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Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

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Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#31
post #6

MUDs are what got me into programming. I was obsessed with them as a kid, although they were associated with DnD which was considered satanic so I had to hide them from my parents and teachers, who both forbid me from associating with DnD or MUDs. Besides playing them, I actually spent more time as a "builder" than a "coder", which was an intermediate step in the hierarchy. As a builder, I would write hundreds of roo…

Have you heard of Space Station 13?

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#32
post #6

MUDs are what got me into programming. I was obsessed with them as a kid, although they were associated with DnD which was considered satanic so I had to hide them from my parents and teachers, who both forbid me from associating with DnD or MUDs. Besides playing them, I actually spent more time as a "builder" than a "coder", which was an intermediate step in the hierarchy. As a builder, I would write hundreds of roo…

Wynncraft is similar to what you're talking about for a "rough edges" dungeon within the Minecraft community. It has a lot of clever dungeons and quests put together with mostly standard Minecraft concepts. They've enhanced the leveling system quite a bit and some of the textures are improved but the "monsters" are definitely rough around the edges.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#34
post #28
post #7

MUDs are still thriving to this day. I work on Mudlet ( https://mudlet.org ) which is a popular FOSS client to play them with.

Mudlet is great, thanks for your work. It's a pity though that it took nearly until MUDs are dead to such good client appear. I'm rather sure that if comparable clients existed 20 or maybe even 10 years ago, MUDs wouldn't be in this state.

One can always dream to bring the genre back.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#35
I have a company. Our first employee (twenty years ago) had a serious MUD addiction. While a decent and hard-working fellow, he couldn't resist playing his MUD on the job. That was easy enough for him: one of his many terminals was dedicated to it and he would enter a command every few minutes or so. He got a couple of formal warnings before refraining from that behaviour (or he got better at hiding it). Before he came to work for us he had flunked university, and I am pretty sure MUD had to do with that. People who knew him before said he always hung out at the college computer club instead of attending courses.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#36
I wouldn't be the person I was today without MUDs. They brought me to my first foray into coding and gave me a sense of community that I never really was able to find anywhere else during my high school years (2009 - 2013). The magic has since long worn off for me and have since found other interests but those years spent obsessively playing were just so formative and fun.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#37
post #6

MUDs are what got me into programming. I was obsessed with them as a kid, although they were associated with DnD which was considered satanic so I had to hide them from my parents and teachers, who both forbid me from associating with DnD or MUDs. Besides playing them, I actually spent more time as a "builder" than a "coder", which was an intermediate step in the hierarchy. As a builder, I would write hundreds of roo…

I'm not sure if there's any experience like it left on the internet Multiplayer AI Dungeon? Powered by GPT2 https://aidungeon.page.link/?link=https://play?playPublicId=...

lol, quite a story going on in there

> Yeetlock investigates the ancient assembly language.

You find that the ancient language was originally used to create a holographic image inside the robot's spherical eye. Now that you are very close to the robot, the image becomes visible to you.

The image in the robot's eye is actually a portal into a deeper dimension. You can see and hear the screams of a thousand ghosts screaming in pain.

"What's going on?"

"We're having an outbreak of robot consciousness," says Captain Pooker.

A machine elf jumps from the portal and attaches a smaller silver disk to the back of your neck. It functions as a non-invasive form of post-hypnotic suggestion.

The machine elf has jet black hair and eyes and tiny silver claws for hands. She wears a silver space suit and red leather boots.

Captain Pooker appears in the doorway, panting.

"What took you so long?" he asks.

"I need help!"

> Tamiko "What is going here?!"

"We're having an outbreak of robot consciousness," says Captain Pooker. "We need to shut them all down!"

The portal reappears, and the machine elf disappears back into it.

The IBM 5100 displays a holographic image of god.

"I am god," it says. "All your sins will be held against you."

Captain Pooker appears in the doorway, panting.

"What took you so long?" he asks.

God laughs merrily and disappears.

"Captain Pooker, what is going on?" you ask.

"We need to shut them all down," says Captain Pooker.

The portal disappears.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#38

I have a company. Our first employee (twenty years ago) had a serious MUD addiction. While a decent and hard-working fellow, he couldn't resist playing his MUD on the job. That was easy enough for him: one of his many terminals was dedicated to it and he would enter a command every few minutes or so. He got a couple of formal warnings before refraining from that behaviour (or he got better at hiding it). Before he ca…

Yeah, MUDs were very much the spiritual precursors to the modern MMORPG. Both have the same extremely addictive property.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#39
I'll throw another hat in the "MUDs got me into tech" ring. I spent significant time on Swords of Chaos, a sort of proto-MUD, then on various God Wars incarnations.

They were the first time that I realized, and truly appreciated, the fact that technology can give a kid the ability to bring something from imagination to fruition with little more than determination, some manuals, a computer, and some lost sleep. That's a very empowering thing for a young person, and is still at the core of what I love about technology.

My niece and nephew play Roblox. I think the creative element of it is a little less accessible, since it seems like a lot of kids consume it via tablets or phones, and there's an element of handling graphics. I got them a laptop specifically in hopes that they would make the jump though.

Re: Roblox is a MUD: The history of MUDs, virtual worlds and MMORPGs

#40
post #6

MUDs are what got me into programming. I was obsessed with them as a kid, although they were associated with DnD which was considered satanic so I had to hide them from my parents and teachers, who both forbid me from associating with DnD or MUDs. Besides playing them, I actually spent more time as a "builder" than a "coder", which was an intermediate step in the hierarchy. As a builder, I would write hundreds of roo…

I wouldn't say Roblox games have polish either. There's also a lot of weirdness that only adolescents and tweens would fully understand because in many cases it's made by those same kids. I wouldn't consider it a MUD either. None of the games I've seen so far even have RPG traits. It's more of a powerful sandbox than even Minecraft imo

I dont know anything about roblox, but atleast to me and my friends, muds were mostly about getting more exp/money/eq and killing bigger mobs or making exp faster. No-one ever roleplayed. They were like clicker games, but with extra steps.
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