[MUD-Dev] Re: Influential muds

[Andy Cink]

>So my question is something that sort of overlaps material that is in the
>FAQ, but not really. What do you think are the most important and/or
>influential muds, and why? What contributions did they make to the state of
>the art, or what significant muds owe a lot to them?
>
>-Raph

My favorite muds, and why:

First "real" mud, Renegade Outpost, based on sillymud code:

    I liked it because it had a good number of well balanced
classes. (About 8 classes, plus full multiclassing under
the AD&D rules) It had lots of interaction, items that
could get damaged, spells could also cause equipment damage.
It had a big world, with lots of big monsters, and limited
equipment. (I think this is a biggie) It basically kept you
very busy. You had quite a climb to make 50th, and then you
could spent exp on various bonuses (no more hunger, no more
thirst, multis could add classes, singles could buy more stat
points, hits, mana, moves, etc..) Meanwhile, there was lots
of limited equipment, and you spent a LONG time waiting to
accumulate a good set. (Either waiting for people to retire
or scrap their equip, and figuring out how to kill the monsters
that loaded it without dying) Basically it was just a lot of
fun, lots to do, lots of replay value, because all of the classes
had a lot of differences in play styles.

My next mud was Starmud, using mudOS code with the TMI-2 lib:

    I liked Starmud because it was a very original mud. It had
a huge number of areas, and they weren't afraid to just take
areas from whatever interested them. They had holodeck bays
with simulations of all kinds of universes from books to movies.
They also had a video rental store where you could "rent" movies
to go into an area based on that movie. Lots of clever things like
this. They had something like 7 planets, with various ways to
travel between them. There were around 10 professions, most of
which were modern takes on the medieval classes. Instead of
warriors, there were marines. Instead of clerics, there were
doctors. Instead of thieves there were convicts. Instead of
mages, there were cybermages. Cavaliers instead of paladins,
etc, etc.

    They also had subprofs, which basically let you specialize
within your field. Doctors later had two subprofs, the paramedics
and the angels of death. The paramedics could heal players, who
would go unconscious instead of dying outright. (A warning would
be sent out when a person went unconscious, if they were wearing
a bracelet a doctor could give them) The doctors could then find
the victim and try and revive them. The angels of death could listen
on the same "frequency" and attempt to find and murder the victim
before a doctor could save them. It had an active pkill environment,
with lots of things like resistance/immunity/susceptibility systems,
levelless system, etc. The mud had a lot of races, with a generally
well balanced setup. A race might heal quickly, but have a
vulnerability that could be exploited by their enemies. Lots of
little things that kept things exciting.

My next mud was SneezyMUD, also based on sillymud code:

  Sneezy was(and is) a technological marvel. Extremely well coded, and
was for a long time a great deal of fun. Aside from having a staff
that isn't very likeable, their mud is probably the most realistic
and detailed I've ever played. Featuring a limb based combat system
(very well done, lots of detail, with creatures and players having
all sorts of different limb setups, with limbs able to have all kinds
of afflictions, and the limb problems had direct effects on things
like moving, fighting, even carrying or wearing equipment) Detail to
the max. Also had a very well balanced race setup (if somewhat mundane
races, it was still well done). Races had size ranges, as did equipment.
Depending on your luck, a human might wear some items intended for an
ogre, or tall halfling might wear something designed for a short elf.

    It also had a limited equipment system, with lots of hard to find
items with low load rates. (Was item x not loading because it was maxed,
or because of dumb luck in the loading rolls?) The classes were also
very different, offering different takes and styles of play. Again I
have to emphasize the replay value, the fact that playing the game over
as a different class was often a lot of fun. (Each class and race had
specific sets of equipment you could wear, plus different stat strategies,
and also, you couldn't LEARN every skill a class could potentially have,
forcing you to make choices and see how things worked out) It was even
possible to play as a ogre warrior and a human warrior, and have a
different experience of the game. (It also had racial aggro code,
so some players could simply waltz in places and be fine, whereas
other players would be mobbed by angry mobs)

  In summary, things I liked:
Limited items (artifacts, uniques, etc)
Races with significant differences between them
Classes with significant differences
CHOICES in character development (either subprofs, or skill set choices)
NOT being able to do everything (also leads towards replay value)
Interesting features, like racial aggro code, special perks for
    various races and the like
Detail and realism with regards to interacting to the world.
   (All of the muds I played had equipment that could be damaged, broken,
    repaired, recharged, created, quested for, etc)

I'm sure this is just a drop in the bucket, but maybe someone
out there will find this somewhat enlightening :P

Andy

------------------------------------------------------
Head Coder/Designer of a nameless MUD
EARTH FIRST! We'll stripmine the other planets later.
Ranthor at earthlink.net