MUSE Ltd.: MUDbox

MUDbox

MUDbox

noun The ill-fated M68020-based system which BT bought so that MUD2 could be taken off its VAX to be run on Prestel. OS9 was chosen as the operating system for compatibility with CompuNet's (then) new system to replace the DEC-10 that they had been using, although the contract that bound MUSE and BT at the time gave BT a veto over placing MUD2 anywhere in the UK outside of BT. Working on the MUDbox directed resources away from making changes to MUD itself, and also (not unreasonably) led players to believe that MUD2 would eventually make it to Prestel, thereby gaining national access at local call rates. Unfortunately, higher management in BT had other plans, and when MUSE and BT terminated their agreement by mutual consent in 1991, the MUDbox was returned to BT to be dismembered and sold in pieces (although it apparently sat in a cupboard for years doing absolutely nothing but take up space). It is interesting to note that with the advent of the Internet, BT's upper echelons of management no longer seem to be in the grip of the Forces of Darkness, and inexpensive, local-rate games-by-phone are now a reality.
noun Any computer entirely dedicated to running MUD and its associated programs.