A MUD with Graphics

Early in my high school days I was introduced to an online game called a MUD. MUD is an acronym for "Multi User Dungeon". Now, mind you, that this is well before the Internet as we know it. The primary way to get information was to use the Gopher client, and HTML web pages were just was well looked at through a text browser like Lynx than through a graphical browser. Netscape was in an early version; Internet Explorer didn't exist.

The MUDs were completely text based fantasy lands, role playing games coded in C and hosted off from a Unix server. The best thing about these games was the complete customizability of them. The source code was always included with them which gave the ability to add or change any part of the game; areas, monsters, weapons, items, the list goes on and on. Bottom line -- if you wanted to do something in a MUD, with an experienced enough coder, it could be done.

Although you could theme a MUD to pretty much anything, and most MUDs came pre-packaged with a generic area set, the one I played was based heavily on Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series. If you like fantasy novels, I would suggest this series highly. I think there are eight books now in the series.

Anyway, these MUDs were extremely addicting. I spent many, many hours playing; doing quests, killing monsters, engaging in battles with other players. I attribute my ability to type 100+ words a minute to playing these games, bottom line was if you couldn't type quicky, you were going to be killed. At a few points I was so engrossed in the game that I dreampt in text, believing I was actually part of the MUD.

Then, one day, as fast as the addiction came on, it was gone. I no longer wanted to spend my every waking hour playing. I'd play now and again but never like I used to. But now there is something new.

To pass time because of shortage of funds I aquired Final Fantasy XI. Yes, that's right, eleven. I've played most of the other Final Fantasy games in the past on Playstation and Playstation 2, and I would consider myself a big fan. I was excited to play XI because of a new twist -- the game was entirely online.

Aside of the fact that it took me over six hours to install, the game is incredible. Attention was paid to every single detail, making the game the most complex in it's entirety than any other game I've played. But now I have a problem.

I can't stop playing. It's a MUD with graphics.