MUD stands for “multi-user dungeon.” MUDs are typically characterized as text-based proto-MMORPGs.
mud
Five pioneering game titles that laid the groundwork for MMORPGs
The easy (and tired) joke to make is that WoW was the first MMO, but there were plenty of ambitious multiplayer games that predate...
One Shots: Past your curfew
One lesser-known fact about the life of adventurers is that they all have to submit to a daily curfew. By the time the sun's...
Simutronics’ new mech hero shooter Galahad 3093 plans an open beta for March 19
It's a mech game! It's a hero shooter! It's from the company best known for GemStone IV and DragonRealms, a pair of MUDs which...
Legends of the Jedi is a Star Wars MUD that has just kicked off its first era
Let's all travel back in time to a point when MMORPGs weren't graphics-based but were all text-based affairs played out in the theater of...
Global Chat: Revisiting all of SOE’s game history
I'm always a sucker for a good timeline, which is why I perked up at seeing Wilhelm at Ancient Gaming Noob trace out the...
Gemini Station is a text-based sci-fi MMO you can play from anywhere
Text-based MMOs have come a long, long way since their olden days with monochrome monitors and fizzling baud modems. Newer text-based titles might surprise...
The Game Archaeologist: Seven ways EverQuest reshaped MMO history
To many veteran MMO players, the opening horns of EverQuest's score are enough to trigger vivid memories, violent hallucinations, and an unstoppable desire to...
Massively Overthinking: Our MMO predictions for 2021
So... 2020 didn't go exactly as anyone planned. Our predictions for this past year were pretty janked up by that whole pandemic thing and...
Massively OP’s 2020 Awards: Biggest MMO Disappointment of 2020
MassivelyOP’s end-of-the-year awards for 2020 continue today with our award for Biggest MMO Disappointment of 2020, which was awarded jointly to the cancellation of...
The Game Archaeologist’s ultimate MMO archives v4.0
By far, my favorite column to write here at Massively OP (and the one that always takes the longest) is The Game Archaeologist. I've...
Perfect Ten: 10 reasons MMOs struggle with underwater content
In Final Fantasy XIV, players could fly before they could swim. There's no joke there. The game's first expansion added the ability to fly through...
MMO Burnout: Red Dead Redemption 2 succeeds in spite of itself
I have very little experience in the Red Dead world. I can recall wandering around Best Buy nearly two decades ago and encountering an...
Perfect Ten: 10 notable MMO developers that shut their doors
When En Masse Entertainment announced that it would be closing its doors this fall, we here at Massively OP came to the realization that...
Massively Overthinking: Are isometric MMOs more or less immersive than 3-D?
I was chit-chatting with MOP reader (and prolific tipster!) Panagiotis the other day about Ultima Online's big news when he hit on a topic...
MUD network and roleplaying repository Skotos celebrates 20th anniversary with retirement
While many old-school MMORPG players came from MUDs, I didn't: I didn't even know they existed until several years into playing Ultima Online and...
The Game Archaeologist: Mirrorworld
In this column, we have previously journeyed to lands where you saw not with your eyes, but with your imagination. I speak, of course,...
World Seed makes an MMO out of a board game
When you think about it, combining board games with MMORPGs isn't the worst idea in the world. Graphical MUDs and games like Stash have...
One Shots: A daring jump into two dimensions
While most of what we think of as MMORPGs are lush, three-dimensional worlds, there are several that are portrayed in just two (or, in...
Massively OP Podcast Episode 277: All the wonder in the ‘verse
Justin and Bree discuss LOTRO, WoW Classic, Black Desert, Star Wars Squadrons, DC Universe Online, Torchlight III, and Anarchy Online, with adventures in RIFT, SWG Legends, and The Outer Worlds, and mailbag topics on LOTRO leveling, MUDs, and the next generation of MMO fans.
MMO Business Roundup: Paradox signs union agreement, shareholders slam Activision-Blizzard
Welcome back to another quickie roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent gaming industry business news.
Activision-Blizzard is under fire yet again for its corporate management, this...
