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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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