Best MUDs in 2023

[Absinthe]

so there is absolutely zero need to adapt to newer versions or technologies

I don't think so. I played an actively developed mud that had 20 year old bugs with the end of line character which simply couldn't be solved due to protocol.
You could literally have sex with them, they reached the age of consent. In a few years they'll hit the wall.

Tbh, they could have fixed telnet's ambiguous newline standard and client implementation clusterfuck by implementing ssh. Even a ssh tunnel can be used to standardize inputs. They could also just check which EOL character(s) the client is using and have the server adjust accordingly on their end, although that could be annoying depending on the implementation.

Regardless, my point stands about how there has been zero need to adapt to telnet protocol changes because it's still the same shit.

 

[gamerguy]

if there's no ssh, who cares?... these are makeshift whatever boxes on the interweb with db backups


literally zero risk

 

[Zeriel]

Shangri-la MUX. It probably takes ~10 minutes to set up a character that can be tentacle raped.

I don't know what it says that the only two MU*s that are still alive are Shang and the loli containment zone after they banned lolis. Probably that the genre is dead, I guess. The only people who play it are 30 year old boomers and older.

Shangri-la MUX. It probably takes ~10 minutes to set up a character that can be tentacle raped.

Welcome to the land of Shang... sexual predators.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MUD/comments/jykhza/shangrilas_ban_hammer_all_about_the_victims/

On that day, a player shared with the group that, at some unknown time in the past, I (Sloth) sought to "cam" with a separate player that I knew was underage. Despite the fact that zero details were given--who, when, what it meant to "cam" with this person--it was decided that this "fit" my overall nature. That I was a sexual predator. That my history of predation was lengthy, involved numerous victims, and that other staff members knew of it and covered it up. Various suggestions were made for how this information should best be used, including contacting the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (???). Instead, it was decided to have one of their number log in anonymously, and share all of my alleged "crimes," along with their belief that the rest of staff was aiding and abetting my deplorable acts by covering it up.

You may end up on a list if you start playing this MUD.

He was doing that since the MU* started, pretty much. 2001, 2002 or thereabouts. Literally everyone knew about it, then staff pretended they didn't. Pretty funny. It's like the entire US government pretending for decades they didn't know anything about Epstein. As mentioned, staff on all MU*s are just people you should avoid, across the board. Nothing good can come of interacting with them.

 

[Absinthe]

if there's no ssh, who cares?... these are makeshift whatever boxes on the interweb with db backups


literally zero risk

Encryption is desirable for the same reason you'd like encryption on internet chatrooms even if you're just out to shoot the shit and talk about whatever.

 

[gamerguy]

if there's no ssh, who cares?... these are makeshift whatever boxes on the interweb with db backups


literally zero risk

Encryption is desirable for the same reason you'd like encryption on internet chatrooms even if you're just out to shoot the shit and talk about whatever.

you don't have to nerdsplain the value of encryption to me... i'm explaining to you why it doesn't always happen here


unless you're the dipshit army reserve guy with a nazi paraphanelia collection and state secrets to share, who the fuck cares lol

 

[Bester]

Encryption does nothing but protect against the man in the middle attack. How often do you get attacked like that? And who could possibly want to steal your mud account that way? Nobody needs encryption.

 

[Norfleet]

Encryption does nothing but protect against the man in the middle attack. How often do you get attacked like that? And who could possibly want to steal your mud account that way?

It's definitely a very rare attack vector, particularly on something like a MUD. You will most likely be ratted out by the MUD administrators, rather than by anyone in the middle, since a direct connection to them, encrypted or not, gives away your position. So ssh would get you nothing here, unless you're sshing to a remote controlled box and then telnetting out from there.

Nobody needs encryption.

I wouldn't say nobody needs it, but you don't need it end-to-end. You only need outgoing encryption, to prevent your ISP from seeing where you're going and what you're doing. Tor will be fine for this purpose.

 

[Levenmouth]

Man, you guys sure are taking that erotic role play opsec seriously.

SSH would be a good thing to have and there’s no reason not to have it aside from having to put it in place, but I agree with gamerguy. These are very amateurish servers run by randos. I fully expect them to accidentally leak the entire user db and game logs because someone forgot to update Temple OS the thing runs on.

If there was anything embarrassing in a MUD that I didn’t want linked to me, I would be much more worried about some admin using it as blackmail as opposed the ISP intercepting packets.

 

[Norfleet]

Opsec should always be taken seriously. When you get used to taking it seriously even in trivial things, it becomes second nature for anything that truly needs it. Also, it stands out less. If you suddenly start hiding only when you have something to hide, it'll be suspicious. If you hide even when there's nothing to hide, people just get used to your paranoia.

 

[Absinthe]

It's more like the principle of not wanting people to open and read your mail even if there's nothing remotely sensitive or incriminating in it.

 

[Bester]

It's more like the principle of not wanting people to open and read your mail even if there's nothing remotely sensitive or incriminating in it.

Except my wife has read my emails despite the fancy https protocol, but nobody has ever snooped on my mud traffic despite me playing it for 10 years.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Buddy, your phone is listening to you breathe at this moment.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Mud.​

 

[Norfleet]

Buddy, your phone is listening to you breathe at this moment.

I don't have a phone.

 

[Levenmouth]

Buddy, your phone is listening to you breathe at this moment.

Based. I hope it's listening at all other times of the day too.

 

[Levenmouth]

Threads dies after almost no discussion of actual MUDs...

 

[Sibylla]

I was soured on roleplay muds after having to suck up to a mentor in Achaea to level up my class. It attracts these cringe types who should stick to MUSHes instead.

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Why would you play in mud it's filthy

 

[Absinthe]

Threads dies after almost no discussion of actual MUDs...

If you have any MUDs you want to discuss, by all means feel free to.

I was soured on roleplay muds after having to suck up to a mentor in Achaea to level up my class. It attracts these cringe types who should stick to MUSHes instead.

Roleplay MUDs are an even bigger case of sifting through trash than regular MUDs. They definitely promote circlejerks and narcissistic bullshit.

 

[Levenmouth]

I was soured on roleplay muds after having to suck up to a mentor in Achaea to level up my class. It attracts these cringe types who should stick to MUSHes instead.

Roleplay MUDs are an even bigger case of sifting through trash than regular MUDs. They definitely promote circlejerks and narcissistic bullshit.

Not a fan of Achaea, but it's pretty okay in terms of not having to suck up to people. The whole politics bit inside of Houses/Guilds/Whatever-they-are-now and Cities is pretty optional, and you can ignore it for the most part. It's nowhere close to the level of sucking up of Armageddon or worse Atonement RPI or something, where you'll just get your character tortured and killed by annoying someone.

What does suck about Achaea and other IRE muds is that they are PURELY pay2win. Not only would it take literal years for you to just learn all skills as a free player, but the amount of power you can buy through the cash shop is just obscene. Want to see everyone on the map? Done. Want to be invisible? Done. Want a sword that deals more damage? Done. That'll be $4500 please. I don't know if PvP is still a thing, but even that was pay2win, because it mostly depended on buying a macro pack from another player that essentially ran all your debuffs for you. Even the grind you can skip by paying someone to level you up. There's basically nothing you can't buy with real money in that game and some stuff that you can only realistically buy with real money, like player housing and overpowered cash shop items.

Spoiler

Yes, still salty 20 years later.

Isn't the entire genre kind of dead nowadays though? I recently played a bit Achaea and Aetolia and didn't run into a single person. WHO showed like 20-30 people online.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

How do I hook up with a MUD girlfriend
Will she play CowRP with me?

 

[Absinthe]

Generally the bigger and more impersonal the MUD is the less you're going to deal with admin circlejerks. Why would you play a P2W MUD though? 20 years ago there were a hell of a lot of other active MUDs you could play instead.

 

[Levenmouth]

They advertise well and it's not immediately apparent if it's babby's first MUD.

 

[PapaPetro]

Any Gemstone IV or Dragonrealms players around that can tell me how those MUDs are holding up?
I played the shit out of GS3 back in the AOL days before graphical MMOs sucked all the air out of the scene. Ah the good old days as I went by "Shuricain"...
Good memories.
Improved my typing skills.

 

[massifist]

Any Gemstone IV or Dragonrealms players around that can tell me how those MUDs are holding up?
I played the shit out of GS3 back in the AOL days before graphical MMOs sucked all the air out of the scene. Ah the good old days as I went by "Shuricain"...
Good memories.
Improved my typing skills.

I played GS3 in the AOL days. It was lots of fun then but I suspect it would fall short of expectations today. I can't speak for DR but from what I've heard about GS4 you might be better off with the good memories.

There's a reddit but is seems almost abandoned which might provide another clue about the communities overall health. Or maybe everyone just migrated to discord.