid quoting an
entire post with a one line reply (btw, one line replies are bad :).
Also, don't be afraid to change the subject heading to something more
relevant if the topic has strayed somewhat (usually happens to most
threads).
Oh yeah, and a sensibly sized signature.
3. What is meant by high signal to noise ratio?
The noisy postings include messages which essentially say "I agree!"
and add no extra value, or those that do not relate to the purpose of
the list (like what you had for dinner, how your codebase/driver is
clearly superior to all others in existence and why language such and
such is better than such and such). Try to keep on topic and you
won't go wrong. However, the list is infamous for long postings which
start with one topic and end up rambling on about something else
completely different towards the end. But so long as it is regarding
muds...
4. I just made a post about such and such but no one responded to it!
There could be several reasons why no one has answered to your
posting. If it was to start a new thread, it could have been that the
topic has just recently been discussed. Try waiting a while before
bring it back up again. If it was in answer to a current thread,
other list members will have read it but just might not have anything
to say on that point right then.
5. What's all this Bubba business?
Bubba, Boffo, Buffy and friends are all typical mud players bred for
test scenarios devised by various list members. Originally procreated
by J C Lawrence (how, I don't wish to know), they have since come into
widespread use amongst the mud usenet groups (much to J C's amusement).
6. Aaargh! The traffic is too much!
Perhaps switching to the daily digest mode would help? Please refer
to your invitation for the appropriate information.
7. Any laws I should abide by before I get in trouble?
Yes, please try not to mention this list on anything publically
accessible like web pages, anonymous ftp, usenet or other mailing
lists.
8. How do I access the archives?
Currently the list is archived on a monthly basis. The archives are
text files containing all the traffic for the list for each month.
They are large (2meg - 3Meg is common). If you'd like to chase up an
old thread, or to see what has been discussed before, email the list
owner (coder at null.net) with a subject of "MUD-Dev Archive Request" and
a short message detailing what you want.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. Previous Topics
Here's a list of practically all the topics discussed since the list's
creation up to early Jan 98 (early traffic may be missing):
Server design:
Affects vs. spoofs
Security concerns of spoofs
Component based bodies vs. aggregate bodies vs. atomic bodies
Rooms vs. coordinate spaces vs. mixed forms of the two
Methods of handling coordinate spaces: neighborhoods, tree forms
R-Trees, R*-Trees, 3d arrays, Quad/Oct trees
Automated population containers
Event models
Internal process models
Security models
Multi-threaded server design [conflicts resolution?]
Database design for a server
Use of transactional databases in a MUD server
How to avoid resets
Parsing systems, and language development tools
Design of internal MUD languages
Variations on event-driven design
Disk vs. memory based designs for MUD servers
IO Socket efficiencies.
Telnet protocol and terminal emulation
Design of Object IDs and Object ID recycling
Artificial probability systems
Virtual rooms, virtual objects, virtual mobiles
Sending mail from within a mud server
String handling and memory
Verb handling - global vs. local vs. mixed
Generic objects
Object assemblies
Collision detection
Client scripting and scripting prevention
Graphical interfaces
Must have books for programmers
Web vs. Telnet
Game design:
Classes of players and what they want from a game
Levels vs. level-less vs. abstracted levels vs. level-comparatives
Keeping a goal progression without levels
Handling of character inventory and representation of inventory
Families and their impacts on clans, multi-charring, and tactics
Character senses, representation and extension
Re-usable quests or plotlines
Generic quest creation systems
Rumor systems, handling rumor propagation, and rumor decay
Races
Placement of characters in the MUD-world predator totem-pole
Handling of character death as an in-game event
Perma-death vs. resurrection
Economic systems (and lessons learnt by prior experiments)
Energy-style ecologies and economies
Ecologies for MUD worlds
Inter-player communication systems
Perceived danger levels for characters
NPC AI, goal-oriented NPCs, intelligently automating NPCs
Player characters as NPCs/monsters
Nutrition
Wounds and trauma systems
Combat systems (round based, no rounds, interactive, etc.)
Combat messages
Combat scripting and action
Dynamic descriptions and perception
Views on the "undead"
User command interface design
All about bows, longbows, crossbows, etc.
Festivals and in-game mud games
Supporting both RPers and GOPers
Virtual chemistry/alchemy
In-game political and social structures
Implementing mundane professions (or Nation of Shopkeepers)
Methods of integrating PK (coexistence with non-PK)
Handling poison and disease
Inebriation and drugs
Dragons - a number of viewpoints
Spoken and written languages
Food - interesting or irritating
Starting characters or creating characters
Amalgamud specification document
Alignment vs. reputation
Character positions and rank point system
Automatic name generation
Learning and skill progression
Classless systems and profession-based systems
Physics and the mud universe
Hard sci-fi vs. science fantasy
Character places of their own
Character henchmen and servants
Thieves - ideas
Allowing players to affect the world
Group play and group dynamics
Spells and spell-casting systems
Characters - heroes, nobodies, or prey species
Game balance
Hive minds
Traps and riddle lists
Representing character stats - numeric, descriptive and graphic
Settings for mud worlds
List members' inspirational fantasy and sci-fi books
Handling and building of large trackless areas
Gods and deity systems
Mud Administration/Philosophy
Lorry's document on wizarding
The morality of logging and snooping
Problems with socializers
Social control and engineering
Dealing with "problem" players
Is the virtual world real?
Gender issues
Bartle's mud papers
The purpose of mudding
Motivating builders and coders
Role-play vs. Game-Only Play discussion
PK vs. Non-PK discussions
The infamous rape discussion
Habitat papers and anecdotes
Overriding players' control of the character
[courtesy of Jon A. Lambert]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. List Invite
The following is the suggested invitation message:
--<cut>--
Subject: MUD Design list invitation
<Insert reason for invitation>
Would you like to join the MUD Design mailing list?
The MUD Design list is not platform, language or game specific, but
concentrates on discussing the design and implementation of any and
all MUD servers and systems. Another large related topic is game
design. This does not mean that the details of a specific server or
game design point can't be discussed in excruciating detail, or even
that server or game source can't be bandied about and picked over,
just that the list isn't to become a religious stomping ground for
your platform, language, server, or hobby horse of choice.
The goal is high signal, low noise. The MUD Design list is not an
email version of the rec.games.mud.* newsgroups.
Membership is by invitation only. Any existant member may invite
anyone they feel would actively participate in and benefit the list.
New members are entrusted to participate in the list for a while,
getting a feel for the list, its members, and the discussions and
behaviour that go on there, before inviting others to join. Please
raise any doubts or questions regarding potential new members either
on the list, or with the list owner at coder at ibm.net.
Please don't publicise the list on newsgroups or other mailing lists.
To subscribe, send a message to listadmin at null.net with a message body
of "subscribe mud-dev". The system will acknowledge once you are
subscribed (may take a day or two). Once subscribed, send postings to
mud-dev at null.net. Please email list related questions to the list
owner at coder at ibm.net.
eg.
From: <you>
To: listadmin at null.net
subscribe mud-dev
A daily digest mode is also available for the list. Just change your
subscription message to "subscribe mud-dev-digest".
eg.
From: <you>
To: listadmin at null.net
subscribe mud-dev-digest
--<cut>--
>From JCL, here is a message for the commercially orientated amongst us:
--<cut>--
Writing as list owner:
We have recently acquired a number of members who work professionally
in the field: Dr Cat, JeffK, Raph Koster, and a few others I'll leave
nameless as they've not publicised their membership. Their presence
raises certain concerns for intellectual property, trade secrets,
copyrights, etc.
As list owner I expect you all to be responsible for what you post.
The rules are pretty obvious. If there is something your company or
affiliations does not want publicised, don't post it to the list. If
you see one of your commercial or other partners post something to the
list that shouldn't have been, don't bring it up on the list -- take
it to direct email. Raising such issues on the list will be used as
an excuse for removing membership.
Please do not use this as an alibi to start adding disclaimers to your
posts. You are the members on this list, not your companies. If it
isn't your opinion don't write it. If you are reporting someone
else's opinion, state it as such.
If a post is written as a representative of your company or
affiliation, then identify it as such. Adding a signature which
identifies your affiliation is not enough. That can be too easily
automated and is not an explicit statement of representation. A
leading paragraph identifying the source or representation placed
above all the textual body including the attributions, will do (keep
it short).
Commercial grandstanding, advertisements, chest puffing, or other
forms of promotion are not appreciated on the list and will be
rewarded with removal of membership. The list is an expressly
non-commercial venue. It is intended as an intelligent and free
discussion by peers in the field, both hobbyist and professional.
Membership of the list is not a right. You are here as my guests.
This is a private list run as a personal contribution to the field.
As a sign of respect and trust I allow members to invite others to
join the list they feel would positively contribute to the list.
This permission is currently given generally to all members as I
trust them to handle it responsibly.
Posting to the list may be considered analagous to having a
conversation in my living room using bull horns while the windows are
open and everyone has tape recorders.
And on a final note: Attempting to invalidate or discourage a
discussion or avenue of investigation on the list because it strays
too close to a commercial project's field or other such interest will
be deemed an intentional personal insult and due cause for permanent
removal from the list along with all associates.
--
J C Lawrence Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor) Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*) Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...
--<cut>--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. The Members
Below is not the complete list of members but it does give a good
picture of a small and active cross section. Feel free to post any
corrections or additions to the maintainer.
--------oOOOo--------
Travis S Casey
Occupation: Unix sysadmin
Address: casey at nu.cs.fsu.edu
Personal details:
- Started in '89 on a Tiny variant.
- Really started in '93 on MudDog (LP).
- Accidently wizzed on SWmud (LP).
- Erratic development of a cyberpunk mud.
- Contributed some to the Lima LP mudlib.
- FAQ maintainer for rec.games.design.
- Married with two cats.
Signature:
|\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <casey at cs.fsu.edu>
ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-'
'---''(_/--' `-'\_)
rec.games.design FAQ: http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~casey/design.html
--------oOOOo--------
Matt Chatterley
Occupation: Student.
Location: England.
Addresses: neddy at itl.net
caffeine at unreal.org
root at mpc.dyn.ml.org
Personal details:
- Main interests are game design (theoretical), and ways to change
things that are (tm) into things that should be (patent pending).
- Occasional cynic, and critic of online gaming environments.
Server: Caffeine (LP)
Signature:
Regards,
-Matt Chatterley
ICQ: 5580107
"We can recode it; we have the technology."
--------oOOOo--------
Reed Copsey, Jr.
Occupation:
- Whatever I find at the time (Usually programming or database
administration or setup)
Addy: rdc at efn.org
Personal details:
- Too damn busy to do anything
- Spends lots of time lurking here, and unfortunately doesn't
participate nearly as much as he should and would like to
- Basically a self-taught programmer who spends more time
tinkering and coming up with different ways of doing things
than getting anything productive written
- Is always trying to figure out the best (and cheapest, as he's
currently way in debt) way to learn just about anything he can
get his hands on
Secret Server Project:
- Kolmteist
Server Highlights:
[ Note: This is mostly in design phase. I very recently decided
on a complete rewrite for both the server and the client, so all
that's left that is at all useful is some basic utility-type
classes: socket handling, data structures, string handling, etc... ]
- Written in C++
- Uses a relational database backend, though total persistence
is not (yet) a major goal (though this has changed many times
as he comes up with new arguments for or against it)
- Completely event driven
- Object customization through an internal extension language
- Current design (which will probably last another week
*snicker*) is actually inspired by MS Access (yuck),
with simple extensions being written as very straight forward,
macros on any object, which have the ability to call
user-written procedures, hopefully allowing some semblance
of flexibility in a roundabout way
- Hoping to allow players to use the same macro interface
in a stripped down manner to allow for a fairly high
degree of player-customization and automation (see below)
- A significantly slower-than-average combat system which is
completely unautomated unless macros are used... (Roughly turn
based from the player's POV, with a turn/round once every few
seconds, the avg fight lasting 1-4 minutes)
- Completely disassociation, both in code and in game, of players and
wizards/imms. (builder/administration have no direct in-game form)
- A custom client required for various reasons:
- direct path (completely bypasses the game server) to the
relational database backend, allowing building
and game administration even if the mud is down or the
builder doesn't want to deal with people
- more flexibility in display to allow better-than-ansi color
and text handling parsed client side, inline images, and
some html-ish functionality similar (and inspired by)
various mud extensions chaco add in pueblo (point and click
commands, etc)
- the ability to spawn multiple windows (crucial)
- Will have an account style login, with menu's to choose
which character(s) to play, each of which spawns a separate
window.
- All out of character communication, information, etc will
be directed to the account window (or a private chat-style
window spawned for private, ooc communication)
- the hope is to encourage roleplaying by complete separation
of VR and non-VR commands, both in the commands (without
using a special character like $, @, or #) and in output
Signature:
-- Reed
--------oOOOo--------
Marc Eyrignoux
Occupation: Student
Address: eyrignou at efrei.fr
Location: Paris, Toulouse (both in France)
Personal details:
- 21 years old
- Role player
- Attempting to code a mud with friends (for school, for entertainment
and for improving in programing)
Server design:
- in C++
- using a relational database (surely MySQL)
- under Linux RedHat 5.0
- multi-threaded, event driven
- still only in project phase
- 1 world: small basic medieval-fantastic world, with basic races
like elves, humans, orks...
- trying to promote the roleplay aspect of the game, with (hopefully)
a quest generator for not having to rewrite another quest every
day.
Client design:
- in Java, graphic oriented
- the most intelligent as possible, but not as much as Nathan's one
--------oOOOo--------
Chris Gray
Occupation: Programmer (UNIX?)
Address: cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Personal details:
- Never really played a MUD other than his own (bar 4 hours on Northern
Crossroads, and some LP experimenting)
- Old enough to be the father of most of you, so his perspectives
might be quite different
- Done very little RPG-ing, but a fair amount of Adventure gaming
- Thinks the Web and C++ suck big time! (shocking!)
- Studied programming languages for AI at Alberta. Attempted to
implement a language called ALAI (A Language for Artificial
Intelligence - original, huh?) but got bogged down.
- Taught computer architecture, programming languages, and adaptive
information systems for the department instead.
- Started but never finished PhD in required internal features for
multi-user protected OSes (at Alberta!)
- Creator of programming language 'Draco' for CP/M, later ported to
Amiga/68k.
- CP/M version of Draco still in Simtel. Docs managed to end up in a
McGraw-Hill book without any permission!
- Worked with Myrias, a parallel computer company.
- Wrote Myrias' ANSI C compiler.
- And Amiga Empire (rewrite of Empire, in Draco of course!)
- Heard about MUDs and wrote a quick and dirty AmigaDUM.
- Myrias went bust two months later (no connection!).
- Now works with the remnants of Myrias which has been brought back to
life.
- After 6+ yrs, AmigaDUM it is now called AmigaMUD and can be found on
Aminet (v1.1).
- AmigaMUD currently runs at mud.myrias.com 23 (normal telnet)
Signature:
Chris Gray cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA
--------oOOOo--------
Marian Griffith (De Vries Griffith to be more precise)
Addresses: gryphon at iaehv.nl
Web page: <URL:http://www.iaehv.nl/users/gryphon>
- Lots of information on the !Overlord project. An attempt to collect
ideas to improve on muds but does not aim at any finished product.
Interests:
- Interest in roleplaying and game world building but will talk about
anything ;) (except for pk because there's nothing to be added that
hasn't been said many times already)
Signature:
Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...
Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey
--------oOOOo--------
Michael Hohensee
Occupation: Part time student?
Addresses: michael at sparta.mainstream.net
Personal details:
- 17 yrs of age during March '97
Server: AeMud - Arbitrarily Expandable MUD
Server concepts/features:
- Written in C.
- Treats all objects equally for certain common uses.
- A spiffy and mostly efficient memory-allocation/recycling system.
(Which may actually be kinda pointless, but it was interesting to
code)
- A command queue that is used equally by players and computer-driven
objects.
- Highlights include interactive portals and simulation of liquids.
Signature:
Michael Hohensee michael at sparta.mainstream.net
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/9025/
Finger me for my PGP Public Key, or use:
http://sparta.mainstream.net/michael/pgpkey.txt
--------oOOOo--------
Derrick Jones
Addresses: gunther at online1.magnus1.com
Location: Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
Signature:
Gunther
--------oOOOo--------
Raph Koster
Occupation: Lead designer for Ultima Online, for Origin Systems
Location: Austin TX
Addresses: rkoster at origin.ea.com
Personal details:
- Creative director of mud (not actually director of UO).
- Married to fellow mud designer Kristen Koster, also list member.
- One kid, another on the way.
- BA in English (creative Writing) and in Spanish (Literature), and a
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
- Age 26.
- Particularly interested in social evolution in virtual environments,
and related issues such as administration of said environments,
methods of social control, user awareness of social context, etc.
- Game and server features that contribute to the above.
- Most everything Mike Sellers listed off ;) such as ecological sim
layers, Maslow, etc :)
Server: LegendMUD, known on there as Ptah
<http://mud.sig.net>
<telnet://mud.sig.net:9999>
- Used to run lectures often of interest to the mudding community.
Server concepts/features:
- Has evolved into a weird hybrid of LP and Diku.
Game concepts/features:
- First classless mud.
- Probably the first historical theme gaming mud.
- Attempt to provide a truly fictional immersion, from detailed
hand-designed questing, to carefully crafted and well-written
areas, to output designed to read like prose (see the speech
system for an example of what I mean - adverb support, etc etc).
- Word-based spell system (it doesn't work, wasn't pushed far enough
into the realm of spell language).
Server: Ultima Online, known there as "Designer Dragon"
<http://www.owo.com>
Game concepts/features:
- World simulation.
- Maslow-based AI system for ecological sim and for basic human
activity (NPC moods, etc)
- Pool-based conversation system.
- Economic sim layer.
- Social control mechanisms (notoriety, etc).
- Dynamic modular quest system.
Noteable facts:
- Appears to be the first big mass market persistent world that really
breaks through and establishes the genre as a commercially viable
one.
- Pretty controversial, plagued with all sorts of problems from day
one, reviews range from stellar to in the toilet. ;)
Signature:
-Raph
--------oOOOo--------
Jon A. Lambert
Occupation: contract programmer for 12 years, primarily mainframe DBA
Addresses: jlsysinc at ix.netcom.com
Web page: <http://www.netcom.com/~jlsysinc>
Personal details:
- Former BBS operator - C64 and later DOS, ran many mud-like games.
- Occasional player on funny little Compuserve mud
- Attempts to rationalize interest in muds as practical professional
education. :P
- Player of paper & pencil games since mid-70s... primarily early
D&D, RoleMaster, Vampyre, Warhammer and Cyberpunk
- Favorite Computer Games - Tradewars, Civilization, Simcity, Hammurabi,
Empire, Railroad Tycoon...Ok just about anything design by Sid Meir
- Age - Too old to rock-n-roll, too young too die.
- Favorite color - blue
- Favorite character - Odysseus Laertes of Ithaca
Secret Project: TychoMud
Mud theme:
- Greek city states - synthesis of historical period 2500-200 BC with
unique interpretations of popular and lesser known mythologies.
Game physics, sciences and medical lore almost wholly based on
Plato's wacky universe. Yes, water does flow upward, at least
through the hole in middle of Earth.
Alternate Themes:
- Original FRPG campaign world.
- Dark postmodern theme.
Server concepts/features:
- Complete persistent objects backed by transactional relational
database
- Event driven and multi-threaded
- Graphical interface to text-based game
- Object-oriented concurrent stack-based mud programming language
(a twisted genetic mutation of Rexx, Java and Ada)
- Graphical user/builder component-level programming/building
Game concepts/features:
- Game system based on RoleMaster FRPG - skill driven system
- Heavy roleplay single account - multi-PC, NPC, or
gamemaster/storyteller
- Deistic intervention (always IC), capricious and encouraged
Direct
- Deistic programmed control of in-game systems (solar, lunar,
climate, oceans, etc.)
- Realistic flora and fauna ecologies (reset/repop - thou shalt not)
- Resource driven economies Social, political and economic driven game
- Magic rare and equipment poor
- Realistic professions
Signature:
Jon A. Lambert
--------oOOOo--------
JC Lawrence
Notes:
MUD-Dev list owner.
All postings written as list owner are identified as such.
Occupation:
Contract programmer for 15+ years, ex-school teacher, printer,
sailor, fisherman and other sundries, small time SF&F writer,
dinosaur, philosopher. Self taught.
Addresses:
claw at null.net (work)
coder at ibm.net (home)
Please use these in preference to all other addresses.
Personal details:
Started MUDding in '84 on Shades, SX MUD (MUD1/MUD2), and still
heavily influenced by same. Was a part of the IOWA project with
Pip Caudrey. Been working on a MUD server on and off since '85.
Major inspirations in chronological order: Shades, MUD2,
Transputers, Marcus Ranum, Uber, Unter, LP, Aber, Tiny*, Northern
Lights, MOO, Stephen White, LambdaMOO, a large bunch of IBM's OS/2
developers, Cool, Interlude (neat!), Dave Engberg, C++, Cold, Mike
Cowlishaw, Legend, ColdX, Greg Hudson, MUQ, BeOS, Inferno, Limbo.
Self-educated in pure math, english literature and religious
philosophy.
Server:
Unnamed, but last referred to as "Murkle". There are several
increasingly sarcastic acronymic expansions of "murkle" that are
left up to the reader to discover.
Server features:
Written in C++. Compleatly persistent world achieved by
transactional persistant store. Event driven heavily
multi-threaded lockless server design. OO internal programming
language ala Python/C. Server has no prior knowledge of the game
mechanics it is hosting. DB (persistant store) is disk based and
contains a full rollback feature for crash recovery, bug hunting
and logging. Same rollbacks allow for limited time travel by
users. Free user programming allowed. No logical difference
between mobiles, NPCs, and players. Players may control multiple
bodies simultaneously. Swarm-type bodies as possible. Players are
heavily abstracted from their characters, which are heavily
abstracted from their character bodies. Players connect to
accounts, from which they select characters to play, which in turn
control bodies. Thous shalt not repop, and thou shalt not reset.
No global namespace in game, players and characters all have
individual private namespaces.
Game features:
Particle based energy-centric resource economy drives and limits
the game world. Magic is merely a side-effect of the particle
economy. Permadeath. Free PK. Extremely high magic world. No
particular interest in RP. GoP-centric. Players and mobiles may
freely steal bodies from each other. The goal is to re-attain
godhood. Resolution of control from body toward player is
generally not possible. Violently fluid programmable combat where
very minor items and affects can be devastating. Skill webs. No
real levels. A human should never have to wait for a machine --
there is no waiting. Heavy use of unstable positive feedback loops
for populations and NPC behaviours.
Scenarios:
Bubba and the Crystalline Tree
The Great God GooGoo and his holy relics
Castle Krack, the Elven Forest, and the Sceptre
UggUgg's mana fight
Orc breeder/fighter/nobles
Mobile population migrations
A farcical justice system
Trash collectors (TC's)
Bubba digging the Panama Canal
...many others...
Signature:
J C Lawrence Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*) Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...
Comment:
If you were around on MirrorWorld or Pip's Place you should
recognise the wand in the signature.
--------oOOOo--------
Jon Leonard
Occupation: Chip designer
Location: Mountain View, California
Address: jleonard at slimy.com
Web Page: <http://www.slimy.com/~jleonard/>
Personal details:
- Started MUDing as a freshman in college on the LPmud at
fenris.claremont.edu. I took over admin of it and played
with the server source code until I determined that it would
be easier to start from scratch to get what I wanted. This took
a few years.
- mostly a lurker on the list
- I'm paying for a full-time net connection, so I can host my
MUD, or any other interesting MUDs.
Server: Qxhrptrwzzllp't
<telnet://slimy.com:2121>
This is a completely from-scratch design, which at this point is
mostly a lisp-like interpreter with a partially written mudlib
running on it.
Signature:
Jon Leonard
--------oOOOo--------
Kam Ling Lo (prefers Ling)
Occupation: Electronic & electrical engineering student, will probably
specialise in either microprocessor design or EMC.
Addresses: K.L.Lo-94 at student.lboro.ac.uk (or elkll@ for short)
kllo at iee.org
Personal details:
- Merely 21 but feels far too old anyway.
- Going for the purple hair and green eyes look.
- Self-taught computer knowledge, so quite ignorant.
- Broad interests in science in general.
- Pet interests include artificial life and graphic novels.
- Thinks gameplay is of paramount importance.
- Heavily sci-fi orientated. Influences include all C64 and Amiga
games past, various books, cartoons, especially those with 'mechs
in them.
- Somehow managed to accumulate knowledge of various paper games no one
else has ever heard of (eg: Air Eaters Strike Back!)
- More interested in heavy strategy gamer than muds.
- Keeps changing projects and will probably go for a PBeM (upset over
time problems in muds).
Server: Renaissance (Amylaar LP)
Server concepts/features:
- Undergoing a massive overhaul right now. Utterly gutted.
- Switching from the tradition view that the connection controls a body
in the game to the connection controls a soul which directs the
body. Oughta credit JC Lawrence one day for inspiration/blatant
rip-off.
- This design should eliminate a few design problems and further
minimise creators cheating by forcing creators to code only when
disconnected from the body.
- Aiming to release the mudlib towards the autumn of '98.
- Yes, that is its only redeeming feature.
Server: Vague (Cold)
- Not even started. Still learning the ColdC.
Server concepts/features:
- Using ColdC, see their homepage <URL:http://www.cold.org>.
Game concepts/features:
- Meat of the mud is not remotely mud-like in the traditional sense.
- Players direct a team of agents on a series of missions, for each
mission a 1km x 1km world will be generated.
- Game will be turn based with a time limit for the player to input
their moves.
- Players perceive the game world through the eyes of their agents,
text descriptions will be generated on the fly.
Signature: [The fish stays no matter what]
| Kilo Lima Lima Oscar dash Niner Four, over and out. ---o
_O_O_ Electronic and Electrical Division, Loughborough Corp. <+=+=+>
--------oOOOo--------
David Love (aka Sauron)
Occupation: Student
Address: dlove at kusd.kusd.edu
Personal details:
- Worked as admin on ROCK
- Oldest of six children
- Has a grasp on perl, expanding on C, trying to learn Java
- Enjoys indulging in mindless hack & slash off and on
- Lover of the Final Fantasy series along w/ many console rpg's
- Pastimes: arcade games, paper rpg's, ccg's, computer games (XvT
and War2 among favorites), bbs-ing (anyone remember MajorMUD?)
Server: TWON, a slowly warping version of PennMUSH
Game concepts/features:
- Attempt at a hybrid between the RP aspects of a MUSH and the
in-depth combat style of a MUD
- Faction-based
- Attempts at a working real-time combat system
MU* Theme:
- Attempts to be an epic war story
Signature:
-Sauron
--------oOOOo--------
Greg Munt
I lurk too much. Partly due to being unemployed (maybe I should petition
BT(*) for free local calls), being overwhelmed by list traffic, and partly
due to the fact that I have been in New York for the past 3 or 4 months. Whilst
there, I got engaged to a Bahamian. Maybe my email address will swap a 'uk' for
a 'bs' soon (reasonably likely). At least local calls are free there. Grrr.
Found muds in early '94, in the form of a Tiny derivative, UglyMUG (one of
the few muds on JANET(**)'s PAD network at that time). Left six months later to
join the administration of a derivative of Ugly. 18 months after that, was
running it. 6 months after that, had been kicked out of the admin team, and
banned - now bitter, twisted, and forever opposed to democratic muds. The
so-called "Admin Wars" produced a satirical re-telling of Star Wars,
where I was reduced to a dribbling figure, shivering over a VIC-20 and a
2400 baud modem. (I kid you not.)
My 'real' experience has been working in COBOL/DB2 for British Steel.
Currently I'm trying to use that to get a job. Alternatively I might
have an opportunity as a Junior Games Programmer (with CodeMasters -
possibly UK-only company? *shrug*)! Who said mudding was a waste of time? :)
Since selling the VIC-20 (*koff*), I hacked up a mud from scratch, and
after six months produced "Frontiers". The website (at
http://www.uni-corn.demon.co.uk) was produced - not by me, I hasten to
add - in 6 days, and is infinitely better. It was around this time that I
began reading rec.games.mud.admin, and Martin Keegan wandered onto
Frontiers. (Read DejaNews for the results;)
Now, Frontiers has been closed down, and I have started anew. First
efforts are always worst efforts - probably - but I learnt a lot from it,
and continue to plod through. Current project is called "Ubiquity", and
is, I am quite proud to announce, at the design stage (Frontiers started
at the implementation stage *doh*). At the moment, it is nothing more
than a BBS with talker extensions, but I plan to later turn that into an
underlying command shell for a coordinate-based, all-singing, all-dancing
mud (yes, I'm still working that bit out). The command shell idea was
actually suggested (or I evolved it from one of his ideas, I can't
quite remember) by Nathan Yospe, on this list. This time I am going
slowly, working on the things I know about first, rather than tackling
everything at once, and achieving nothing (see Frontiers).
Age: 24.
Height: 6'8 (which may be irrelevant - though it's always
sort of relevant to people, when they meet me).
Likes: unconventional ideas.
Dislikes: the accepted norm (see DejaNews).
Worst attribute: 50% of my time is spent planning; 5% of my
time is spent carrying out those plans.
Best attribute: Selfless, emotional.
Best thing about my life: I'm so in love...
Worst thing about my life: ...with someone who lives thousands of miles away.
Claim to fame: I once met Ling's brother. He compared me to
John Lennon, which I still find amusing.
Signature: this one will become semi-permanent, I
think. It almost illustrates my opinion of the world.
Ha - even my mother calls me arrogant, now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a 99% chance that I hate and despise your miserable little existence.
(*) British Telecommunications charge 1UKP/hour for local phone calls. Scowl.
(**) The Joint Academic NETwork - now forms the *.ac.uk part of the Internet.
--------oOOOo--------
Alex Oren
Occupation: Programmer in a consulting firm.
Address: alexo at bigfoot.com
MUD Background:
- AD&D DM since '85. Had a brief and fascinating encounter with an LP.
- Got interested in OO MUD server design in '95.
- Posted a request for help[*] (22-5-96) that started a correspondence
which later evolved into the "CC list".
- Due to RL pressures reduced to lurking status. The server,
unimplemented, now gathering dust in some obscure corner of my
mind.
Server concepts/features:
Affects.
[*] http://search.dejanews.com/msgid.xp?MID=<31a32684.293427796@news.ibm.net.il>
--------oOOOo--------
Mike Sellers
Occupation: Chief Creative Officer for The Big Network; Chief Alchemist of
Online Alchemy. Okay, both of those are real titles, but they boil down to
being a game and game-world designer.
Some previous occupations: creator of Meridian 59, user interface designer,
software engineer, animal fertility lab scientist, fantasy miniature
sculptor, movie extra (Apocalypse Now), and one-time circus roustabout.
Location: Pleasanton, California
Address: mike at online-alchemy.com
Interests and Personal stuff:
- Homeostatic mechanisms in world politics, ecologies, and economies
- Maslovian-inspired AI for NPCs and mobiles
- creation of strong communities online
- creating games that provide a truly immersive experience
- making online entertainment into a viable business
- being happily married with six kids :-)
Signature du jour:
Mike Sellers Chief Alchemist -- Online Alchemy mike at online-alchemy.com
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others
may despise it, is the invention of good games. And it cannot be done
by men out of touch with their instinctive values." - Carl Jung
--------oOOOo--------
Vadim Tkachenko
Occupation: Web Developer & Java reusable code manager
Location: Quad Cities (border of IA/IL), USA
Address: vadimt at 4cs.com office
Webpage: <URL:http://206.139.13.63/~vt/gradient> [moved to below?]
<URL:http://gatekeeper.4cs.com/~vt/gradient> [temporary]
There is an access restriction based on the rule:
I want to know who you are. Register, and get it free.
Personal details:
- Age 32, programming since 1988
- Reusable multi-tiered architectures
- Consistent game model
- Balanced extensible world
- Like to design MUDs more than to play them (as they exist now)
- Hundreds, if not thousands, hours spent playing one-player RPGs, the
favorites are Eye of Beholder, Ultima Underworld
Server: Gradient
Status: Skeleton
Features:
- Implemented in Java, based on the reusable client/server framework
model, code-named Jukebox (BTW, today (Feb0298) accepted as a
corporate standard :-)
- Inherently multithreaded, multi-protocol, multi-model (you can just
plug in the protocol adaptor, business logic adaptor and Voila!
You have it)
- Persistent objects as DB (now looking at Voyager -
<URL:http://www.objectspace.com/voyager>), no resets
- External NPC engine, based on the logic and interaction history
- Multi-protocol clients: stock telnet clients as well as specialized
graphical ones (DB implications here)
- Ability to invoke the scripts as URL references (for advanced players
:-) - you specify the URL, it's being interpreted and executed
Game model:
- Consistent object interaction model, based on property tree,
representing weighted features/subfeatures/sub-subfeatures and the
actions result of which depends on the property values (including
regexp on the property values). Actor/Target/Context property
evaluation model is engaged, which allows easy implementation of
the gradient worlds (BTW, this is where the name comes from).
- Game balance is considered critical for the world playability's sake
- Gods balanced with their incarnations, energy balance between the
gods and worshipers.
- Magic energy transformations (fixed input, accumulation by accidental
targets, transformations to other kinds of energy)
- Soul and body are separated, resurrection (or, more exactly, body
capture) for bodies, perma-death for souls
- Advanced NPCs indistinguishable from players (ideally), control over
which may be taken by admins/players (body capture)
- Stubborn unique objects which have own idea how to behave depending
on the conditions (location, current ownership, etc.)
- Alternate realities and terraforming for players (initial idea from
Castle Amber by Roger Zelazny)
- Object-oriented structure: you can have the inheritance
(object/weapon/blade/katana)
- Objects hidden inside one another: the more advanced you become, the
more you're able to identify/use the object.
Signature:
--
Still alive and smile stays on,
Vadim Tkachenko <VadimT at 4CS.Com>
--
UNIX _is_ user friendly, he's just very picky about who his friends are
--------oOOOo--------
Greg Underwood
Occupation: Foole :P Student, primarily, Simulation design Co-Op to pay
the bills. (as a side note, I am probably one of the younger members of
the list, weighing in at age 23)
Addresses: s001gmu at nova.wright.edu
Location: Dayton, Ohio, USA (yeah, the place where they had the Bosnia
Peace Talks a couple years back).
Personal details:
- Used to work on Diku/merc/rom derivatives, specifically Eternity of
Discord. (the code base of which has survived in various forms
under a couple of of different names, which surprises the heck
out of me.. it sucks. :)
- Currently working on a home-grown project with a friend who is
currently a lurker on the list.
Server concept/features:
- Key features include event driver, object orientated nature of the
program, mSQL relational database for info management and non-io
specific, requiring specialised clients to transform data into
something more palatable.
Game concept/features:
- The major foci of the project include a MUCH more realistic combat
model from Diku. Key differences include combat between one
versus many results in one dead opponent v.quickly, usually.
- Heavy magic world with well defined metaphysics, which defines the
physics of the world.
- Primarily a numbers/resource management game, rp will be a side
effect due to the multi-player nature.
- Pkill & "permanent" deaths.
- Player characters will include self-preservation code/instincts,
player can override instincts for complete control but without
overriding, can't get character to behave self-destructively.
Signature:
-Greg
--------oOOOo--------
Adam Wiggins
Occupation: Lead programmer for Cinematix Studios, Inc
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Address: nightfall at inficad.com
Personal details:
- Primary interests for a mud are enhanced 'realism' and internal
consistency of the game world, mainly getting rid of all the
old kludges (hitpoints, experience, levels, classes, tell)
and creating a much more detailed and complex world.
- Proponent of skill-based systems which encourage roleplaying
by making the charcter one plays act and respond as befitting
their race/temperment.
Server: Strife mud
Signature:
Adam
--------oOOOo--------
Nathan F. Yospe
Occupation: Software engineer, writer, cartoonist. (yes, really, all of these)
Addresses: yospe at hawaii.edu
Location: Hawaii
Personal details:
- Interests in elements of solid state and materials science, and
biochem, specializing in molecular genetics and crossover areas
with biomedical science.
- My goals are not particularly relevant to this list, aside from the
fact that I have written sucess at them into the ancient history
of my mud universe, by some anonymous other, fifty years after
I'll likely be dust. The goals: complete supplemental immune
system simulated by organic nanotechnology.
Server: Physmud++
Server concepts/features:
- Mud built by first defining fundamental laws and then constructing the
world in a lego-like manner.
- Functions as a client with a single server, every text transaction and
most decision-tree transactions are handled clientside and passed to
the server as tokened sequences.
- Physmud++ has evolved in the time that I have been on this list, from
a Diku-like C++ mud to what it is today, completely unique.
Server: GURU
Server concepts/features:
- Started 2.5 yrs ago, completion date of December 2002
- Graphical, VR orientated, mass scale distributed fantasy world.
- Designed from the world go for scaleability and most of the
innovations in Physmud++ are really those of the GURU, simplified
and tested in an environment that I can, peice at a time, actually
accomplish.
Signature:
"You? We can't take you," said the Dean, glaring at the Librarian.
"You don't know a thing about guerilla warfare." - Reaper Man,
Nathan F. Yospe Registered Looney by Terry Pratchett
yospe at hawaii.edu http://www2.hawaii.edu/~yospe Meow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. Resources
Anything notable and mud related that should be read/investigated.
Webpages:
Marian Griffith's !Overlord project:
<URL:http://www.iaehv.nl/users/gryphon>
Full of information useful to mud designer/admins.
Lucasfilm's Habitat:
<URL:http://www.communities.com/company/papers/lessons.html>
Detailed document about an ambitious graphical mud.
Muds:
AlphaWorld: <URL:http://www.cs.cuc.edu/~sopwith/aw/>
Anyone care to comment?
AmigaMUD: <URL:telnet://mud.myrias.com:23>
Chris Gray's sparsely populated mud. Of note as he is a list
member and this seems to be the only non-commercial member's mud
currently available for public access.
Armageddon: <URL:telnet://ginka.armageddon.org:4050>
To my knowledge the ONLY truly successful full-bore RP environment
based on a Diku-style server with full combat and the like. Often
cited as such at any rate. [Raph K]
Aturion Dynasty: <URL:http://aturion.com:4444>
Almost all the muds done by Owen Emlen have interesting design
features to them too. [Raph K]
[See also EmlenMud II]
Avalon: <URL:http://www.avalon-rpg.com>
Commercial text muds. Avalon has an interesting newbie tutorial
mode, and room description generation code that is nifty
too. [Raph K]
ColdMUD: <URL:telnet://ice.cold.org:1138>
CoolMUD: <URL:http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/sfwhite/coolftp>
Incredibly elegant server design. [JCL]
Dark Sun Online: <URL:http://www.ssionline.com>
Commercial graphical mud with turn-based combat in a real-time
environment. [Raph K]
DartMUD: <URL:telnet://dartmud.com:2525>
A very ambitious LP mud with lots of good ideas which never seemed
to have gelled together correctly. Plenty of bugs. A sequel is
being worked on.
DragonRealms (Gemstone): <URL:http://dragonrealms.net>
Gemstone was and prolly still is the most popular mud in the
world, period. It evolved into DragonRealms. [Raph K]
Duris: <URL:telnet://duris.org:6666>
A pk mud with economy?!
Eternal City, The: <URL:telnet://eternal-city.com:6370>
Commercial mud using the Cold server.
EmlenMud II: <URL:http://degu.cs.indiana.edu:6669/em2.html>
Looks like Owen Emlen is in the process of making a new mud.
Furcadia: <URL:http://www.realtime.net/furcadia/>
A commercial graphical mud by Dr. Cat.
LambdaMOO: <URL:http://vesta.physics.ucla.edu/~smolin/lambda/>
One of the pages for this MOO.
LegendMUD: <URL:telnet://mud.aus.sig.net:9999>
The first classless mud, strange diku/LP hybrid. See Raph
Koster's bio.
Medievia: <URL:telnet://medievia.intersphere.com:4000>
The most popular free gaming mud I know of. Pioneered the use of
things like in-game spam ads for themselves and lack of due credit
given for code (:P) but also has things like ASCII map terrain,
large algorithmically generated areas, etc. [Raph K]
M59: <URL:http://www.3do/meridian>
Ask Mike S.
Mortal Conquest: <URL:telnet://199.74.98.37:9999>
That game I can't remember with the whities and the darkies. [JCL]
By Own Emlen. [Down, 1st March]
MUD2: <URL:telnet://mud2.com:23>
<URL:http://www.mud2.com>
Unsure if this is a copy of the original or an evolved offshoot.
MUQ: <URL:http://www5.biostr.washington.edu/~jsp/muq.html>
Northern Lights:
<URL:http://www.ludd.luth.se/mud/aber/northern_lights.html>
<URL:telnet://aber.ludd.luth.se:6715>
Realms, The: <URL:http://www.realmserver.com>
Realms is a commercial graphical mud from Sierra.
Shades: <URL:telnet://games.world.co.uk:23>
Toril: <URL:telnet://torilmud.com:9999>
One of two offshoots of Sojourn.
Trash: <URL:http://games.world.co.uk>
Somewhere in the webpage with Shades. [Down, early Feb]
Tron: <URL:telnet://polaris.king.ac.uk:3000>
An out and out pk mud, more of an arcade game using ASCII maps than
a mud in the conventional sense. Not one for the faint hearted.
Should you want a game but can't find anyone, drop me a bell.
Start learning with disc or spider. Be prepared to break your
keyboard. [Ling]
UOL: <URL:http://www.ultimaonline.com>
Ask Raph K.
Worlds of Carnage: <URL:telnet//carnage.labs.emich.edu:4000>
The first Diku mud with an internal scripting language, called
"easyacts." This code formed the basis of the MobProgs put into
Merc 2.2. LegendMUD is a spiritual offshoot of Carnage, and Cythera is
a literal offshoot. (Interestingly, Damion Schubert, a designer on
M59, was also a Carnage immort alum). Imperium Gothique's scripting
was derived from either mobprogs or Carnage, not sure which. Carnage
definitely had a lot of influence on the world of Dikudom. [Raph K]
Notable muds yet to be found:
IOWA Project, The:
Cannot find any references what so ever.
Island:
Did this not die some time back?
MUD1:
Although MUD2 is up above.
Sojourn:
Seems to have spawned Toril in its death throes.
Habitat:
Hard to find more information on.
Not so mud related webpages:
Anti-Mac interface: <URL:http://www.acm.org/cacm/AUG96/antimac.htm>
AI Nodes/ANN: <URL:http://206.107.246.21/packhste/5/>
R-Trees: <URL:http://www.cs.cuhk.hk/~drsam/methods.html>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. Glossary of Terms
The list has managed to come up with its own jargon. Here are some of
the current buzzwords:
Artificial life: Similar to artificial intelligence except the concept
is to bestow individual components with rules or a program, such
that the interaction of the various components will/should be more
than the sum of the parts (emergent behaviour).
Cooperative role-playing: Refers to a specific kind of RP where each
player's personal 'storyline' is paramount. All players are aware
of, and sensitive to, the needs of each player for their story, and
all actions are completely consentual. This is a type of play often
found on MUSHes.
Event: A system design alternative to polling loops. Objects generate
events, which are processed in their proper order by the event
handler. This is frequently clearer and far more efficient,
especially with large numbers of objects. Examples are a torch
generating an event to burn out in two hours, or a spell generating
an event for an earthquake to occur in four seconds.
Fixed random seeding: Using a fixed value (such as a character's
unique ID, or the character's position in XYZ space) to seed the
random number generator, assuring that the same random number will
always be rolled if the circumstances are exactly the same, but
requiring no storage. This allows parts of the world or its
behaviours to be dynamically generated from the seed value as
needed, and yet to have each "new copy" be the same as all the
others because the seed calue hasn't changed.
Global namespace: Referring to the fact that most muds rely on characters
(and sometimes other objects) are given a single and unique name.
Typing 'who' on most muds gives you a list of these; if you see
someone named Bob you know that he is the only Bob in the world, and
can't be confused with anyone else. This is as compared to a system
of generated descriptions to which players can attach proper names
as they please, which may or may not overlap or match up with the
names assigned by other players.
GoP: Short for 'game-oriented play' or possible 'goal-oriented play'.
This is usually a competitive style of play usually oriented around
the accumlation of various resources (money, power, combat ability).
Level:
Markup language: An internal set of codes used by a server to generate
semi-dynamic messages. An example is "%c dives %I %o" which might result
in "Bubba dives behind the wall", "A woman dives into the pool", or
any number of other strings.
mud or MUD: It is not an acronym. It is a collective term for all the
types of games discussed on this list, including both RP and GoP.
Object: Because most of the servers discussed here are
object-oriented, the word object is being used in its general
programming sense to include characters, locations, inanimate items,
and so forth, rather than referring to only inanimate items as is
typical in some mud servers.
Realism: This is not necessarily corespondance to the real world, but
rather refers to internal consitency. In many cases using the
working of real world systems (physics, for example) is a good
example for how to build a consistent system for a game world.
Repop: See Reset.
Reset: Usually a function called in a mud at irregular intervals, the
purpose of which is to put back the game, or some fragment of the
game or game world into a known state. Typically this might mean
locking an opened door, or resurrecting an NPC that was killed by a
player and putting him back to guard the door, Resets and repops
are common on games that promote repetitive actions for advancement.
Skill net: A single layered skill web. Skills are directly weighted to
each other. See skill web (NY)
Skill tree: A skill system where skills have a single parent and
several children. A skills at the bottom of the tree being very
specialised. Skills higher up the tree will affect the value of
skills further down.
Skill web: a non-heirarchical two layered skill system wherin each
skill is weight-related to an arbitrary number of attributes, and
the improvement of skills therefore automatically improves related
skills. Examples of skills might be rowing and flycasting, examples
of attributes, strength (upper arm) and precision (forearm). [Note:
I triple weight my skill web, so that there are direct connections
to the condition of the character's body and mind, and so that the
resiliance of same are improved by conditioning. Nathan Y] [Note 2:
The web is modeled after a simple neural net design I found in
Dr. Dobbs' Journal. Nathan Y]
Verb binding: Attaching verbs to an object, such as 'fly' to a
jetpack. The command essentially does not exist when you don't have
the jetpack.
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