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VAX

  • adjective Used in many phrases (eg. 'on the VAX', 'VAX MUD', 'VAX version') to describe the first public incarnation of MUD2 (actually MUD version 4B). It actually ran on several BT-owned VAXen between 1985 and 1991, but there was a strong line of continuity between them and any changes were imperceptible to players not specifically looking for differences. On the VAX, MUD2 was crippled by other programs also running on the same machine, which meant that it was incredibly slow at times. This wasn't helped by the fact that the BT people insisted it was programmed in VAX Pascal so they didn't have to buy a C compiler, and VAX Pascal was monstrously inefficient at certain tasks (eg. memory management). Of course, BT happily bought a C compiler for the VAX about 6 months after the programming of MUD2 was complete...

    Historical note: it all started so optmistically, with privatisation-ready BT financing MUSE for the development of the game. However, a number of errors to do with BT's choice of software (we had to use VAX Pascal), hardware (shared with CPU-intensive batch jobs), marketing (either non-existent or making transparently false claims) and departmental rivalry (New Information Services versus Prestel) meant trouble lay ahead. BT re-organised every 6 months, each time handing the "MUD problem" down one rung of the ladder. MUSE started by talking to board-level directors, and was eventually signed off by a 6-month youth opportunities trainee (this is not a joke!). Nevertheless, the game itself flourished, and many old-timers regard those heydays on the VAX as MUD2's first golden age.


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23rd September 1999: vax.htm