Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - What are the differences between a MUD and a MUSH?

KaVir · 09-21-2009, 09:38 AM

As jackal59mo2 stated, a MUSH is a type of MUD. Or more precisely, MUSH is a derivative of TinyMUD, which is the parent of one of the three main families of MUD. TinyMUDs usually tend to be more socially oriented than other types of MUD, and typically have less support for coded mechanics (such as combat).

The other two main families are DikuMUD and LPMud, both of which tend to be more game-oriented. DikuMUD is primarily hardcoded, and provides you with a fully working game out-of-the-box, which is perhaps one of the reasons why it's proven so popular. LPMud (which also drew inspiration from TinyMUD) usually requires more work to get started, but has its own powerful scripting language, which provides certain advantages in the long term.

All three of the above MUD families were inspired by AberMUD, which was the first popular open source MUD. AberMUD was inspired by MIST, which was a derivative of the original Multi-User Dungeon (aka MUD), named after the single-player game Dungeon (more commonly known today as Zork).

There are hundreds of different MUD codebases available today, but the majority of them still belong to one of the three main families.

09-21-2009, 09:38 AM	#5
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	Re: What are the differences between a MUD and a MUSH? As jackal59mo2 stated, a MUSH is a type of MUD. Or more precisely, MUSH is a derivative of TinyMUD, which is the parent of one of the three main families of MUD. TinyMUDs usually tend to be more socially oriented than other types of MUD, and typically have less support for coded mechanics (such as combat). The other two main families are DikuMUD and LPMud, both of which tend to be more game-oriented. DikuMUD is primarily hardcoded, and provides you with a fully working game out-of-the-box, which is perhaps one of the reasons why it's proven so popular. LPMud (which also drew inspiration from TinyMUD) usually requires more work to get started, but has its own powerful scripting language, which provides certain advantages in the long term. All three of the above MUD families were inspired by AberMUD, which was the first popular open source MUD. AberMUD was inspired by MIST, which was a derivative of the original Multi-User Dungeon (aka MUD), named after the single-player game Dungeon (more commonly known today as Zork). There are hundreds of different MUD codebases available today, but the majority of them still belong to one of the three main families.