MUD-Dev2 -- Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation

About MUD-Dev2
English (USA)

MUD Dev 2 is the continuation of the great work and efforts of others who established the original MUD-Dev mailing list on kanga.nu. The original MUD-Dev list has not been active since February 2006. This list has been made to continue the discussions of MUD/MMO development and design. All credit goes to those who started the list and made it what it is today. --Nick Koranda nkk@eml.cc

The MUD Development mailing list is not platform, language or game specific, but concentrates on discussing the design and implementation of any and all MUD servers and systems. For discussion of what exactly constitutes a MUD, please see the notes from the list owner below.

Another large related topic is game design. This does not mean that the details of a specific server or game design point can't be discussed in excruciating detail, or even that server or game source can't be bandied about and picked over, just that the list isn't to become a religious stomping ground for your platform, language, server, or hobby horse of choice. The topic definition is not limited to technical areas: social engineering, cultural considerations, applicability of technical addresses to "soft" problems, and other less rigorous avenues of investigation are also fair game.
MUD-Dev 2 Archives
To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit the MUD-Dev2 Archives.

To see the archives (in forum format) from the original MUD-Dev Mailing List, they are here
Using MUD-Dev2
To post a message to all the list members, send email to mud-dev2@lists.mud-dev.com.

You can subscribe to the list, or change your existing subscription, in the sections below.

MUD/MMORPG/MMO/MUG...?

There has been considerable debate over the use of the terms, "MMORPG", "MMO*", "MUD", "mud", "MUA", "MUG", "MU*", and others, with various valid arguments forwarded on all sides. Suffice to say that for the purposes of this list they are all considered equivalent. I prefer "MUD" as the generic noun, but I don't enforce that preference.

I'm also not about to attempt a point by point definition of "MUD". I see the definition of MUD being rather like a blob of black ink, recently dropped into a bucket of still water. You can definitely see where the black blob is, but as you move away from there, well, its still inky, but less so. Just where does the ink stop and the water begin (especially seeing as the Ink is a water suspension)? It is moot. It is a multi-dimensional sliding scale. The centre is undoubtedly a MUD. The definition of where the exact centre is is questionable. The definition of whether any point not on the centre is a MUD or not is more or less questionable.

Thankyou.

Quoted by J.C. Lawrence
List Guidelines
In character MUD-Dev aims to be a collegial fraternity of people active and interested in the field, and as such members are present on the list as individuals, external to any commercial affiliations they may have. Your participation of the list is subject to the following guidelines:
  1. All list messages are accepted under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
  2. All quoted material must be attributed. For materials from other sources than the list, state the author and source. A reply to a post from the list must at least state the name of the original author if your mailer does not automatically prepend one.
  3. New text goes below the quote it refers to. Do NOT put your new text at the top of the message with the entire original message quoted below.
  4. Change the message Subject: heading as the topic under discussion changes. A good format to use is as follows: 
    -----------------------------------------
  Subject: New subject (was: Old subject)
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  5. Use the following Subject: tags to indicate the area of interest of your posts:
    ADMIN
    Messages relating to administrative functions of the list. Normally only used by the list owner.
    BIZ
    Messages relating to business operations or concerns.
    DESIGN / DGN
    Messages disccussing design aspects.
    JOB / RESUME
    Jobs wanted and available, or other messages specifically relating to jobs, hiring, and related.
    MEDIA / NEWS / ANNOUNCE
    Announcements, news articles, media reports and commentary, etc.
    OFF-TOPIC / OT
    Off-topic! (Please keep it short and encourage the thread to migrate to the Meta list.
    SOCIAL / SOC
    Discussion of social structures, social engineering, the social sides of human factors, and other similar soft subjects.
    TECH / CODE
    Messages relating to technology, especially implementation technology.
    Examples: 
    -----------------------------------------
  Subject: TECH: Distributed server models
  Subject: TECH DGN: Building neural networks for political systems
  Subject: DGN: Balancing Melee vs Ranged Combat in Games Which Model Space
  Subject: OT NEWS: Earthquake. CA falls into sea. Moderator drowned.
  Subject: BIZ DGN: Designing around making money on EBay item auctions
  Subject: NEWS: Beta open for EverUltiFireFurBabyMooCall!
-----------------------------------------
    Note: List members can filter what list mail they receive by the above tags.
  6. Grandstanding, bombast, advertisements, chest puffing, or other forms of self or corporate promotion are not appreciated on the list. The list is an expressly non-commercial and topic-centric venue. It is intended as an intelligent and free discussion by peers in the field, not as a (self-) marketing venue.
  7. Discussion of MUD-Dev itself, moderation policy, activities and discussions which fork from MUD-Dev, and other meta discussions are generally off-topic for the MUD-Dev list. Please use the Meta list for such discussions.
  8. Membership of the list is not a right. You are here as my guests. This is a private list run as a personal contribution to the field. I trust the list's membership to behave accordingly.
  9. Attempting to invalidate or discourage a discussion or avenue of investigation on the list because it strays too close to a commercial project's field or other such interest will be deemed an intentional personal insult. Don't go there.
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