Suicide for Fun and Profit
caution: long rant follows

Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes...
(M*A*S*H theme, stolen shamelessly without apology)

I am currently a Dungeon Master (DM) of a Mordor-based MUD (Multi-User Dungeons&dragons) called terraMUD. I think it is timely to chronicle my observations of what it is like to be stuck in the MUD (or at least what it is like to be hooked on this style of RPG). This article is divided in to two sections - the second section is devoted to observations from recent MUD experiences, the first section looks more generally at MUDs and multi-user environments as learning tools. The title of this article will be explained in the second section of the paper - bear with me...

I was first introduced to MUD by some students in 1992 who invited me onto a diku-MUD called Sanctuary. As far as my understanding goes, each 'style' of mud depends on the code-base and structure of the underlying database. Some MUDs are based on conventional D&D scenarios, some are based on book series (like 'Wheels of time') and some are based on popular fantasy genres - Tolkienesque and the like. I must admit to spending hundreds of hours (many late nights prior to work days ... one of many reasons I constantly have dark circles under my eyes) playing in MUDs with my wife who is similarly addicted. The curious thing is that I could, at the time, justify the extraordinary amounts of time I spent because I was chasing a particular level, bit of gear or treasury of gold whilst balancing all else that a busy teachers life contained - time is relative. I am sure those students looked after me just enough to make me a MUD addict and I both thank and blame them for that. The only way to escape, as I later discovered, was to cold-turkey and just stop playing - replacing the game time with such irrelevant tasks as sleep and normal social interaction in the real world).

MOOs differ significantly in their intent from MUDs (I am a wizard in terraMOO and QMOOnity). IWHO a MOO is primarily a social learning environment - cooperative chat and smart-object manipulation is the focus. One thing many kids I work with in our MOO complain about the lack of in combat in the MOO. Personally I have no problem with the lack of combat engines in my MOO - it can be a distracting enough environment to learn in without having additionally to worry about being attacked. It is arguably difficult to concentrate on instruction and tasks when simultaneously attempting to slay a beast and cast a spell, but I may be wrong (remember my brain is old and therefore not as clever as the kids I work with). Chat, both within room and remotely to other characters in the MOO are central to why you are there. Collaboration and exploration are also important in MOO, as is the intelligent manipulation of things you find in your travel. MOOs are, however, inherently peaceful talk-spaces.

MUDs on the other hand have a social component - chat, broadcast messages, remote tells, interactive creatures, emotes and socials are all very important components of enjoyable MUDding; but the bottom line is you are there to attack things for gear, points and money. MUDders master weapons, learn spells, read descriptions and travel to exotically described locations, meet interestingly described creatures and attempt to kill them. Battle and cooperation are central to MUD success and this aspect of the game brings about some interesting changes in personality that I shall explore in the second part of this article. I have, however, begun a re-examination of the role such an RPG can play in an educational environment. I think successful gaming strategies encourage some of the best (and possibly worst) thinking strategies and this aspect deserves exploration. I am sufficiently aged to remember a Department of Education initiative called 'Pieces of Eight'. I remember attending Computer Coordinator seminars where this problem solving program was showcased - a simple RPG set on an island - it involved mapping, logic and maths problems and was fun (which meant it couldn't be at all educational, surely). I find myself drawn to gameplay and use it extensively when teaching programming as there are many terrific logical contortions possible when facilitating human-computer interaction in a gaming environment.

What is most satisfying from my perspective is that this sort of game still has appeal - this is amazing when looked at in the context of the 'normal' gaming experience of todays youth. Graphic first-person shooter games with battle splats in surround sound stereo and 256 shades of red for bloody body parts are the norm so why do players who were hooked on that sort of game play MUD also - I think the answer is complex, but involves harnessing the power of the imagination....

MUD Through the Eyes of a DM (or wiping the MUD from my eyes for a moment)

• a MUD as a programming phenomenon is both terrifying and fascinating. I downloaded the database and the interface engine for our school's Unix internet gateway machine, edited the code and compiled the daemon (unix geek speak for a network program I think) and currently run it from there. I have subsequently been in touch with the author of this MUD (he wrote it when he was a Uni student in the US and, as it turns out, hadn't looked at the code in years) to clarify aspects I was modifying and am once again blown away with the accessibility that the 'net gives you the the world. The code is open-source and relatively well documented which is also amazing (and so very different to anything in the PC/MAC world).
  
  
• I am in awe of the complex suite of programs that cooperate and create the gaming engine. Anyone who contemplates creating one from scratch needs to be sedated (smile, nod then step back as they implode). Managing the exploits that buggy code allow is ...interesting (he says through clenched teeth). Complicate this by allowing more than one user to be part of your game at the same time and you ahve some really interesting execution thread issues.
  
  
• The DM learning curve is steep. I am sure there are many things that players assume I know how to do that I havn't the foggiest about - smile and nod is my standard approach (dang, my secret is out). The world is a database of rooms, creatures, objects and players - all of which are editable within the game (if I could just master that then some form of virtual deity status would be deserved). The environment is all TEXT, but rich in description , functionality and meaning.
  
  
• Successful MUDders have more than a well-developed sense of direction - they use graphic organisers more commonly called maps. My MUD has a number of well-controlled pieces of geography (Oceancrest, Brownhaven and Kista) and players can download the blank maps and annotate as they explore, taking notice of where they find this and that. Some students refuse, point blank, to do this. These same students constantly get lost, forget where to go for certain things and ask DMs for help the most. Successful MUDders READ and more important UNDERSTAND the texts they are reading. Information and player clues are everywhere if you take the time to look for them.
  
  
• People exploit weakness. It is interesting to me in this day and age that game cheat codes are traded as part of the gaming experience. I was naive enough to think that people would play the MUD as is, but many have decided to be creative with the rules by pushing the envelope of what is possible (legitimate exploits or not?) ... let me explain with some examples. You decide if they are legitimate nor not:
  
  
  • When a new character is created, that character is given a standard-issue weapon and some money as a starter for a long and productive life. Players have discovered that if you create a character, then get that character to give another one of your characters their gold and then suicide that newly created character you can turn a tidy profit. I noticed one evening in particular, this endless logging on and then suiciding only to discover it was being used as a money-making venture.
    
    
  • Characters can buy goods from stores. Characters can recycle (for monetary reward) found goods. Put 2 and 2 together to arrive at 5 and one player discovered that you can buy a cheap item and then recycle it for more than you paid for it - how is that for enterprise?
    
    
  • Hunting is packs is a more efficient way of bringing down prey that is above your current level. What makes pack hunting interesting is if some of the members of the pack are only along for the ride because they know a spell that can heal another damaged player - sort of like a private doctor. More interesting still is the collecting and quaffing of major quantities of restoratives during battle. No these are not exploits, just behaviours that seem to have evolved naturally.
    
    
  • Each monster that you play some part in the downfall of gains you points (XP). When a battle gets too intense it is sometimes possible to flee from the battle before you are killed. When you attack a monster, you are added to it's enemy list and stay on the enemy list until that monster is killed. Some monsters autoattack anyone on their enemy list when they enter the room the monster is in. One exploit used commonly is to take a swipe at a monster way outside your level, then flee before taking too much damage yourself. When someone else comes along and kills the monster, you get some of the XP points of the kill without doing anything else - nice work if you can get it.
    
    
  • Bloodbaths are common. This sounds unsavoury and it probably is - the way you better yourself in MUD is by attacking and killing things. I had to chuckle when I heard of a year 8 student who was explaining to his mum about the game he had been buried in for the last 4 hours and how told off he was for attacking something whilst she was watching him play. "Play nice" was her comment. "Nice and dead" was the reply. As mentioned earlier, pack hunting is common - some rooms spawn particuar types of monsters regularly - MUDders tired of wandering around can wait in these rooms for the prey to come to them. Late at night you can find herds of players doing just that in a frenzy of carnage - all good clean fun what?
    
    
  • Players can attack other players (in my MUD, only if both nominate as chaotic). Player killing is not really bullying I guess because the victim has had to nominate themselves as a 'soft target' first. Some forms of MUD bullying do exist, however: players can boycot talking to another player thus isolating them, players can punch and kick other players eventually rendering them unable to speak or move momentarily - I only found this out when I observed it happening - seem sporting to you? This is different to casting spells IWHO as it seems a little more bloody-minded or am I looking at it the wrong way?
    
    
  • Stealing is ok if you can get away with it (except when you steal from someone who has dialup and therefore has fractionally more lag than you). During a battle, when you kill things the gear they are carrying is deposited in the room they die in. Some monsters protect gear lying around, others actually pick it up and wander off with it. When the room is clear of hoarder monsters you can get what is lying around. Some characters lurk in a room, not being part of the battle and grab everything the moment the battle is over - vultures also do this don't they?
    
    
  • Multi-playing is fun - and you can get into role. You can gang up with a crowd of yourself, plant one of your characters in a group of other people as a mole, pretend to be someone else, be a whole new gender and curiously enough, you can attack yourself (if chaotic) for points. There is something not quite right about levelling one character through experience gained by killing yourself (or more correctly another of your own characters) but there you go.

Should you play MUD? Is there anything vaguely educational in this form of active problem solving? Is there any appeal in this sort of textual adventure? IWHO YES!

What do you think?

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