Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwvondannen | Hacker News Reader

I'd recommend to anyone not familiar with the genre, to grab a modern client (Mudlet¹ is cross platform and actively in development) and give it a go.

Especially those who vaguely miss the spirit of the old internet might (re)discover a lot of it in these often tight knit, yet welcoming, communities.

Tip: Stay away from strongly RP focused communities until you're not preoccupied with just thinking about navigation and the various systems anymore. Although, a lot of what makes MUDs tick should resonate strongly with anyone who wrote a program before, so it shouldn't take long to adapt.

¹https://www.mudlet.org/

View on HN

> these often tight knit, yet welcoming, communities.

Are they really welcoming? Over the last few years I have occasionally revisited some 1990s-era communities (Usenet groups, forums on a dedicated website, mailing lists...) in search of a sense of tight-knit connectedness lost with modern huge networks like Facebook or Reddit. Yet I almost always found that those 1990s communities that had survived, had eroded down to a handful of posters who were mostly angry and cantankerous, or outright mentally ill. Thus, it was hard for any newcomer to feel comfortable among them. So, I am now very wary about going back to any kind of old-school community, and it would take a lot of evidence to convince me that it was worthwhile to even try.

This has been my experience as well. Tight-knit communities do not age very well. They're almost cabalistic.

Yeah, some are bogged down in politics and dominated by a few Methuselah with ego problems, but I've played plenty and those are in the minority and stick out like sore thumbs. Keep away from MUDs that take themselves too serious and you're good. Or look out for freshly established ones. Aardwolf would be one example with a very friendly population. Gamewise it's a hodgepodge of creative writing and doesn't follow any strong guidelines.

n, w, train20, e, e, prac20, w, n, w, n, down, n, kill monster, s, w, kill monster, e, e, kill monster, w, s, kill monster, n, d, kill beast, get diploma, wear diploma, unlock north, n.

If I can still remember how to quickly zip through the standard ROM MUD school after this many years... did I play too much when I was young?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com