|
|
Computer society. - The fact that
a female witch in Wales recently ran
up a telephone bill of more than
£1,000 in three months had a lot to do
with the University of Essex Computer
Society. Endora (or Sue in the real
world) is one of about 150 people who
have so far this academic year hooked
up to the University's DEC-10 computer
to play un MUD, the world's first
multi-player computer game. MUD,
for Multi-User Dungeon, was
originated in 1979 by a computer
science undergraduate who is now a
contract programmer in Brussels. The
program was taken over and expanded
to its preseot form by Richard Bartle,
now a PhD student un the same department.
MUD makes use of artificial
intelligence and database management
techniques to provide an interactive
game which allows more than one person
at a time to play at the same time
in the same adventure (or simulated
environment). A player starts off as a
novice or warrior and works up
through the ranks to become wizard or
witch either with the help of or in spite
of the other humans wandering the
landscape. Since last autumn MUD
has been opened up to players outside
the university for a few hours after
midnight when the computer is normally
idle. (This costs the universiy
nothing, and there is no wear and tear
on the system). Regular players get
unto the game from Japan, Australia
and the USA as well as from all corners
of the UK, either by direct dialling
over the telephone lines or by using a
computer network. They start at midnight
sharp and don't stop until the
computer is taken away for housekeeping
the next morning. Which is how
Endora ran up her tebphone bill.
From somewhere in Wales she played
every night for four weeks to reach
witch, and then carried on; after three
months her phone bill was into four
figures. A computer games company is
known to be interested in MUD, and
BBC television is to feature the game
later this year in a special programme
on computers.
|
