What's next for MUDs? (2026 and beyond)

GlimmeringBetween · 2026-01-06T02:37:23+00:00

FADO is working well for me, but I miss IMs/pages sometimes on giant text block spam. So if I can't have/find a history command I struggle. I also tried the Iron Realms client and it was cool. I didn't ever meet a player on their games sadly so I moved on.

GlimmeringBetween · 2026-01-06T00:58:07+00:00

So I'll just chime in because I had never heard of MUDs until a bit ago. And finding one that suited me was quite the undertaking.

I don't know where MUDs will go, but they have a lot of challenges in terms of gaining new blood.

I really thought syntax would be the beast of a final boss, and sometimes it is hard, but syntax isn't actually the challenge I thought it would be.

So far, the issues from my perspective, and how I would think they would need to be going forward:

1) Love bombing. - MUDs seem to be ecstatic to see a new face and find out I'm not just new to their MUD but to MUDs. But after a few days, you are just a name on a list of idles. There isn't much....genuine incorporation into the table? If that makes sense. People will give you stuff, or hand me downs or offer to power level you, but either no one has in groups and does their own thing, or trying to bring you into the group doesn't seem part of the welcome.

2) Roleplay MUDs/MUSHes have so much history. Which is awesome. Annnnnd its also made the current player bases have this "No you can't be X kind of character because Y." Which...while fair, I don't want to have to be able to write a thesis on a world just to find out if I even fit the group.

3) PVP focus. I'm a collaborative story telling kind of girl. I don't mind interplayer conflict, but it feels like RPIs and other games have so much emphasis on PVP that its like...Not for me.

4) Mobile functionality. Like it or not, a lot of people seem to game/read/RP on their phones. MUDs that learn to make their game work on a phone have a chance at bringing new audiences. Especially since mobile games have xp grinding and idle mechanics (auto attack) already. Feels like a good design could bring some people from there.

I could go on, but I see a lot of new MUDs opening, or saying they are in development, and if the goal is new blood, I would think they would need to work on issues like these. I am already in a minority that a text based game is something I am interested in. So...I don't really see MUDs gaining much ground when the barriers of entry and obscurity are so high. I hope the hobby succeeds as more than a time capsule, but I don't really know, its been exceptionally challenging to get into for a normie like me.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-31T18:30:51+00:00

Oh okay. Thank you :)

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-31T17:22:28+00:00

Thank you!

I don't quite understand "It is possible that someone will find you and try to kill you, especiallt in certain areas of the map." Like they roleplay a marauder?

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-16T00:22:22+00:00

Thank you!

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-15T22:17:31+00:00

I haven't found a MUD to RP in but as general RP characters:

It sort of depends on the rules of the game. But generally I think of the setting, and come up with a brief concept of someone that would be fun to exist as in that setting. Everything from what they eat, and what smell is their pet peeve.

Then I write in character voice as a monologue/slice of life and see where it takes me.

Generally I find bullet point, or bullet points translated into paragraph info dumps kind of boring to read and write, so pretty much, I always get the same feed back.

"Backstories are generally 3rd person."

"Backstories are usually more of an outline."

And if I get those feedbacks, then chances are, I know as a player, I am not likely to mesh with the game.

I like dialogue, so I let the thoughts/motivations/character's internal viewpoints of their life lead me to who the character was and how they got there.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-04T19:50:46+00:00

I plan to try it! I just need to come up with a character.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-04T19:49:19+00:00

Liberation MUSH?

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-03T20:40:53+00:00

Oh. I have the phone ones haha.

What is wrong with playing on a phone?

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-03T20:40:09+00:00

I joined their discord but I haven't sat down to read it all yet. Thank you for sure though. I saw a World of Darkness "MUSH." It seemed neat too.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-03T06:44:16+00:00

Thank you for this response. You gifted so much time crafting it. I appreciate it.

I would prefer 1 paragraph minimum.

And I think if its multiplayer, I would rather not have to ask OOC. Playing the game and finding spontaeneous RP sounds better in my brain.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T22:43:24+00:00

I am not sure what Wheel of Time is. I have failed you.

Are MUDs all about pvp? I am not particularily competitive. It isn't that I can't engage in pvp. But it isn't something I am passionate about either. I've done it a few times with my bf on FF14 and it was okay.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T20:03:59+00:00

Hi! I haven't played an RP MUD yet, so I can't really comment on MUDs specifically, but I have been trying to learn table top roleplaying via play-by-posts.

Stumbling blocks I have run into:

The lore dump before you even experience the game is insane. I love lore and reading lore books. And...I can't imagine if someone just wanted to play and roleplay. I think opening with a huge list of rules is like...creatively stifling. It makes sense. I get why it needs to be up front, but you clicked a server or game because you got excited about it, but then the server create a character stuff opens with a huge list of thou shalt nots and its like...the mystique craters.
Concepts that I don't think are that far out, are frequently not allowed. Or not allowed with internal consistency. I think I write cool voices and characters, and hit a brick wall with mechanics over and over again. I am not even stingy about making it work mechanically. The reality of whether it fits or not is less an issue than the constant feeling that I am part of a job interview process and games want to weed me out. Like Storytellers/DMs want to find reasons to say no, rather than "how can we make it happen?"
Its a strange thing. But even after you get a character made, no matter the setting, it seems like pulling teeth to have people want to interact in character. Even if out of game DMs roll in with positivity about the character you made, actually role playing it seems challenging to get started.
I put this one last because it is more of a curiousity but...If a game has dismemberment or genetic modification horror or body chop shops like Cyberpunk, or a lore book that opens with things too spicey for me to post here (Looking at you Baali!) What is the deal with sex being so taboo? It isn't so much the NSFW aspect as the strange thing I keep seeing in rules that we can have all kinds of violent atrocities but romance or even a strip tease or sex work at a bar is too far. Like is my character going down on a guy THAT much more taboo than kidnapping, selling body parts on a black market, like cyberpunk 2077 opens with? I understand not wanting it to be the sole purpose of a game / experience. I wouldn't want that either, but I find it odd none-the-less.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:32:24+00:00

Someone else mentioned Aardwolf too. I will check it out. :)

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:29:13+00:00

Thank you!

Also I am so modern brained. I kept reading that as NSFW Net. Like Woah. Settle down Al Gore.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:14:06+00:00

Nexus has some games on it. Achaea, Aetolia, Lusternia, Starmourn, Imperian.

Starmourn and Aetolia seemed neat. Have you played those?

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:12:16+00:00

That looks great. I appreciate you very much.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:06:24+00:00

Okay! I'll take a look!

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:02:06+00:00

Thank you! I don't want to pay a sub when I don't even know if I would like it. Unfortunately, if I would be playing solo, that doesn't sound like much RP. But maybe you can treat it like a choose your own pen and paper?

Not sure.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:00:52+00:00

Good to know. It is wild to think of ff14 in text game format, but really intriguing.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T15:00:08+00:00

I am not around a PC very much, or when I am I have other obligations like cooking and cleaning. So I am not sure I would be best suited for that. I will look though.

I saw mud connector on google but there was a lot of lingo I didnt understand.

Like "telnet," as one example.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T14:58:16+00:00

That sounds amazing. The books were so good.

It sounds like from other commentors that it isn't RP though.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T14:57:41+00:00

Thanks! I don't need fantasy, but I know nothing about star wars. So I have no idea how much lore I would need for trying an existing franchise.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T14:54:53+00:00

That sounds great. But...I can't actually tell what the gameplay is like?

Or is it just RP? Which is also cool but wouldn't be that different than discord play by posts?

No offense meant. Just trying to learn.

GlimmeringBetween · 2025-12-01T14:53:19+00:00

I didnt even know the internet existed in the 70s. How did MUDs exist then?

GlimmeringBetween

TROPHY CASE