MUD FAQ
What is a MUD?
MUD stands for Multi-User Dungeon. It specifically refers to an online text-based sword-and-sorcery dungeon crawl game where multiple players can connect via the internet.
Since its origin, the term has grown to include many genres and types of games, but the common factor is that a MUD is a text-based multiplayer online game.
What about a MUSH, MOO, MUCK, or all those other acronyms?
A MUSH is a Multi-User Shared Hallucination. While similar to a MUD, the emphasis is more on roleplaying and social interaction than on hack-and-slash monster killing. There are many variations on gameplay. All of the other acronyms have variations to their theme and gameplay focus, but there is often some overlap.
MOO: MUD, Object Oriented
MUCK: Multi-User Created Kingdom
Are MUDs dead?
Absolutely not. There are still more than 1,000 active MUDs. While many players have moved on to massively multiplayer online games like Everquest, World of Warcraft, or Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, many still play MUDs.
In fact, there are quite a few MUDs that regularly have more than 100 players online, and a few that hover around the 500-player mark.
If you want to know more about MUD statistics, check out http://www.mudstats.com.
Well then, are MUDs dying?
Yes and no. At any given moment there are MUDs with dwindling playerbases and MUDs with growing playerbases. MUDs constantly start up and shut down for a number of reasons.
The MUD community as a whole has a slowly-decreasing number of players, but MUDs will be around for a few more decades, if not forever.
Why do so many MUDs look the same?
Since writing a MUD from scratch is a lot of work, many people start by getting one of the free codebases, such as SMAUG, or TinyMUSH, or LPMud, and building from there.
There is a lot of effort involved in building a unique game world and much programming and zone development has to be done in order to build a distinct game style. This often takes years, so often these "stock" MUDs you see are a "work in progress".
There is also a school of thought that says users expect a certain uniformity of interface and introduction to the game world and that some players are scared away by games that don’t have interfaces that are instantly recognizable to a new player.
Are MUDs Dangerous?
No more so than the rest of the internet, and less so than most parts of it. Anything that involves Humans will have its share of jerks and crazies, but they're always a minority and often easy to avoid. MUDs are generally friendly communities of normal people who gather for the purpose of having fun in an online game.
Should I Let My Children Play MUDs?
Let? Kids are going to do whatever they want regardless of what rules you set because you can't watch them every hour of every day. You're better off educating them on how to spot and avoid jerks and crazies and how to think for themselves so you don't have to worry so much.