I can't help but think, "Why is it that I continue to come to this blue and gold website?" Of all sites to spend my time on, why this one? As these thoughts cross my mind in real-time (They are real-time to me) and my fingers hit the keys on my keyboard, I recall my earlier days, prior to discovering BYOND in 2001. I recall the games I was once most fond of, the games that had much detail in text yet lacked in graphics, that's right, I'm talking about MUD's.
MUD's are texted based multiplayer online roleplaying games and I've played every variation from Star Wars to classic Dungeons and Dragons-esque games. I can still remember typing "cast 'magic missile' imp". That's right, you had to type out every single command, and I loved it. The game was very detailed. In most muds, every object could be interacted with. Sure there were no real graphics aside from the ASCII-drawn sort, but the detail was there. The MUD community was very popular on such sites as mudconnector.com or mudmagic.com. Many codebases were released, allowing newbie coders like myself to get one up and running using a Unix Shell Account that some mud hosting sites provided for free. The developers on the forums were more than happy to help you get started.
I felt a strong bond with many of the other developers and players. Some of those involved in the community were accountants, college students, high school students, programmers, delivery boys/girls; there was such a huge variety of people and yet they were all brought together for the love of mudding and roleplaying in a gaming world that only required a dial-up connection and the Windows telnet client. Pretty simple, huh?
I guess when I found BYOND, I found something new yet old. Here I was in 8th grade, barely stumbling upon what appeared to be a newly developed gaming community of both gamers and developers. Make my own graphical multiplayer roleplaying game? No way. But yes, it was there, it was all there, and I decided there and then that BYOND would be my new home.
To be continued..
