The language of virtual worlds 173
the first version in 1989); they attract programmers interested
in making modifications to the virtual environment – adding
new features and commands, and generally exploring ways of
extending the concept. Originally ‘hack ’n slash’ in character,
LPMUDs now include all types of subject-matter.
DikuMUDs (the name is from the computer science de-
partment at Copenhagen University (Datalogisk Institute
Københavns Universitet), where this variant was devised in
1990); written in the C programming language, they permit a
greater depth of activity and character development within a
single game. They are sophisticated adventure MUDs, and an
analogy is sometimes drawn with the ‘Advanced Dungeons
and Dragons’ variant of the real-world game.
TinyMUDs, so-called because the program used to develop
them (first devised by US computer scientist Jim Aspnes in
1989) was smaller than those used in previous MUDs, located
within a database system and not relying on an independent
programming language. They are all ‘talker’ MUDs, aimed at
providing a social environment within which chat is the chief
activity (though nonetheless in an imaginary world).This is just the beginning. Each genre of MUD has evolved its
subgenres, most named acronymically, and generally beginning
with an M. Some names are based on the real-world meaning of
‘mud’, and although written in capitals are not acronyms at all: for
example, derivatives of TinyMUDS are MUCKs (or TinyMUCKs)
and MUSHes (or TinyMUSHes), where the names are simply lu-
dic variants of the connotations of ‘mud’. However, it need not
take long for a pseudo-acronym to attract interpretations, and
MUSH in due course came to be interpreted as ‘Multi-User Shared
Hallucination’. Illustrative of the range within the MUCK domain
are the somewhat opaque DragonMUCKs, FurryMUCKs, and
FuroticaMUCKs, as well as the slightly more self-explanatory Lion
King MUCK and X-Files MUCK.^3 With MUSEs, MAGEs, and
(^3) For more detailed MUCK explanations, see
http://www.oingo.com/topic/12/12689.html. An explanatory MUSH site is
http://gargoyle.strange.com/mush/what.shtml.