The Good Ole MUD Days

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The Good Ole MUD Days

• Daniel Ward
• Pharm.D. Candidate
• Wingate University School of Pharmacy
• November 1st , 2006

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• 191

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UNC in 1993

• CAROLINE
• Libraries
• Computers
• Receiving an Email Address
• Internet?
• Telnet
• The cool people

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Accessed on 3/20/06 at http//www.gummylump.com/fr
ont/f_product.php?id151
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UNC in 1993

• CAROLINE
• Libraries
• Receiving an Email Address
• Internet?
• Telnet
• The cool people

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Telnet in 1993 at UNC

• Email
• ISCA Iowa Student Computer Association
  telnet//whip.isca.uiowa.edu
• Many MOOs and MUDs.(too many to name)
• My favorite mud---starMUD
• Crack Cocaine

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About starMUD

• Based in Stockholm, Sweden
• UNIX based
• First server could only hold 40 connections at
  one time.
• Created by local physician in Stockholm looking
  for a stress relief

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About starMUD cont.

• 4 levels on starMUD (and many others)
• GODhe was the creator..owned the server in our
  case
• LORDthey were in charge of a certain area of the
  MUD
• WIZARD(ME!)they were the main coders (C) for
  an area..were usually handpicked by a certain
  LORD
• MORTALpeople allowed to play in each area to
  gain power and skills to one day become a Wizard
  (usually took 18-24 months of regular play)

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About starMUD cont.

• Could be many races (alien, human, Muppet,
  Vulcan, Smurf, etc)
• Start by killing bumblebees, rabbits, etc. to
  gain experience before tackling bigger monsters
• The more experience points, the quicker you can
  become a Wizard
• Couldnt attack each other UNLESS BOTH players
  were outlaws. If one outlaw killed another,
  you can steal all their credits and weapons, but
  they kept their skills
• Opportunity to know lots of people from all over
  the world

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Graphical MUDs

• Not just UNIX based anymore
• Advantagenot as much typing!
• Disadvantageimagination factor (book/movie
  debate)
• For example http//www.geocities.com/blessed_lands
  _web/

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Newer Addicting Sites

• AIM/Yahoo IM/MSN Messenger
• Myspace
• Facebook
• Poker
• Sims
• Everquest
• Evercrack
• 3-D version of DikuMUD
• Selling of weapons on eBay

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Newer Addicting Sites

• World of Warcraft
• 6 million subscribers
• Up to 40 are addicted
• June 2005child died of neglect from WoW addicted
  parents
• Selling characters on eBay
• Second Life
• 3-D worldvery Sims-like
• 1 million subscribers
• Pay for the good stuff
• Convert real dollars to Linden dollars
• 400,000 in real money spent every 24 hours
• Squatters springing up

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My Addiction

• Why is it addicting?
• You can escape reality
• Can be any type person you want to be
• Completely anonymous
• Fun to get more and more powerful
• Fun to kill stuff for prizes (credits, skills)
• Ultimate goal---WIZARD!

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My Addiction cont.

• Started in Fall 1993
• Honor Court/Escape reality
• Just 30 minutes a day, but..
• Class
• Papers
• Labs.
• My Marriage
• Credit cards
• Spring 1994 GPA.any guesses?

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MUD friends at UNC

• 3 of us at UNC
• Dennistaught me to code C in Teague, ended up
  getting his masters in CS at University of
  Texasjust up his alley!
• AmePRIME EXAMPLE of starMUDs addicting power
• Class, Social Life, GPA

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What made me quit?

• Grades/Parents
• Drugs?
• Student Psychological Services
• Internet Addiction

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Lets visit starMUD

• telnet//home.starmud.com4000/
• telnet//aus.stanford.edu2010
• http//www.achaea.com