Chronology of MUDs

This is a chronological list of notable MUDs with summary information.

Legend

Title	The MUD's title; if it has had more than one title, the most recent title. Disambiguation is included only when MUDs in this chronology have the same title.
Founded	The date the MUD was founded or first made publicly available.
Closed	The date the MUD ceased to be publicly available. A blank entry indicates the MUD continues to operate.
Business model	A brief description of the MUD's business model. "Free" means the MUD has no revenue stream. "Subscription" means that the MUD charges a periodic subscription fee for access or for a set level of in-game benefits, such as a "full" or "non-trial" account. "Pay for perks" means that the MUD accepts payments (which may be called "donations") and provides in-game benefits in exchange for them, on an à la carte basis. "Donation-supported" means that the MUD accepts payments, but its policies exclude providing in-game benefits in exchange for them. "Donation-drive supported" means that the MUD accepts payments, with policies excluding providing in-game benefits in exchange for them, only at specific times for specific purposes (most typically hardware upgrades), and does not accept payments at other times. "Freebie marketing" means that the MUD, by its existence, provides a purchase incentive for external goods.
Developer	The company that carried out development of the MUD, or if the MUD was not developed by a company, major individual contributors, if known by real name; "et al." indicates other contributors, often a large number of participants in a project community.
Publisher	Any third parties that published the MUD. A blank entry indicates independent publication. "Independent" may also appear with a list of third parties to indicate that the MUD was independently published in addition to being published by third parties.
Setting	A summary of the genre of the MUD's setting or, if applicable, the specific setting it is based on.
Style	A summary of the style or styles of interaction the MUD focuses on.
Family	The general family of MUD server software that the MUD is associated with, if any.
Codebase	The specific server software the MUD is based on; a blank entry indicates independently developed, custom infrastructure. Multiple items indicate different codebases the MUD has used over time.
Mudlib	The mudlib the MUD is based on, if any.
Contributions	Publicly released software originating with the MUD or other public contributions.
Notes	Other brief and significant information: MUDs in this article that are versions of one another, category origination, key clarifications. Not for general information about the MUD.

Title	Founded	Closed	Business model	Developer	Publisher	Setting	Style	Family	Codebase	Mudlib	Contri­butions	Notes
MUD1	1978		Free	Roy Trubshaw, Richard Bartle		Fantasy	Hack and slash	Essex	MUDDL		MUDDL	The first MUD; see also British Legends
MAD	1984	1986	Free	Bruno Chabrier, Vincent Lextrait	BITNET	Fantasy	Hack and slash
Island of Kesmai	1985	2000	Subscription	Kesmai	CompuServe	Fantasy	Hack and slash, roguelike					See also Legends of Kesmai
MUD2	1985		Free	Richard Bartle		Fantasy	Hack and slash	Essex	MUDDL			Successor to MUD1
MIST	1986	1991	Free	Michael Lawrie et al.		Cross-genre satire	Hack and slash	Essex	MUDDL
AberMUD	1987	1987	Free	Alan Cox, Richard Acott, Jim Finnis, Leon Thrane		Fantasy	Hack and slash	AberMUD	AberMUD		AberMUD	The first AberMUD
British Legends	1987	1999	Subscription	Roy Trubshaw, Richard Bartle	CompuServe	Fantasy	Hack and slash	Essex	MUDDL			Commercial version of MUD1
GemStone	1988		Subscription	Simutronics	GEnie, AOL, independent	High fantasy	Hack and slash
TinyMUD	1989	1990	Free	James Aspnes		Cross-genre	Social	MU*	TinyMUD		TinyMUD
TinyHELL	1989	1990	Free	Russ Smith et al.		Cross-genre	Social	MU*	TinyMUD
Genesis LPMud	1989		Free	Lars Pensjö, Carl Hallén, Jakob Hallén, Lennart Augustsson, Johan Andersson, Anders Chrigström, Ronny Wikh, Stas van der Schaaf, Tony Elmroth, Dave Richards, Thornsten Lockert, Felix Croes et al.		Medieval fantasy	Roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud, CD	CD	LPMud, CD gamedriver and mudlib	The first LPMud
TinyTIM	1990		Free	Jason Scott Sadofsky et al.		Cross-genre	Social	MU*	TinyMUD, MUSH
BatMUD	1990		Pay for perks	B.A.T. ry		Fantasy	Hack and slash, player versus player	LPMud	LPMud
NannyMUD	1990		Free	Mats Persson, Thomas Padron-McCarthy, Fredrik Hübinette et al.		Fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	LPMud 1.1.2, LPMud 2.4.5, LPMud 3.1.2
FurryMUCK	1990		Donation-supported			Furry	Social, roleplaying	MU*	TinyMUCK
Shattered World	1990		Free	Geoff Wong et al.		Medieval fantasy	Roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud 2.4.5, SWLPC		SWLPC
Darker Realms	1990		Free			Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	LPMud 2.4.5, LPMud 3.1.2	LPMud 2.4.5
LambdaMOO	1990		Free	Pavel Curtis et al.	Xerox PARC, independent	Cross-genre	Social	MU*	MOO		LambdaCore
MicroMUSE	1990		Free			Cross-genre	Educational, social	MU*	MUSH, TinyMUSE		TinyMUSE	Arguably first educational MUD
Lost Souls	1990		Pay for perks	Michael Rice, Rebecca Willey, Matthew Sheahan et al.		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud 2.4.5, LPMud 3.1.2, Amylaar, LDMud	Ain Soph
Tubmud	1990		Free			Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud 2.4.5, Amylaar, LDMud	Tublib		First MUD hosted in Germany
Ancient Anguish	1991		Donation-supported	Balz Meierhans, Olivier Maquelin et al.		Fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	Amylaar	Loch Ness
Armageddon	1991		Donation-supported, freebie marketing	Dan Brumleve, Nasri Hajj, Santiago Zorzopulos, Cat Rambo et al.		Post-apocalyptic low fantasy	Roleplaying	DikuMUD	DikuMUD
DartMUD	1991		Donation-supported	Jonathan Clemens et al.		Fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud			First use of ASCII hex system
DikuMUD	1991	1991	Free	Sebastian Hammer, Michael Seifert, Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe		Fantasy	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	DikuMUD		DikuMUD	Refers to the first DikuMUD at freja.diku.dk 4000
Discworld MUD	1991		Free	David Bennett, Craig Richmond, Sean A. Reith, Evan Scott, Derek Harding, Jake Greenland et al.		Discworld	Hack and slash, roleplaying, social	LPMud	LPMud, MudOS, FluffOS	Discworld	Discworld mudlib, FluffOS
Dragon's Gate	1991	2006	Subscription	Darrin Hyrup	GEnie, AOL, Mythic Realms, independent	Fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying
Elendor	1991		Free			Lord of the Rings	Roleplaying, social	MU*	MUSH
NANVAENT	1991		Free	Roger Dubar et al.		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	LPMud, MudOS, FluffOS	Discworld
PernMUSH	1991		Free			Pern	Roleplaying, social	MU*	MUSH
Star Wars MUSH	1991		Free			Star Wars	Roleplaying, social	MU*	MUSH
StickMUD	1991		Pay for perks	Pekka Timonen, Niilo Paasivirta, Otto J. Mäkelä, Tero Vaananen et al.		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash, player versus player	LPMud	LPMud, LDMud	LPMud 2.4.5, StickLib
Tapestries MUCK	1991		Free			Furry	Roleplaying, social	MU*	TinyMUCK
Xyllomer	1991		Free			Fantasy	Roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud, DGD	CD		First public DGD MUD
Nuclear War MUD	1992		Free			Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk	Hack and slash, player versus player	LPMud	MudOS	LPMud 2.4.5
Empire	1992	2010	Free	Farhaj Hashmi et al.		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash, player versus player, roleplaying	DikuMUD	DikuMUD
Genocide	1992		Free			Fantasy	Player versus player	LPMud	LPMud, MudOS, Amylaar			First "pure PK" MUD
Holy Mission	1992		Free			Fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	LPMud	LPMud 2.4.5
AmberMUSH	1992	2009	Free	Jennifer Smith et al.		Amber	Roleplaying	MU*	TinyMUSH
Infinity (LPMud)	1992		Free	Peter William Friedman, Bill Mackiewicz et al.		Cross-genre	Hack and slash, social, player versus player	LPMud	LPMud 3.1.2, LDMud	LPMud 2.4.5
JediMUD	1992		Free	Jeremy Elson et al.		Cross-genre	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	CircleMUD
Medievia	1992		Pay for perks	Michael A. Smith, Anthony Rowley, Michael Krause et al.		Fantasy	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	Merc		MSP
MUME	1992		Donation-drive supported	Philippe Rochat, Claude Indermitte, Pier Donini, David Gay, Gustav Hållberg et al.		Lord of the Rings	Hack and slash, player versus player, roleplaying	DikuMUD	DikuMUD		Mudlle
3Kingdoms	1992		Pay for perks			Cross-genre	Hack and slash	LPMud	LDMud
Nightmare LPMud	1992	2005	Free	George Reese et al.		Fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying	LPMud	MudOS	Nightmare	Nightmare Mudlib
Northern Lights	1992		Free	Anna Eklund, Gjermund Sørseth et al.		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash	AberMUD	Dirt
Ragnarök	1992		Donation-supported			Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	LPMud	LPMud 2.4.5
The Shadow of Yserbius	1992	1996	Subscription	Sierra On-Line	The Sierra Network, The ImagiNation Network, AOL	Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical
MorgenGrauen	1992		Free			Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	LDMud	MorgenGrauen	MorgenGrauen Mudlib
Diversity University	1993	2006	Free	Jeanne McWhorter et al.		Modern	Educational	MU*	MOO			First educational MOO, arguably first educational MUD
BioMOO	1993	2001	Free	Gustavo Glusman, Jaime Prilusky et al.		Modern	Educational	MU*	MOO		File Utilities Package, intermoo GNA Network
Infinity (AberMUD)	1993		Free			Fantasy	Hack and slash	AberMUD	AberMUD
BayMOO	1993		Free	Tim Keanini et al.		Modern	Social, Educational	MU*	MOO
MediaMOO	1993		Free	Amy S. Bruckman et al.		Modern	educational	MU*	MOO
Sojourn	1993	1996	Free	Kris Kortright, Tim Devlin, John Bashaw et al.		Forgotten Realms	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	Sequent
Muddy Waters	1993		Free			Historical fantasy	Hack and slash	LPMud	CD	CD
DragonSpires	1994	1997	Pay for perks	Dragon's Eye Productions		Fantasy	Social, roleplaying, graphical
LegendMUD	1994		Free	Raph Koster, Kristen Koster, Rick Delashmit, Sherry Delashmit et al.		Historical fantasy	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	DikuMUD
Realms of Despair	1994		Free	Derek Snider et al.		Fantasy	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	Merc 2, SMAUG		SMAUG
Sociopolitical Ramifications	1994		Free	Martin Gauffin, Henrik Isacsson et al.		Furry	Roleplaying, social	MU*	TinyMUCK
The Two Towers	1994		Free			Lord of the Rings	Hack and slash, roleplaying, player versus player	LPMud	MudOS	TMI-2
Dune II	1994	1996	Free	John Robertson et al.		Dune	Roleplaying, social	MU*	TinyMUSH
Costello	1995		Freebie marketing	Costello Publications		Fantasy	Educational	LPMud	MudOS	Ain Soph
LinguaMOO	1995		Free	Cynthia Haynes, Jan Rune Holmevik et al.		Modern	Educational	MU*	MOO
The Ruins of Cawdor	1995	1996	Subscription	Sierra On-Line	The Sierra Network, The ImagiNation Network, AOL	Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical
Accursed Lands	1996	2011	Free			Post-apocalyptic low-fantasy gothic horror	Roleplaying	LPMud	MudOS	Lima
BurningMUD	1996		Free			Fantasy	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	DikuMUD
DragonRealms	1996		Subscription	Simutronics	GEnie, AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, Microsoft Gaming Zone, independent	Fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying, player versus player
Materia Magica	1996		Pay for perks	Ingenii Interactive		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash, roleplaying	DikuMUD
MOOSE Crossing	1996	2007	Free	Amy S. Bruckman et al.		Modern	Educational	MU*	MOO
Realms of Kaos	1996		Pay for perks	UAN Entertainment		Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical
Legends of Kesmai	1996	2000	Subscription	Kesmai	independent, AOL, GameStorm, EA	Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical, roguelike					Tile-graphics version of Island of Kesmai
Threshold	1996		Pay for perks	Frogdice		Fantasy	Roleplaying	LPMud	LPMud, LDMud	TMI-2
TorilMUD	1996		Free	Kris Kortright et al.		Forgotten Realms	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	Sequent
Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands	1997		Pay for perks, subscription	Iron Realms Entertainment		Fantasy	Roleplaying		Rapture
Alter Aeon	1997		Pay for perks	Dennis Towne et al.		Medieval fantasy	Hack and slash	DikuMUD	DentinMUD
ifMUD	1997		Free	Liza Daly et al.		Interactive fiction	Social	MU*	PerlMUD		Hosts the XYZZY Awards
Darkness Falls: The Crusade	1999	2006	Subscription	Mythic Entertainment	GameStorm, AOL, Centropolis Entertainment	Fantasy	Player versus player
Nightmist	2000		Donation-supported	Jonathan Leighton-Hoggett, Simon Crowder		Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical
RuneScape	2001		Subscription	Jagex		Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical
TriadCity	2001		Pay for perks	SmartMonsters		Cross-genre	Hack and slash, roleplaying
Wyvern	2001		Free	Cabochon Inc.		Fantasy	Hack and slash, graphical, roguelike
God Wars II	2002		Free	Richard Woolcock et al.		Dark fantasy	Player versus player	DikuMUD	Gladiator Pits II		Gladiator Pits II