<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: FAQ --> <!--X-From-R13: Zvat <Y.Z.Zb-94Nfghqrag.yobeb.np.hx> --> <!--X-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 15:26:55 +0000 --> <!--X-Message-Id: Pine.SOL.3.96.980111152133.9410A-100000@sun-cc203 --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, FAQ</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00192.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00194.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00626.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00218.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00193">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00193">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00193">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>FAQ</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: Mud Dev Mailing List <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: FAQ</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Ling <<A HREF="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 15:26:46 +0000 (GMT)</LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> I've been resisting posting this until the commotion from the first died down. I'll prolly won't post another until the Chinese New Year. | Kilo Lima Lima Oscar dash Niner Four, over and out. ---o _O_O_ Electronic and Electrical Division, Loughborough Corp. <+=+=+> Mud-Dev FAQ Last Played with 07/01/98 1. Frequently Asked Questions 2. Previous Topics 3. The Members 4. Resources 5. Glossary Any corrections, suggestions and constructive criticisms, please email to Ling, elkll#student,lboro.ac.uk. Recent Changes: 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. Todo: 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. 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, JC 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. Now 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: 80 columns wide with no embellishments like html code. 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#players-r-us,com> wrote: >>> I just found a cool mud at <<A HREF="http://web.mud.com">http://web.mud.com</A>> >> >> Golly Gosh! Cover me in eggs and flour and bake me for 40 minutes! Web pages are usually put in angled brackets as above. MIME attachments are encouraged to help illustrate a point (eg: a diagram to accompany an explanation) but discouraged for frivolous items such as 'vcards'. When simulating a log from a mud, put at least one space at the start so when it is quoted, it will not get confused, eg: > north You enter a shop. Will get quoted as: > > north > you enter a shop. For attributions, use a bit of common sense, include enough of the original message to make sense, no more or less. Avoid postings quoting an entire post with a one liner reply (btw, one liner replies are bad :). 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 the likes of messages which essentially say "I agree!" or does 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 not all posts facilitates a response. 5. What's all this Bubba business? Bubba, Boffo, Buffy and friends are all typical mudder players breed for test scenarios devised by various list members. Originally procreated by JC Lawrence (how, I don't wish to know) and has since then come into widespread use amongst the mud usenet groups (much to JC's amusement). [Did I get that right? - Ling] 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 (oops!), anonymous ftp, usenet and other mailing lists. 8. How do I access the archives? Currently, email the list owner with "Archive Request" and a short message. Hopefully to be automated in the future. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Previous Topics Here's a list of practically all the topics discussed since the list's creation: 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. 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 one to the maintainer. --------oOOOo-------- Travis S Casey Occupation: Unix sysadmin Address: casey#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#cs,fsu.edu> ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me. |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' '---''(_/--' `-'\_) rec.games.design FAQ: <A HREF="http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~casey/design.html">http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~casey/design.html</A> --------oOOOo-------- Matt Chatterley Occupation: Student. Location: England. Addresses: neddy#itl,net caffeine#unreal,org root#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#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-------- Chris Gray Occupation: Programmer (UNIX?) Addresses: cg#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#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA --------oOOOo-------- Marian Griffith (De Vries Griffith to be more precise) Addresses: gryphon#iaehv,nl Web page: <<A HREF="http://www.iaehv.nl/users/gryphon">http://www.iaehv.nl/users/gryphon</A>> - 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#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#sparta,mainstream.net <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/9025/">http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/9025/</A> Finger me for my PGP Public Key, or use: <A HREF="http://sparta.mainstream.net/michael/pgpkey.txt">http://sparta.mainstream.net/michael/pgpkey.txt</A> --------oOOOo-------- Derrick Jones Addresses: gunther#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#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 <<A HREF="http://mud.sig.net">http://mud.sig.net</A>> <<A HREF="telnet://mud.sig.net:9999">telnet://mud.sig.net:9999</A>> - 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" <<A HREF="http://www.owo.com">http://www.owo.com</A>> 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. ;) [90% in English PC Gamer, January :)] Signature: -Raph --------oOOOo-------- Jon A. Lambert Occupation: contract programmer for 12 years, primarily mainframe DBA Addresses: jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com Web page: <<A HREF="http://www.netcom.com/~jlsysinc">http://www.netcom.com/~jlsysinc</A>> 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 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#null,net (work) coder#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#null,net ----------(*) Internet: coder#ibm,net ...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... --------oOOOo-------- Kam Ling Lo (prefers Ling) Occupation: Electronic & electrical engineering student, will probably specialise in either digital communications, microprocessor design or EMC. Or all three. :) Addresses: K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk (or elkll@ for short) Personal details: - Year of the Dragon and 21! - Knows far too much about cars and planes (due to over exposure from bods of appropriate courses). - All the computery stuff is self taught. - Thinks gameplay is not emphasised enough on the list. - Going for the purple hair and green eyes look. - Heavily sci-fi orientated. Influences include all C64 and Amiga games past, various books, cartoons, especially those with 'mechs in them. - Strategy games, although there isn't a game out there deep enough to keep him amused for more than a day. - Somehow managed to accumulate knowledge of various paper games no one else has ever heard of (eg: Air Eaters Strike Back!) - Pet interests include artificial life and graphic novels. - Extremely critical of computer games (very few games get rated good). - Dislikes things by Sid Meir. :P - Only non-athlete in England's sports University (bit of a bummer). - Keeps changing projects and will probably go for a PBeM (upset over time problems in muds). Server: Renaissance (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. Game concepts/features: Server: Vague (Cold) - Not even started. Still learning the ColdC. Server concepts/features: - Using ColdC, see their homepage <<A HREF="http://www.cold.org">http://www.cold.org</A>>. 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#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 <A HREF="http://www.uni-corn.demon.co.uk">http://www.uni-corn.demon.co.uk</A>) 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-------- 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#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#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-------- 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#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#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: part time student, writer, cartoonist. (yes, really, all of these) Addresses: yospe#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#hawaii,edu <A HREF="http://www2.hawaii.edu/~yospe">http://www2.hawaii.edu/~yospe</A> Meow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Resources Anything notable and mud related that should be read/investigated. Webpages: Marian Griffith's !Overlord project: <<A HREF="http://www.iaehv.nl/users/gryphon">http://www.iaehv.nl/users/gryphon</A>> Full of information useful to mud designer/admins. Lucasfilm's Habitat: <<A HREF="http://www.communities.com/company/papers/lessons.html">http://www.communities.com/company/papers/lessons.html</A>> Detailed document about an ambitious graphical mud. Muds: AmigaMUD: <<A HREF="telnet://mud.myrias.com:23">telnet://mud.myrias.com:23</A>> Chris Gray's sparsely populated mud. Of note as he is a list member and this seems to be the only member's mud available for public access. Armageddon: 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] Avalon, Gemstone, others: Commercial text muds. Avalon has an interesting newbie tutorial mode, and room description generation code that is nifty too. Gemstone was and prolly still is the most popular mud in the world, period. It evolved into DragonRealms. [Raph K] DartMUD: <<A HREF="telnet://dartmud.com:2525">telnet://dartmud.com:2525</A>> 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. LegendMUD: <<A HREF="telnet://mud.aus.sig.net:9999">telnet://mud.aus.sig.net:9999</A>> The first classless mud, strange diku/LP hybrid. See Raph Koster's bio. Medievia: 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] Almost all the muds done by Owen Emlen have interesting design features to them too. (Aturion Dynasty, for example). [Raph K] Not so mud related webpages: AI Nodes/ANN: <<A HREF="http://206.107.246.21/packhste/5/">http://206.107.246.21/packhste/5/</A>> R-Trees: <<A HREF="http://www.cs.cuhk.hk/~drsam/methods.html">http://www.cs.cuhk.hk/~drsam/methods.html</A>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. 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, the interaction of 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 sensative to, the needs of each player for their story, and all actions are completely consentual. This is the type of play usually found on MUSHes. Event: An alternative to polling. 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. Global namespace: Referring to the fact that most muds rely on characters (and sometimes other objects) are given a single name. Typing 'who' 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 a compentative style of play usually oriented around the accumlation of various resources (money, power, combat ability) which is frequently found on LP and Diku muds. 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: In all lower case, 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 on a mud. 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 into the game a creature/quest/item/etc. 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. </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00335" HREF="msg00335.html">[MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Marc Eyrignoux <Marc.Eyrignoux#efrei,fr></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00236" HREF="msg00236.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Nathan Yospe <yospe#hawaii,edu></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00218" HREF="msg00218.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> alexo#bigfoot,com (Alex Oren)</li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00192.html">Two Tiers</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00194.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: (no subject)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00626.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00218.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00193"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00193"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00199" HREF="msg00199.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>, Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Sun 11 Jan 1998, 21:18 GMT <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="00361" HREF="msg00361.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>, Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Sun 01 Feb 1998, 01:20 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00394" HREF="msg00394.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>, Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Sun 08 Feb 1998, 22:30 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00626" HREF="msg00626.html">Re: MUD Development Digest</A></strong>, Dr. Cat <a href="mailto:cat#bga,com">cat#bga,com</a>, Fri 27 Feb 1998, 20:04 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00193" HREF="msg00193.html">FAQ</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Sun 11 Jan 1998, 15:26 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00218" HREF="msg00218.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></strong>, Alex Oren <a href="mailto:alexo#bigfoot,com">alexo#bigfoot,com</a>, Mon 12 Jan 1998, 19:12 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00236" HREF="msg00236.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></strong>, Nathan Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Wed 14 Jan 1998, 02:01 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00335" HREF="msg00335.html">[MUD-Dev] FAQ</A></strong>, Marc Eyrignoux <a href="mailto:Marc.Eyrignoux#efrei,fr">Marc.Eyrignoux#efrei,fr</a>, Wed 28 Jan 1998, 10:30 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00350" HREF="msg00350.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Races and stuff (was: FAQ)</A></strong>, Vadim Tkachenko <a href="mailto:vadimt#4cs,com">vadimt#4cs,com</a>, Fri 30 Jan 1998, 17:42 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>