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"So what's a MUSH, anyway?" I can hear you asking. Well, it's a long story. If you're really interested, you can find more information on the MUSH Links page. In the meantime, here's the short version:

Long, long ago, back in the wild and woolly days of mainframe computing, certain intellectual types developed a kind of souped-up database that would let them play role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons over a computer network.

No, we're not talking Neverwinter Nights here...this is decidedly low-tech.

The original incarnations of this type of game were known as MUDs, an acronym for "Multi-User Dungeon." Nice, huh?

After a while, MUDs began springing up on mainframes at major college campuses, research laboratories, government think-tanks, etc. etc. etc. In addition to role-playing, folks began to use them for collaboration and socialization—early "chat rooms."

As the applications and focuses changed, so did the acronym—the term MUD is often reserved for hardcore gaming and role-playing environments. Other permutations include MUCKs, MUSEs, MUSHes, and MOOs. You'll usually find the catchall "MU*" used to refer to the whole spectrum. These variants often tend to be more social in nature—MOOs are often used for educational applications, for instance.

With today's advances in individual computing power and advanced graphics, MU*s seem almost quaint. There are still many that exist, though, and even thrive. ( The MUD Connector lists over 1600 MUDs!) Recent games like EverQuest and Neverwinter Nights, and chat environments like The Palace and Habbo Hotel attempt to translate the MU* experience into graphics, and succeed to a certain extent. Most seem to be missing an extended social aspect, though, confining players dialogue to "speech bubbles" that limit conversation. And, as cool as the graphics can be (Neverwinter Nights is indeed beautiful) these games can still (IMHO) fall short of the pure imaginative power and flexibility of words alone. (Whaddya expect from an English teacher, eh?)