9

PLACES IN THE LAND

MUD has been growing in size since it was written, as Richard Bartle, the game's co-author and current maintainer, expands and modifies it. The MUD running on university computers now consists of about four hundred rooms, and the commercial version is made up of over one thousand rooms, some of which came from the university version. It's a bit much to get to grips with, so MUSE, who run the commercial version of MUD, have thoughtfully provided an incomplete map with every starter-pack they sell. Using this, you'll be able to find your way around and soon you'll be adding to the map as your explorations carry you further into the unknown. Only when you make it to wizard do MUSE supply you with a map showing all MUD's locations.

Upon your first game of MUD, visit the gravedigger' s cottage which is west and south of the starting position. After that, a trip to the swamp is in order (in case you have found some treasure, or just for the experience). Getting to the swamp is usually no problem, all you need do is type SWAMP (or GO SWAMP) and MUD will determine the proper direction for you. This doesn't work for any locations apart from the swamp though, so you can't type GO ISLAND and expect to get there. To reach the island, you have to descend a very steep cliff and traverse some fairly treacherous waters on a small raft. One slip, and you'll drown (losing all your treasure), but since you're not DEAD DEAD you can come back into the game, little the worse for wear. Watch out for the shark though, because it's quite capable of killing you (DEAD DEAD this time!) and it's very, very nasty. Once you finally reach the island, you have to avoid the dragon, which will most certainly slaughter you if it happens upon you (or you happen upon it!). And for what do you endure these hardships? Beneath the ring of stones lies a cache of druidical treasure of fantastic value, but to get to it you must first solve a number of - often deadly - puzzles.

In the original version of MUD running on Compunet and at Essex University, insofar as MUD has places which you can put dates to, everything gets older the further away from the Start that you wander. Thus the house has a 1930s' look while to the far north of the mainland the disused railway line and tin mine have a post-Industrial Revolution feel. The galleon out at sea gives the impression of being related to the Mary Rose, conjuring up visions of swashbuckling pirates and smugglers.

Underneath the mainland in places like the dwarven realm we seem to enter a Tolkien-like world of Middle Earth while, further afield, in places like the shrine, or the druid chamber beneath the ring of stones on the island there are echoes of an Arthurian Britain: objects like the chalice, sacrificial stone slabs and extremely powerful magic reinforce this impression. Some players associate the Island of Woe with its enormous arch, which bestows temporary invisibility on those who pass through it, with Grecian myths.

The new MUD is not so clear-cut in its layout. For a start it incorporates VALLEY, the mini-MUD consisting of around a hundred rooms, which currently lies directly east of Start. In Essex and Compunet MUD, if you go east from Start, however (you squeeze through the narrow gap . . .), you find yourself out of the game and you have to re-enter via VALLEY or MUD. Only wizards can hop from one game to the other with the command SUPERGO - and even they can't carry objects with them from one game to the other (the databases couldn't take it). In the new MUD, even mortals can wander freely between the two Lands and, since players begin the game in random locations (the dangerousness of which is related to their current level), the feeling that everything begins at Start should dissipate. Most of the new MUD'S additions are said to lie north of VALLEY and north-east of MUD, though at the time of writing rumours abound of a vast refurbishing taking place to the desolate Admiral Bonbow Inn in VALLEY and of new tunnels being dug deep within the mine to allow greater interconnection. There is also rumour of a great realm in the mountains where fabulous treasure awaits those brave enough to climb there. There is only one thing for it - you have to explore it for yourself.

It's very important to make detailed, complete maps on your journey to wizdom. If you don't try all the possible exits from every location, you'll surely miss many important locations, perhaps even whole por- tions of the Land. And what's the point of slogging through a difficult maze, only to have to solve it again next time, because you don't remember how you managed before?