Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Multi-User Dimension
     
         (MUD) (Or Multi-User Domain, originally "Multi-User
        Dungeon") A class of multi-player interactive game, accessible
        via the {Internet} or a {modem}.  A MUD is like a real-time
        {chat} forum with structure; it has multiple "locations" like
        an {adventure} game and may include combat, traps, puzzles,
        magic and a simple economic system.  A MUD where characters
        can build more structure onto the database that represents the
        existing world is sometimes known as a "{MUSH}".  Most MUDs
        allow you to log in as a guest to look around before you
        create your own character.
     
        Historically, MUDs (and their more recent progeny with names
        of MU- form) derive from a hack by Richard Bartle and Roy
        Trubshaw on the University of Essex's {DEC-10} in 1979.  It
        was a game similar to the classic {Colossal Cave} adventure,
        except that it allowed multiple people to play at the same
        time and interact with each other.  Descendants of that game
        still exist today and are sometimes generically called
        BartleMUDs.  There is a widespread myth that the name MUD was
        trademarked to the commercial MUD run by Bartle on {British
        Telecom} (the motto: "You haven't *lived* 'til you've *died*
        on MUD!"); however, this is false - Richard Bartle
        explicitly placed "MUD" in the {PD} in 1985.  BT was upset at
        this, as they had already printed trademark claims on some
        maps and posters, which were released and created the myth.
     
        Students on the European academic networks quickly improved on
        the MUD concept, spawning several new MUDs ({VAXMUD},
        {AberMUD}, {LPMUD}).  Many of these had associated
        {bulletin-board system}s for social interaction.  Because
        these had an image as "research" they often survived
        administrative hostility to {BBS}s in general.  This, together
        with the fact that {Usenet} feeds have been spotty and
        difficult to get in the UK, made the MUDs major foci of
        hackish social interaction there.
     
        AberMUD and other variants crossed the Atlantic around 1988
        and quickly gained popularity in the US; they became nuclei
        for large hacker communities with only loose ties to
        traditional hackerdom (some observers see parallels with the
        growth of {Usenet} in the early 1980s).  The second wave of
        MUDs (TinyMUD and variants) tended to emphasise social
        interaction, puzzles, and cooperative world-building as
        opposed to combat and competition.  In 1991, over 50% of MUD
        sites are of a third major variety, LPMUD, which synthesises
        the combat/puzzle aspects of AberMUD and older systems with
        the extensibility of TinyMud.  The trend toward greater
        programmability and flexibility will doubtless continue.
     
        The state of the art in MUD design is still moving very
        rapidly, with new simulation designs appearing (seemingly)
        every month.  There is now a move afoot to deprecate the term
        {MUD} itself, as newer designs exhibit an exploding variety of
        names corresponding to the different simulation styles being
        explored.
     
        {UMN MUD Gopher page
        (gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu/11/fun/Games/MUDs/Links)}.
     
        {U Pennsylvania MUD Web page
        (http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~lwl/mudinfo.html)}.
     
        See also {bonk/oif}, {FOD}, {link-dead}, {mudhead}, {MOO},
        {MUCK}, {MUG}, {MUSE}, {chat}.
     
        {Usenet} newsgroups: {news:rec.games.mud.announce},
        {news:rec.games.mud.admin}, {news:rec.games.mud.diku},
        {news:rec.games.mud.lp}, {news:rec.games.mud.misc},
        {news:rec.games.mud.tiny}.
     
        (1994-08-10)