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Best MUD games?

Leshita said:
Anyone know of some good MUD online role-playing games? I need to pick one to semi-analyze for a small assignment. :/

I used to develop for MUDs... Arctic MUD was a really good one...
I don't know if its still around, however.

Gemstone was always my favorite.

I don't know if this helps, but I used to work for some browser-based RPGs too.

www.galaxiesablaze.com
www.magerealms.com

parent company: www.onlineworlds.org
There are more there.



These have some pretty rabid followers and are some of the best around.
 
www.dragonrealms.com The only problem is that it reached its peak player base about 10 years ago back when it was on AOL and Compuserve and is now just populated by a few hardcore, cliquey players. Still it was the best MUD I have ever played. You can still try it out and get a free month though but I wouldn't put too much effort into such a dead-end game.
 
I used to play one called Avatar, years and years ago. No idea if it's still going. But it was very much like most modern day MMORGPs--grind levels, group or die. Collect fantastic gear and watch it get outdated when a new area opens. I should check and see if they're still going...

Yep, still going.

http://www.outland.org/modules/news/

Wow, they've done away with some of the races I used to play as...Heh.
 
www.achaea.com

Used to play this just over a year ago. I was very addicted to it but I also burned out almost as fast. Great overall but in the end I just couldn't invest the time required into it due to exams.
 
I can't say which is the best MUD out there...but there are some quality games to be found...sadly...most of the better MUDs are also the ones with almost no-one playing them

ACHAEA
Website: http://achaea.com/main.html
Connect: telnet://achaea.com:23

Achaea was suggested to me by DarthWufei and was the first MUD that I ever played. The game has a GRWAT sense of direction...with detailed descriptions for all of the rooms and objects. The game is fairly large and features a lot of PvP possibilities in the form of hundreds of abilities and spells. Very few of them work against A.I. baddies though....the game also has the completely assinine credits system...which pretty much mean that you get ass-raped out of your real-life heard earned money to buy levelup tokens for your character OR you sit it out and level up the old fashioned way (for free) and play for years doing what idiots with money to burn can do in days. The game doesn't have any Auto-combat options...you pretty much ae in full control of every attack you perform and must initiate every swing, kick, spells, and ability in combat. Has a pretty ace JAVA client (as far as Java clients are concerned) that can be used by clicking the PLAY NOW button on the site). Roleplay heavy MUD. Achaea is made by a company called Iron Realms...their website has a handful of other games that they make...all seem to be similar in some areas, though Achaea is the most popular

AARDWOLF
Website: http://aardmud.org
Connect: telnet://aardmud.org:4000

Aardwolf is pretty popular...400+ players a night is common and there are a metric ton of skills and spells in the game. The game has a bunch of fairly straight forward gameplay systems that get the job done in a rather bland way. A pretty basic game, despite having a ton of content, if that makes any sense. Auto-combat abounds...any offensive skill intiates and you begin combat. Using skills/spells makes up the meat of a battle. Tons of chat options and player interaction can be had but most of the players don't like talking that much. Easy to get lost as many of the rooms are barely described. The lack of solid descriptions for everything was the main hurdle from me after I had played Achaea for so long, but I switched. Partly for the increased playerbase, partly for the lack of enforced roleplaying, and mainly for the lack of any bullshit credit system. All players level up the same way...there are no obvious shortcuts such as buying fucking tokens to level quicker. Donating money to the MUD causes double experience to all players connected...so even if you want to support the MUD you aren't the only player to benefit.

DISCWORLD (Down right now)
Website: http://discworld.atuin.net/
Connect: telnet://discworld.atuin.net:23

Just recently started playing this one...features an unsual gameworld based off of a series of books. A very descriptive game (:D) featuring a Morrowind-like skill system...meaning that actions like wielding Battle Axes, Climbing Trees, Picking Pockets, and Casting Spells are all ruled by specific skills that improve with use. Your first attempt at picking a pocket will likely result in failure, but the more you try the better you get at it. Combat is of the auto-attack variety though I haven't gotten deep into the game to get a real feel for it. The ease of becomming a tutor is nice, and joining a guild gives some nice bonuses...a lot of players are on at nights...over a hundred...which is not quiet up to Aardwolf levels...but still good.


RETROMUD
Website: http://www.retromud.org/
Connect: telnet://retromud.org:3000

RetroMUD is a hardcore MUD in the sense that starting off in this game is really fucking hard. The game features a metricfuckton of character options in the form of player Races and guilds. You start the game off as a weak simpleton...you can't kill a fucking thing...the idea is to wander around areas and gain experience for each new room you encounter...a hard task due to the main drawback of a MUD: the lack of visuals. It's hard as hell keeping track of your location...a MUD Client with a strong auto-mapper is pretty much required in my eyes. I always get bored of wandering around in the two or three planets that I start off on and try my hand at fighting something...nearly always with pathetic results as my character gets raped repeated by aggressive enemies that band together and (this surpised me the first time it happened) actively hunt you down should you attempt to flee from combat. Keeping track of your skills and spells is pretty hard, as the names aren't always easy to remember and the only way I can figure out to display all of your available skills and spells is when you are in your guildhouse. The game has a lot of potential, should you manage to get over the hurdle of actually being able to navigate in a MUD...a hurdle I have problems with all the time.


Some other MUDS I frequent:

1) SlothMUD III
2) Realms of Despair
(been playing this recently...pretty similar to Aardwolf in look and feel, though I'm having a very hard time keeping my bearings...looking at my logs I pretty much spent the last 2 playtimes trying to get back to a specific area with no luck...sometimes I wonder why I even bother playing MUDs when I can't get over the issue of navigating around in them =\)
3) There are more...but I'm getting pretty fucking tired right now...had a rough day at work and all that =\


http://www.topmudsites.com/
http://mudconnect.com/

These two sites can show you a great deal of MUDs and some info to help you choose. A warning about the ratings is that most of them are rigged by idiots with vote scripts and such...so don't take a MUD's listing to heart. Just because a certain game is 10 places above another does not mean that it is better






MUSHClient is a nice free MUD client and what I use...HTML logging, MUD specific settings, and a pretty advanced Macro system keep me happy. You can use it for free or pay for it...the free version I believe is only limited in having 6 lines of begging you to register whenever you connect to a mud and a 10 or so second long splash screenwhenever you start the client up.

zMUD seems to be another good one....bullshit or not I dunno...you gotta pay for it but there is a demo out there. Has a auto-mapper...in fact...the auto-mapper is the main reason people use it.




http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=27493
My old MUD thread...afterwards I pretty much stopped playing online games (due to school and outside causes) until just recently
 
Another vote for MajorMud. Great, great game.

MAF had this to say:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Text Based MUDs > All MMORPGS to come along since.

Imagination beats any graphics card.


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The most intelligent thing he has ever said.
 
Another big vote for MajorMUD. Greatest game I've ever played. I played it on Dragon's Lair and Nexus in Vancouver, WA.

Best memory: My best friend and I coordinated an assassination against the Sysop for his katana. We got banned, but still no regrets.

But that was back in the day of BBS.. don't think I'd play over the net though. I think I'd miss the community atmosphere.
 
I played medievia quite a bit back in the day. Quite the enjoyable game it was, but I didn't like how you had to pay in order to get the best equipment, which all the best players had. It was still terrific fun, though. Group PvP was awesome.

www.medievia.com
 
Carrion Fields seems pretty interesting. It's a PvP MUD with (eventual) permanent death. Immortals (game admins) are heavily involved in the game, granting powers to priests, acting as the behind-the-scenes leaders of "cabals" (clans/guilds) and such. Normally, that'd be a recipe for disaster, but the impermanence and anonymity of characters seems to keep the potential for nepotism in check.

Roleplaying is enforced, but that's more a case of prohibiting Counterstrike-style interactions and rewarding genuinely good RP than the sort of lame RP that some games foster. Check out their forums, especially "the Battlefield", where people talk about characters who have died, to get an idea about what the game's like.

I played on a couple "Godwars" PvP MUDs a few years back that were a lot of fun and often pretty intense, but I doubt those particular ones are still around.
 
I myself have never really played many MUD games (turned off by the lack of graphics/sound perhaps). The only one I ever played was something called Magewars and that was because some of my friends were playing. We all decided to quit though after a while. Maybe because all we ever did in that game was attack rich and weaker people to steal all their money and then buy upgrades. :lol

Thanks for all the sites, I ended up using Major MUD (it even has "MUD" in the name, so it must be great :p).
 
So...How's MajorMUD? I can't connect to it for whatever reason...but from what I can see it appears to be a pay-to-play game...is it?

How's the atmosphere, skill and spell system, pvp, guild system, and ease of entry (i.e. good newbie tutorial?)??
 
Used to play TorilMud(or was it called Soujourn.org MUD?), stopped playing because they kept closing and reopening the game.
 
I so miss my mudding days. It would be very cool if someone made a GAF MUD for us to tool around with, collect exp, and kill each other.

It'd be nice.
 
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