Feeling that a MUD FAQ for the Diku-derivative world was due any time now and that some of the information and terms in the glossary might do well with a little updating, this document has been revised from the elder [rec.games.mud]: FAQ #1/4: MUDs and MUDding document.
Generally, changes made include some rearrangement and additions/deletions here and there. Guess that's pretty much the definition of 'updating'.
Thanks to the original author(s) and editor(s) who are credited at the end of this document.
[1. General Information]
A MUD (Multiple User Dimension, Multiple User Dungeon, or Multiple User Dialogue) is a computer program that acts as a server which users can log into and explore. Each user takes control of a computerized persona/avatar/incarnation/character. You can walk around, chat with other characters, explore dangerous monster-infested areas, solve puzzles, and even create your very own rooms, descriptions and items. You can also get lost or confused if you jump right in, so try to find and read some documentation before starting.
For a nice anecdote about the origin of the name, I quote Richard Bartle, co-author of the first MUD:
Going by this definition, multi-user versions of Quake and other first-person shooters certainly qualify as a MUD, as you can wander around, affect your environment and communicate with other players. In the interests of sanity, however, this FAQ will only cover the more traditional text-based MUDs.
1.2. Is mudding to be treated as a game, or an extension of real life with gamelike qualities?
It's up to you. Some jaded cynics like to laugh at idealists who think it's partially for real, but we personally think they're not playing it right. Certainly the hack-'n-slash stuff is only a game, but the social aspects may well be less so. There are still real people at the other end of the line, so to speak.
1.3. How do I connect to a MUD?
Most people who play MUDs nowadays use a version of Windows, Unix or MacOS as their operating system. In order to connect to a MUD, you need to know its server address. So, for instance, if we knew that the MUD 'Realms of Myrradel' was located at myrradel.com 4000, in Windows 95 or 98, we would open the 'Start menu', click on 'Run' and type the following:
To connect to Myrradel in various flavours of Unix, type the following at your kernel prompt:
In Windows, a new window will pop up, connect to the server and display the greeting screen. In Unix, the screen will simply scroll down to display the greeting screen.
If you see just a login: prompt when you connect to the MUD, then you're probably not connecting properly. You have succeeded in connecting to the mud's machine, but not to mud itself - make sure you specify both the mud's hostname and port number (myrradel.com <-- hostname; 4000 <-- port number).
Your second option is to scout out the many fine client programs which exist for the sole purpose of providing a friendly and useful front end to MUDs. (Please see the next question.)
1.4. What is a client program?
Telnet is a rather ugly way to connect to most MUDs, since it doesn't do any fancy text wrapping, and if someone says something while you're typing out a line, it will make a mess out of your line, making it hard to see what you're typing and hard to keep track of what's going on in the MUD. A client program is simply another program you use instead of your default telnet client to connect to a MUD.
Clients also provide useful things such as macros and the ability to gag or trigger commands on certain MUD output. Clients are available to download from an assortment of sources; a good centralized source to look at for MUD clients is
1.5. What password should I use for my MUD character?
You should pick a password just as you do for any computer account. Use a word, or better yet, a phrase or anagram, that isn't obvious. Don't, for instance, use the same name as your character, or your own first name, or your girl/boyfriend's name. And never never use the same password as the one on your computer account. Most MUDs prevent people from getting the passwords from within the mud, and most encrypt the password when it's store in the database files. However, there is nothing preventing the MUD's owner from modifying the code to dump the passwords to a file, along with other information such as the host you connected from. Using this information, an evil MUD admin could probably figure out your login name and get into your account easily.
It's also not a good idea to use the same password on different MUDs, since if your password gets out on one MUD, all your MUD characters have been compromised. This is especially important for MUD Immortals and Gods. Use the auto-login feature of your client, if it has one, and protect the file containing the login information against reading by others.
This story comes from Alec Muffett, author of Crack and maintainer of the alt.security FAQ:
Part of Bob's job at the company involved systems management, and the company was very hot on security, so all the passwords were random strings of letters, with no sensible order. It was imperative that the passwords were secure (this involved writing the random passwords down and locking them in big, heavy duty safes).
One day, on a whim, I fed the MUD persona file passwords into Crack as a dictionary (the passwords were stored plaintext) and then ran Crack on our systems password file. A few student accounts came up, but nothing special. I told the students concerned to change their passwords - that was the end of it.
Being the lazy guy I am, I forgot to remove the passwords from the Crack dictionary, and when I posted the next version to USENET, the words went too. It went to the comp.sources.misc moderator, came back over USENET, and eventually wound up at Bob's company. Round trip: ~10,000 miles.
Being a cool kinda student sysadmin dude, Bob ran the new version of Crack when it arrived. When it immediately churned out the root password on his machine, he damn near fainted...
1.6. Now that I'm connected, what do I do?
Once you connect, find out what the deal is with respect to you getting a character. Many MUDs allow you the choice to create your own character immediately upon connecting. If at all possible, look at the website of that MUD for pages pertaining to a new player or 'newbie' guide. Often, specific information relating to starting a new character on that MUD is contained on these pages.
Most MUDs these days have instituted special rooms in their virtual world designed to get new players used to MUD commands and their environment. These rooms take the general heading of 'MUD schools' and will let you run through a fairly safe area while getting used to the game. Remember to read the room descriptions and any signs or boards indicated along the way. A good MUD school makes the journey self-explanatory, but don't be afraid to ask others for help if you need it.
At this point, you should do what is probably least intuitive: type 'help', read up on the commands and learn to understand them. Then, type 'help rules', read them, and live by them. Then (yes, we know, we know... it'll be fun, soon!) practice using the commands given to you until you think you've got a good enough grip to be able to start in on exploring, questing, socializing, or whatever else tunes your engine.
Some people are easily annoyed when other people clearly have no idea what they are doing, even if they were recently in that position themselves. It'll be much easier for you to cope without some fella saying things you don't understand to you and possibly killing you. However, many MUD players are helpful, and asking them, "excuse me, are you busy? I'm a brand new player, and I have a question," will often work just fine.
1.8. What should I _not_ do in terms of player interaction?
You shouldn't do anything that you wouldn't do in real life, even if the world is a fantasy world. The important thing to remember is that it's the fantasy world of possibly hundreds of people, and not just yours in particular. There's a human being on the other side of each and every wire!
Always remember that you may meet these other people some day, and they may break your nose. People who treat others badly gradually build up bad reputations and eventually receive the NO FUN Stamp of Disapproval. The jury is still out on whether mudding is "just a game" or "an extension of real life with gamelike qualities," but either way, treat it with care.
1.9. What's the easiest way to annoy a veteran MUD user?
Demand something. Whine. Follow them around. Send them tells over and over after they've replied or asked you to stop. Worst of all, steal from corpses of things they just killed or interfere with their auctioning.
1.10. What's the easiest way to be a mean veteran MUD user?
Don't give help to the new players. Kill them, ignore them, shout "get a description" at them. These are the best ways to kill off mudding in general, actually.
[2. Glossary]
[3. MUD Clients And Servers]
[4. Servers At A Glance]
Guide written by Aelwyft on Mar. XXth, 2000.
1.1. What is a MUD?
[...] I am WELL aware what "MUD" stands for, and maybe once every 2 months have to tell someone. The "D" does stand for "Dungeon", but not because the original MUD (which I co-wrote) had a dungeon in it; rather it was because there was a hacked-up version of Zork doing the rounds at the time, which bore the name "Dungeon". We thought that this program would act as the archetype for single-player adventure games, so we called our game "Multi-User Dungeon" in an effort to convey some feeling of what the program did. As it happened, the genre was promptly called "Adventure games" after the Colossal Caves game "Adventure", so we were wrong in that respect. By then, though, we had our acronym.
aem@aberystwyth.ac.uk: The best story I have is of a student friend of mine (call him Bob) who spent his industrial year at a major computer manufacturing company. In his holidays, Bob would come back to college and play AberMUD on my system.
The moral of this story is: never use the same password in two different places, and especially on untrusted systems (like MUDs).
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