Meat-MUD

MUD

For those of you who knew me as Bloomer, Obsidian, Dive, Crow, Tenebrae, Romana or maybe even Arden on my favourite mud haunt, the inelegantly named Meat-MUD.. Greetings!

(My characters have their own Profile Page now.)

I played the game with the 'Mud client par excellence for the Macintosh', Rapscallion, programmed by Andy Lewis.

Magic mirror greetings in alphabetical order to: Aldwyn, Aragorn, Arkadia, Ashbury, Autolycus, Bilbo, Bucko, Chant, Datower, Dedsune, Derik, Din, Dylane, Eldred, Figment, Ghostwheel, Glesin, Grimm, Gypsi, Hawk, HomieG, Horatio, Iad, Ingold, JEB, Kelemvor, Khrono, Kochanski, Kyrana, Lorien, Max, Mork, Noke, Prospero, Raiden, Rash, Raziel, Red, Rman, Rza, Scales, Stalfo, Stilth, Seuss, Talen, Talon, Terror, TheGenius, TheJediMaster, TrickyOne, Vill, WildChild, Wizzo, Xavior, XenoPhage, Zulumasai. Hello Axel, Hello Axel. And Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and.. etc. etc..

If you're reading this stuff about MUDs and have no idea what I am talking about, here is something of an explanation.

WHAT ON EARTH IS A 'MUD'?

MUD stands for Multi-User Dimension - it is an amazing and unique text-based gaming experience that exists on the internet. Gaming Muds have game systems ala Dungeons and Dragons: you take your character and go off adventuring and generally having fun experiences in dangerous places with other players, who come potentially from all over the world. There are thousands of different muds to cater for all tastes. Some involve serious roleplaying. Others (like the one I play) do not, and have the emphasis more on hack and slash combat, skills and action. There are muds in all kinds of settings - the Meat-MUD is a swords and sorcery one.

Most Muds are entirely text-based. In this respect they hark back to the early days of the internet, and also to grand gaming forms such as adventure games and Interactive Fiction. If you have never experienced these kinds of games, you might be forgiven for thinking that they sound boring. Muds combine the best in imaginative prose and puzzles that these games used to offer, with the communal and social elements of Internet Relay Chat, and the excitement and urgency of real-time gaming. If an angry acid-breathing dragon strolls into the room while you're playing, you'll have as many seconds to react as you would have if an angry acid-breathing dragon Really Did stroll into the room. Yes, right now! What, you say dragons aren't real?! Stop that!

If the prospect of all of this sounds exciting to you (how could it not, frankly) why not check it out? The incredible open-endedness of muds is the most attractive thing about them, and still the holy grail for graphics-based games. You can direct your Mudding adventures in any direction you choose.