An Introduction to MUD

Your Computer

Publisher: Century Communications Softback - 90pp Price: £4.95 Danger - MUD can seriously damage your health - particularly when used frequently at 3am. Duncan Howard's latest book delves deep into this mysterious subject that has attracted so many, and gripped them with a fanaticism that causes dark rings beneath the eyes. Multi-User Dungeon was conceived by Roy Trubshaw at Essex University in 1980. Its popularity among students and later outside callers was sufficient to warrant a dedicated system on which to run the game, and it has now been taken on by several universities and companies, including British Telecom. The sheer complexity of the game is reflected in the title of Howard's book An Introduction to MUD - although the book goes much further than an introduction. MUD can be played by anyone with a home computer with a serial RS232 port, and a modem, and is described by British Telecom as "the most advanced, interactive, computerised adventure game in the world." As a player your actions are unlimited, but the places, situations and results you encounter are determined by the many other players on the system. The main object is to survive and eventually gain the title of Wizard. To do this you can talk to other players, including intelligent computer generated characters, form alliances with them, cast spells and either fight or help whoever you meet. The book outlines the development of MUD, the commands used in play and the different locations and characters you are likely to meet in the game. 'People play MUD from all over the world. One morning recently among the players were one from Japan and two from the USA, one in San Francisco, the other in New York." As a computer enthusiast I found the book very interesting, even though adventure games usually bore me to tears. Unfortunately I'm now eager to try the game, but at £1 to £3 an hour plus telephone charges you could be taking your life into your own hands in more ways than one.