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I'm a historian (M.A. in European History and if my health ever improves I'll be looking at that PhD next) so I've long been looking for a historical MUD (and if not historical, at least one which is patterned after the historical model). Unfortunately, I've been met with nothing but frustration in this search. The MUDs with historical settings are usually not very accurate to the history they're portraying. There are a few fantasy MUDs (like Harshlands) which while not being historical tend toward a closer representation of medieval life than most.
Historical MUDs do have their problems which is why they're probably next-to-impossible to find. When designing my own MUD, I had originally intended to be strictly historical. But there were problems with that idea which led me to opt with an original world closely patterned after the historical model.
First, there's the issue of size. To recreate even a small portion of the real world is an immense project because if you want to show any detail at all, you need a scale capable of doing so. When you do that, if you want to create historical geography, you're left with a lot of building.
Furthermore, even though I'm a historian, finding others with the same or greater understanding of the period involved is not easy. And admittedly, I don't know everything there is to know about even my own specific field, much less one centuries later.
Adding to these problems is history itself. If one follows the historical timeline, you're faced with several issues. First, there's the issue of researching and recreating. That takes a lot of work and you might even miss details (like I said, not everyone's a historian). Additionally, this can lead to a stale setting if not handled properly. Secondly, if you do use the historical model, you're faced with players possessing and possibly acting on information they shouldn't yet have. This can be resolved by avoiding the historical precedent, but if you do that, are you truly a historical MUD anymore? Changing the progression of history can lead to further changes which eventually results in a significant deviation from the historical model anyway.
Thus, when I started working seriously on my own project, I opted to maintain the socio-cultural setting, but put it in an original world carefully patterned after the real-world historical model. It's taking a lot more effort, but I'm hoping the result will be worth it. Additionally, a lot of work will have to be done to maintain the setting and keep it following a similar trail to that of the historical period it's duplicating. So, while the world in my game is not historical, the feel of it will be.
My question is, does it count as a historical MUD? As far as recreating the socio-cultural conditions of the historical period, it'll be very, very close (only minor cosmetic changes) and I doubt there's ever been a MUD which has come as close to recreating the socio-cultural setting of a period. But the setting itself, while very familiar to the real-world, is entirely original. Of course, listing it as fantasy is misleading since there will be none of the staples of that genre.
I've found that most of the MUDs listed as "historical" bear little or no resemblance to the historical periods they're emulating and some don't even appear to be historical at all! By comparison, my project will be vastly more faithful to historical detail yet the historian in me is hesitant to refer to it as "historical". In the end, I'll probably list it as such since it wouldn't fit into any other genre and is far more historical than the rest of that category. But it does beg the question of what constitutes admission into that category.
Thoughts and comments?
Take care,
Jason
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