- Slothmud
Overview
SlothMUD III is a
Dikumud basedrole-playing game with heavy code modifications. It is listed as one of the oldest muds [ [http://www.dikumud.com/family/oldest.aspx] The Oldest DikuMuds] . It was founded as SlothMUD in January 1992 by a handful of college students, then changed to SlothMUD II when it changed hands from the original band of creators to the current owner, Jake. It then went through several changes throughout the world of the game and simultaneously adopted an informal set of quality standards for area creation. The current active version, [http://www.slothmud.org SlothMUD III] , has been active with a continuous playerbase for over 10 years [ [http://slothmudiii.blogspot.com/2007/08/10-years-of-slothmud-iii.html Slothmud III: 10 years of SlothMUD III ] ] .Since 1995, as a group of newer administrators has reinvigorated the development of the game, the playerbase has expanded from its American origins to encompass people from Russia, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and points beyond. Several of the immortal and administrative staff hail from England and Spain.
Skills and spells are added to the game on a regular but unscheduled basis, as ideas occur to the coders.
Game Administrators
New immortals are brought into the ranks periodically, when newer players have the interest and the ability to write areas. Eventually some of these newer immortals work their way through the ranks to become administrators, and like in any society, sometimes people leave.
One of the creators, Frobisher, is also the writer of the
MUD client Wintin 95, as well as its successor, [http://www.wintin.com Wintin.net] .Past immortals and administrators remembered with fondness by the players of SlothMUD include Vom, Geddy, Splork, Nia, Ming, Wilde, Duncan, Tony, Tower, Alana, Kalmak, Spook, Zarc, Jaendal and Ratkiller. Although the staff of the mud does not normally recognize the contributions of immortals who retired or disappeared before achieving level 42 (and thus having written all the rooms for at least one area), special consideration is given to Roland, AKA Zera, for the dedication he gave to building and maintaining the website for several years before becoming an immortal.
The current website is maintained by Clink, one of the active administrators and coders. A section of the site known as the [http://www.slothmud.org/eqlist EqList] was written over a period of months by Enea, another of the active administrators and part-time coder. The EqList is also integrally linked to the [http://www.slothmud.org/eqlist/maproom.php Maproom] .
Recent History
A few important changes in SlothMUD's recent history:
- In 2003 and 2004, Tower spent an enormous chunk of time converting the character selection from one in which the players simply selected the order in which four classes would be played, to one in which the player could select any four of a list of eight classes, and the order in which they are played. The original class list included mage, cleric, warrior, and thief (the original
Dungeons & Dragons classes). The new list also includes druid, bard, necromancer and monk. Although the new classes share names with D&D classes, SlothMUD's interpretation is unique. - In 2005 and 2006, with the advent of
MXP (computing) andMCCP , Splork decided to integrate their functionality into the MUD. This has led to decreased lagtime as bandwidth has been reduced, and to the ability to hyperlink directly from the MUD's internals. Isabo helped greatly with the implentation of this code. - An upcoming improvement, courtesy of Splork, is
MUD_Sound_Protocol Mud Sound Protocol .
Notes
- In 2003 and 2004, Tower spent an enormous chunk of time converting the character selection from one in which the players simply selected the order in which four classes would be played, to one in which the player could select any four of a list of eight classes, and the order in which they are played. The original class list included mage, cleric, warrior, and thief (the original
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