MUD stands for “multi-user dungeon.” MUDs are typically characterized as text-based proto-MMORPGs.
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Massively Overthinking: The oldest MMORPGs we still play
When I was still a teenager in my earliest MMOs, the trend in the communities I ran in was to play MMOs sequentially, due...
The Game Archaeologist: The history of play-by-email games
For most all of human history, people who wanted to play a game together usually had to be in physical proximity with each other....
MMOs you’ve never heard of: Red Stone, Euotopia, Ogre Island, Stendhal, and Astonia
Welcome back to another roundup of MMOs and MMO-adjacent games you’ve (probably) never heard of — or have totally forgotten about until now! If you're...
Vague Patch Notes: Chronicles of Elyria’s road to nowhere
I honestly cannot stop thinking about Chronicles of Elyria. Not in the sense of surprise, mind you; this was pretty much one of the...
Global Chat: Is Animal Crossing New Horizons an MMO?
One trend that we have noticed over the past decade or so is the blurring of lines between "regular" video games and MMORPGs. It...
Fight or Kite: Hackmud is more than a MUD – it’s a living cyberpunk world
As these words loaded into your browser, sending bits and bytes across a vast array of interconnected wires and tubes, someone is typing away...
The Game Archaeologist’s ultimate MMO archives v3.0
Behind history are people and stories, some of them well-known and some of them obscure. It has been my mission in The Game Archaeologist...
BatMUD, a 29-year-old MMO, is now on Steam
Where were you in 1990? Did you even exist then? Because if you happened to be around 29 years ago, you could have jumped...
Into the Super-verse: 13 text-based superhero MMOs you can play today
As part of this column covering superhero MMORPGs, we have looked at the usual suspects: MMOs of the past (Champions Online, City of Heroes,...
Remembering the life and work of legendary MMO designer Brad ‘Aradune’ McQuaid
When the news hit last night, it brought everything to a screeching halt in the Massively OP office: At the age of 51, veteran...
Raph Koster’s new MMORPG will reward social gameplay, not just hack-n-slash
Since announcing he is building a new MMORPG with the apparently respectably funded new Playcraft studio, Raph Koster has been doing a long string...
The Game Archaeologist: A brief history of Multi-User Dungeons
You know that sinking feeling when you get into something that's way, waaaay over your head and you have no choice but to swim...
Lusternia replaces its producer as the text-based MMO/MUD turns 15 years old
The timing for this bit of Lusternia news couldn't be worse, to be completely frank. The MUD's producer, Robb "Estarra" French, has been ejected...
PC preorders for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online have now begun
We interrupt this week's raging dumpster fire to point you to last fall's dumpster fire! Yes, Rockstar Games has officially opened preorders for the...
Working As Intended: What it means to be an MMORPG
I am amused and somewhat bewildered to admit that I have my very own pet troll. He follows me around on Reddit to hassle...
Perfect Ten: MMOs that flirted with permadeath
This month, Dungeons and Dragons Online will be venturing where many MMORPGs have feared to tread: into the realm of officially supported permadeath. The...
Tracing the lineage of the modern MMORPG
Do you ever wonder where the MMORPG was born? If you said, "The internet, duh," you're technically correct but also a huge smartass. But...
The Game Archaeologist: Sierra’s Fates of Twinion and Ruins of Cawdor
A few years ago I regaled you with the fascinating tale of one of the very first multiplayer graphical MUDs, the absurdly named Shadow...
Surprise! Chat Wars is apparently still a thing
I suspect when you saw the title of Chat Wars, you responded with either a wave of nostalgia or a headtilt of confusion. Turns...
Space MUD Starmourn adds Bounty Hunters, new zones, and more
How is it that there's a gigantic new space MMO with a dozen playable races, starship combat, exploration, trading, and even hacking on the...
