MUD History
Text-based multiplayer worlds
Multi-User Dungeons pioneered online multiplayer gaming, creating persistent worlds, social dynamics, and design patterns MMORPGs would later adopt.
Overview
Before graphical MMORPGs, there were MUDs—text-based multiplayer worlds accessed through telnet connections. Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle created MUD1 at Essex University in 1978. Players typed commands to explore, fight, and interact with other users. MUDs pioneered persistent worlds, player economies, guilds, and social dynamics that World of Warcraft would later bring to millions.
Fast facts
- Origin: MUD1 at Essex University (1978).
- Creators: Roy Trubshaw, Richard Bartle.
- Interface: text input, text output.
- Access: university networks, later dial-up.
- Legacy: directly influenced MMORPG design.
What MUDs established
Innovations that persisted:
- Persistent world: continues without you.
- Player interaction: social and competitive.
- Character progression: levels and stats.
- Player economies: trading, crafting.
- Guilds/clans: organised player groups.
MUD variants
Different approaches:
- Combat MUDs: hack-and-slash focus.
- Social MUDs: roleplay emphasis.
- MOO/MUSH: more open-ended building.
- LPMud: object-oriented design.