MUD Types

While there are hundreds of different MUD's in operation across the Internet, there are two general types with very different styles:

• Combat. These MUD's focus on combat and competition, and include LPMUD's, DikuMUD's, and their descendants.

• Social. These MUD's focus on social interaction, and include TinyMUD's and their descendants.

Some of the many different types of MUD's created over the years are described below.:

• DikuMUD. Named after the university at which it was written, Datalogisk Institut Koebenhavns Universitet, or Department of Datalogy, University of Copenhagen. DikuMUD is newer but similar to LPMUD. Wizards can add to the database.

• CircleMUD. Developed from DikuMUD, with various improvements.

• FurryMUCK. A MUD for "furry" creatures, a mud character subtype.

• LambdaMOO. Based on MOO, created by Pavel Curtis, and adds features and stability.

• LMPUD. One of the most popular combat MUD's, written by Lars Pensjl among others. There are several versions, including Amylaar, CD, and MudOS.

• MOO. A MUD developed using the object-oriented approach, created by Stephen White. MOOs include a programming language.

• PRISM. A PC version of TinyMUD.

• TeenyMUD. Based on TinyMUD, developed by Andrew Molitor.

• TinyMUCK. Based on TinyMUD, developed by Lachesis, with a powerful programming language called MUF. Versions include FBMUCK and DaemonMUCK. TinyMUCK is based on TinyMUD, developed by Stephen White.

• TinyMUD. Developed by Jim Aspnes, and was the first socially oriented MUD. It is called "tiny" since, without the requirement to support the complexities of a combat oriented MUD, it takes up less storage space than other MUD servers. Players can build onto the MUD.

• TinyMUSH. Based on TinyMUD, developed by Larry Foard, and added a script language and PUPPETs. A version is called PennMUSH.

• UberMUD. Created by Marcus Ranum. The universe rules are written completely in the internal programming language, and is very flexible.

• UnterMUD. Written by Marcus J Ranum, and is similar to UberMUD. UnterMUD is network oriented, enabling players to travel between connected UnterMUD's.

• UriMUD. Was developed from LPMUD with some improvements.

• YAMA. A DOS based MUD server, with a Windows version called Yamaw. These servers often support combat.