[MUD-Dev] Monthly FAQ posting

[Adam Wiggins]

[Koster, Raph:]
> Ling[SMTP:K.L.Lo-94 at student.lboro.ac.uk] wrote:
> > Entries needed for:
> >   (that game I can't remember with the whities and the darkies)
> 
> That would be one of the aforementioned muds by Owen Emlen, at least 
> originally, I think. It enjoyed an amazing measure of popularity for a 
> while, then died a messy death thanks to maintainers who couldn't code 

Yes - it was probably the most incredible case of overnight popularity
in the history of muds.  The first 24 hours it was online it had 60-100
players online the entire time, and groups of 30 were running around
the whitie towns (mostly abusing a bug with exp splitting).

> for beans. People started leaving in droves around the time when 
> everyone's character got slapped with the same name because of memory 
> corruption. And... the name escapes me. :( A two-word name. Any 
> aficionados of PvP gameplay who remember it?

Mortal Conquest.  Since then there have been many 'sequels', all of
which look quite similar, including MC2, Midpoint Void (probably
the best of the bunch), Arturian Dynasty (his attempt at a 'realistic'
skill based mud which fell on its face and caused him to declare that
such attempts are a waste of time), and some others.
Owen himself explained it in r.g.m.diku by saying "...I no longer
code anything which will take more than 10 minutes." (More or less
his exact words)

> >   ...anything to add?
> 
> My additions would mostly focus on graphical given my current 
> interests and job...
> 
> Sierra's The Realm

Sierra was (somewhat surprisingly, to me) a forerunner in this field
with their Sierra Network/Imagination Network (they kept changing
the name around).  I played Red Baron, that Shadow of Yserbius RPG,
and other misc games (at 2400 baud no less) some time before I ever
logged onto my first mud.  Not sure about their new stuff, I quit
playing when my 30 hour trial period ran out (since I was a poor
student with no credit cards at the time).

> and Dr Cat's Furcadia (and its former 
> incarnation--still same basic engine though, right Dr Cat?) both merit 
> inclusion for their importance to the development of the commercial 

Got my girlfriend playing this one.  Seems to be doing pretty well -
every time she's been on there's been close to, or over, 100 players.