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GameSpyHow did the MUD concept originate at first, and how did it
evolve into a game?
Richard BartleIt didn't evolve into a game, it was always intended
to be a game. It arose because Roy Trubshaw, a student at Essex University,
was discussing with a bunch of other hackers a monitor call they had found
for the DECSYSTEM 10 operating system. This was basically an instruction
which caused memory to become writable. The group realized that this could
be applied to shared memory segments to allow communication between people
running the same program at the same time. Roy got to a terminal first to
test it, and it worked. He decided to use it to write a multiplayer
adventure game, as he'd been playing ADVENT (a.k.a.
Colossal Cave, a.k.a. Adventure) and thought it
might be more fun if you could be in the game with other people.
GameSpyAt the point you became involved, what was the status of the
game, and which modifications did you bring to it?
Richard BartleI was involved almost from the beginning. My background
was all games, so I knew a lot more about game design than Roy did. He built
the infrastructure, but was more interested in the programming side than the
game side (although he could do games). I was more interested in the game
design side (although I could do programs).
When I took over, Roy had the basic game engine working, so you could move
around and communicate across a few rooms, but that was all he had time for
before he finished his degree. I'd made some suggestions for the
architecture, but it was mainly Roy's. This was MUD version 3;
there were some things he'd put in version 2 that he wanted to add but hadn't
got round to, it wasn't like he'd reached his limit except for time.
When I took over there were some major pieces of coding remaining, for
example if two people were in a dark room but one had a light source, the
other couldn't yet see. Also, all the characters were male (as were all the
players, but Roy always intended to add a female gender, it was just a bit
finicky to do and there were more pressing things that he wanted to finish
so I wouldn't have to code them). MUD version 3 became known as
MUD1. In the end, I wrote about 75% of it and Roy wrote 25%, but
his 25% was the crucial bit. We usually say that we co-wrote the game,
because that properly reflects our respective contributions - about half each.
GameSpyWhat is the identikit of the average MUD player?
Richard BartleThe answer to this question is identical to that of:
"What is the identikit of the average person on the Internet?"
There's no such thing.
GameSpyDid you anticipate that MUDs, and online games would remain
popular after all this time, and even gain popularity?
Richard BartleI did, yes. Furthermore, I expect and expected them to
remain indefinitely and to grow in popularity. They're the future.
GameSpyWhat is in your opinion the future of MU*-type games? Why do
text-based games still retain the enormous appeal they have?
Richard BartleThe fact that MUDs are free is a major reason for
their position on the periphery of the Internet. They don't look
professional, they have no advertising budget, they have high barriers to
entry, and magazines won't review them. The fact that they have a direct
connection to the imagination ensures that they can never die - so long as
people have imaginations.
More than 20 years have passed since Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle
fired the first neutron, and the chain reaction shows no sign of stopping.
With more than 1670 MU* games in existence, Essex MUD should feel like a
proud grand-grandfather.
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