So I've been reading "Surfing on the Internet", written by #JCHerz in about 1994. It talks about #MUD and #MOO. I had only heard of them in passing back then.

Reading the book, I realize: Whoa, these things are like multiplayer #interactiveFiction . Not just that, but the world can be programmed.

It's like the #Emacs of gaming.

Some #MUDs are still active now. Some of these games have been going for 30 or 40 years.

What are good resources to learn about MUDs?

I uncovered an extensive trove of lost retro stuff in an old shed today, but this one item is so cool that it deserves a post all to itself: "MUDS: Exploring Virtual Worlds on the Internet" (1995) by Claire Lissette Benedikt and Dave Ciskowski. It was outdated even at the time I bought it - around '99, on heavy discount - but despite that it's no longer the reliable MUD phone book it hoped to be, it's a wonderfully preserved piece of history.

@vga256 - tagging you because how neat is this

UPDATE: I tried to connect to every single entry in the list of 100 MUDs. Almost all are defunct entirely. FurryMUCK and PernMUSH still exist, but their details are entirely wrong. Valhalla and Elender are still found at the server printed in the book, but the port address is wrong. But there is one MUD that, 28 years after the publication of this book, still awaits at the exact address printed: Ancient Anguish (ancient.anguish.org:2222).

#RetroGaming #MUDs #RetroComputing