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incarnation
- noun An instantiation of a MUA on a particular machine or
system. Although the programming is the same, the players and
game management can be widely different. For example,
CompuNet MUD and Essex MUD were
both incarnations of MUD version 3A, but
they evoked greatly different atmospheres. For some incarnations,
the word "MUD" (or "MUD1" or "MUD2" if context
is required) is always appended to the end of the name, eg.
CompuNet MUD,
On-line MUD; for others, it's optionally ommitted,
eg. IPLAY, Dragon. There's
probably a reason...
Here is a list of all incarnations of MUD which made it
into production; there are others which didn't get that far, but non-disclosure
agreements prevent the naming of the guilty parties... The dates are from when
the game was actually playable by real players, rather than from when coding
or beta-testing started; a few of these may be wrong, so if you know better
feel free to request corrections...
Date(s) |
Site |
Version |
Nickname(s) |
Notes |
1978 |
Essex University |
1A |
none |
Test version, to try out the shared memory mechanism.
Anyone could play, but only a dozen or so people knew
about it. |
1978-1980 |
Essex University |
2A |
none |
Full-strength version. This was generally successful, and
was played for fun by hacker and
non-hacker alike. It was
eventually put out to pasture because the software was
getting very hard to maintain, and the memory constraints
of the system meant it soon reached its maximum quota of
rooms/objects/commands. |
1980-1988 |
Essex University |
3A |
MUD1, Essex MUD |
|
1984-1987 |
Compunet |
3A |
Compunet MUD |
|
1985-1991 |
British Telecom |
4B |
VAX MUD |
|
1987-present |
CompuServe |
3B |
British Legends, BL |
|
1987 |
Commodore 64 |
none |
MicroMUD |
|
1991-1995 |
Wizards' Guild |
4E |
Dragon MUD2 |
|
1992-1996 |
On-Line |
4E |
On-line MUD2 |
|
1992-1994 |
NVN (USV) |
4E |
NVN MUD2 |
|
1993-1994 |
ALMAC |
4E |
ALMAC MUD2 |
|
1993-1997 |
GEnie, Delphi, CRIS |
4E |
Kesmai MUD2 |
|
1994-1996 |
MPGN |
4E |
MPGN MUD2 |
|
1994-1996 |
Interplay (Engage) |
4E |
IPLAY MUD2 |
|
1994-1995 |
IOL |
4E |
IOL MUD2 |
|
1993-1997 |
SoNet |
4E |
SoNet MUD2 |
|
1997-present |
mud2.com |
4E |
mud2.com |
|
1997-present |
Wireplay |
4E |
Wireplay MUD2 |
|
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