Playing in the MUD can still be fun
Now for many people when they hear the word mud they think of losing shoes, getting their tires stuck, or fond childhood memories, but for me, I think of late nights taking down notes and transcribing maps to traverse a dungeon I could not see, but only read. If you do not what I mean, I am talking about a type of computer game often referred to as a MUD or multi-user dungeon. These type of games were fairly popular in the early days of computers when graphics were still in their infancy. The allowed multiple people to play a game together that they interacted with through text on the screen. This kind of gameplay allowed users to use their imagination as to the finer details on how everything felt and looked. A certain amount of investment from the player was needed to progress and not get lost. This kind of player interaction is not experienced in other video games. You only get this kind of experience from playing tabletop RPGs. This makes me wonder if with the recent resurgence of tabletop RPG interest, could these type of games become more popular than they currently are.
As a developer, one of the first big programs I created was a simple single player mud or a sud as I like to call it. I really enjoyed that project and wouldn’t mind making another. They make for good practice for working with file systems and even help reinforce both asynchronous and synchronous methods. I also feel that a greater attention to detail is needed to create a user experience that is also enjoyable as well. Your level has to be created in a way that feels natural and explorable and you have to figure out how to explain this concept to the users and a way for them to interact with each other as well. This can be a bit of a challenge when you do not have any visual references you can rely on, which is sort of the appeal to it for me. I always liked storytelling, and I feel that this is a way to do that in an interactive manner that is similar to those old have your own adventure books. This might not be for everyone, but I imagine that more people might be curious or at least interested in it nowadays. There is something special about sharing a story with friends that can only be seen in each other's imagination and I hope that if MUD’s get their day in the sun, that may become a more widely shared experience.