Hello
Have a few questions about the making of a mud and it seems it is more of legal questions

1.when a new mud is coded/built, it always seems to use the same usual type of setup(rooms, descriptions and such). Isn't that copyrighted for each mud?

2.when a story is selected, what are the main points looked at?Any legal issues?

3.when building a mud, is the world coming first or is the story first?


Thanks guys

1 - If you see the same type of rooms/descriptions in a couple of MUDs, it'll be because they're based off the same stock code. This code, along with a whole bunch of areas, was released into the public domain and is free for anyone to use as long as the appropriate credits are left in place. You'll find that areas which are unique to a certain MUD are usually not released into the public domain.

2 - If by story you mean setting, then there can be legal issues yes. For instance, only IRE has the right to develop a MUD based on Raymond E Feists Midkemia world, and some other authors go after people who use their Intellectual Property (IP) very strongly to prevent it being misused. Some MUDs get away with it because they're too small to notice or never take off (or as a different example, MUDs based on the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan survive because he turns a blind eye to them), but that doesn't make it right and there could be legal repurcussions if the person who owns the IP later discovers the game and decides to take action. The best bet is to come up with your own setting if you want to avoid any legal nasties.

3 - This can be a hotly debated topic. My view is that without an interesting backstory or setting to your game it's just a flat and lifeless imitation of a world. Then again, if you're developing a purely PvP game it's often not so much of an issue. Still, this is one that's up the the admins of a MUD to decide.

One thing I'll mention at this point is that developing a MUD is a LOT harder than it looks. Since you only recently discovered them I can understand the desire to get stuck in and possibly try starting your own, but if you want to do that you must ensure you have the right skills for the job. Personally I'd say you need to be a coder of sufficient skill to be the head coder of your game, as people who advertise for a head coder rarely get any offers because the people skilled enough to do it either don't want to or they start their own game. Even if you do have the skills it's a time-cosuming thing to do on your own (though not impossible) and assembling a good team can be difficult as there are plenty of people out there who think they'd make a good MUD staff member but sadly very few who actually would.

I recommend you to visit Richard A. Bartle's website, one of the creators of the first MUDs. You'll notice that a lot of things seen in other codebases like DIKU comes from there.

Look at the graphics mmmrpgs. Most of them have a healthbar, and manabar minimally. Some of them show some kind of map. They are very similar yet somewhat different.

Thank you for the responses
I do have a few friends coders and people who would be interested in doing something like that,but again,nothing certain.
Have to choose a story(either invent one,either use a sci-fi/fantasy book) and such

If you do decide to go ahead, I'd suggest making up your own. If you want to use someone elses IP, you really need permission. At the very least post on here with your thoughts on what setting you'd like to use and others with more knowledge can advise you about whether the owner of that particular setting actively pursues people who use their IP without permission or not.