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'''The Mud Connector''', abbreviated '''TMC''', is a computer gaming web site which provides articles, discussions, reviews, resource links and game listings about [[MUD]]s.{{R|ywwr}} The site allows MUD owners, administrators and enthusiasts to submit information and reviews about specific MUDs.{{R|complete-internet-gamer|writing-ish}} [[Richard Bartle]] has recognized the site as containing over 1000 MUD listings,{{R|mcclellan}} while the NY Times and America Online have recognized the site for its virtual communities suitable for children.{{R|slatalla|aol-guide}} The Mud Connector website has been referenced in over 50 print publications{{R|googlebooks}} and has received over 50 research citations.{{R|googlescholar}}
'''The Mud Connector''', abbreviated '''TMC''', is a computer gaming web site which provides articles, discussions, reviews, resource links and game listings about [[MUD]]s.{{R|ywwr}} The site allows MUD owners, administrators and enthusiasts to submit information and reviews about specific MUDs.{{R|complete-internet-gamer|writing-ish}} [[Richard Bartle]] has recognized the site as containing over 1000 MUD listings,{{R|mcclellan}} while the NY Times and America Online have recognized the site for its virtual communities suitable for children.{{R|slatalla|aol-guide}} The Mud Connector website has been referenced in over 50 print publications{{R|googlebooks}} and has received over 50 research citations.{{R|googlescholar}} The Mud Companion magazine discussed the Mud Connector in some of its articles,<ref name="mudcompanion-coder">{{cite journal |author = John Bellone |title = So you want to be a coder, eh? |journal = The Mud Companion |date = March 2002 |issue = 3 |page = 28 |issn = 1499-1071 |quote = There are good resources on the Internet that deal with codebases, one of which is the Mud Connector ... The Mud Connector has a lot of great information}}</ref> and one issue dedicated an entire article to using the Mud Connector to find the right MUD.<ref name="mudcompanion-interface">{{cite journal |author = Michael Tresca |title = An interface only a mother could love |journal = The Mud Companion |date = Winter 2001 |issue = 2 |page = 42 |issn = 1499-1071 |quote = Take a look at the latest MUDs (http://www.mudconnect.com/mudcategory.html), and you'll see there are a lot to choose from. In fact, there are too many to choose from; 1,795 when this article was written. The good news: it's fairly easy to distinguish the good MUDs from the bad MUDs. The bad news: there are a LOT of bad MUDs. It's just a matter of sorting through the chaff and finding the MUD that's right for you. Got your notepad open? Good! ..."}}</ref>



==History==
==History==

Revision as of 22:36, 1 March 2016

The Mud Connector
The Mud Connector's logo
Type of site
Computer gaming website
OwnerAndrew Cowan
Created byAndrew Cowan
URLhttp://www.mudconnect.com/
RegistrationOptional and free

The Mud Connector, abbreviated TMC, is a computer gaming web site which provides articles, discussions, reviews, resource links and game listings about MUDs.[1] The site allows MUD owners, administrators and enthusiasts to submit information and reviews about specific MUDs.[2][3] Richard Bartle has recognized the site as containing over 1000 MUD listings,[4] while the NY Times and America Online have recognized the site for its virtual communities suitable for children.[5][6] The Mud Connector website has been referenced in over 50 print publications[7] and has received over 50 research citations.[8] The Mud Companion magazine discussed the Mud Connector in some of its articles,[9] and one issue dedicated an entire article to using the Mud Connector to find the right MUD.[10]


History

The Mud Connector website was founded on January 8, 1995, by Andrew Cowan and was hosted on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro mathematics department graduate assistants' Linux server.[11] Shortly after the website was created it was believed lost due to a fatal hard disk crash and poor backup preparations; however, within a few months the webpage was found in a Netscape cache file and restored.[12] Initial MUD data was gathered via frequent requests made on Usenet newsgroups such as rec.games.mud.admin inviting MUD administrators to submit their muds to the TMC database. Over time the Usenet postings were phased out and TMC outgrew the capabilities of its host, eventually moving to a dedicated server.[13]

Community

Forums

The TMC Discussion forums were powered by a proprietary engine that is derived from Radiation's discontinued bulletin board system, called Hyperthread.[14] Discussion threads were readable by all TMC visitors, however, only TMC members could contribute to the discussions. TMC's discussion boards were not proactively moderated, instead a system existed for the reporting of topics which violated the website's terms of service. Following a controversial series of policy changes involving new moderation rules, the forum section of TMC was removed temporarily from the site on 29 July, 2013. On August 12, 2013, the forums returned, however, the custom TMC discussions software was replaced by SMF; Additionally, a moderation team was added to the forums.

Admin and Player Submitted Reviews

TMC accepts review submissions from MUD administrators and owners as well as their players. These review submissions are not automatically posted to the website, they are first examined by TMC staff to verify that they fit with the site's review submission guidelines. MUDs listed on TMC are not required to allow review postings, when the first review submission is received the administrator of the mud is notified and has the option of flagging the listing to prevent all reviews from being posted.

Editorial Content

TMC Official Reviews

TMC provides staff-written reviews for muds which specifically request or accept an invitation by TMC to be reviewed. Over the years the TMC review team has changed frequently and often there have been large gaps of time between reviews. A typical TMC staff review is assigned to a single reviewer with the goal of breaking down the mud's gameplay into three main categories: Theme, Atmosphere and World. Additional notes are provided regarding anything that doesn't fit into one of the main categories and finally the reviewer's experience is summarized. Early reviews allowed the mud administration to include their feedback to the points covered in the review.

The Mud of the Month

In September 1995 TMC introduced a section to the website called "Mud of the Month". MUDs chosen as MUD of the Month were seen by the TMC staff to stand out in some way, to exhibit excellence and provide high quality examples of games prospective players might find available. Initially the MUD of the Month program ran for 3 months, the MUDs chosen during this time were JediMUD in September 1995, LegendMUD in October 1995 and Ancient Anguish in November 1995. A two year hiatus followed, and in January 1998 the MUD of the Month feature returned, continuing until June 1999 when the program was discontinued permanently.

Articles

TMC publishes a number of articles on MUD-related topics such as roleplaying, data security, player demographics and virtual world design. Notable contributors include Alan Lenton and Wes Platt.[15]

Awards

TMC has won a variety of awards,[16] including the Britannica Internet Guide Award for Feb, 2000, PCGAME.COM Killer Site of the Day for October 1, 1997, and FidoCon II Best Text-Based Online Community for 2007.

References

  1. ^ Towers, J. Tarin; Badertscher, Ken; Cunningham, Wayne; Buskirk, Laura (1996). Yahoo! Wild Web Rides. IDG Books Worldwide Inc. p. 138. ISBN 0-7645-7003-X. The MUD Connector at http://www.mudconnect.com has just about everything you could possibly need to get on a MUD. It has MUD-related links to FAQs, newsgroups and clients; as well as player discussions and forums about different MUDs. This site also has a listing of over 500 MUDs, with pretty useful descriptions of what you can expect to find on most games. You can even click on the MUD or home page you'd like to see and link right to it. If you're shopping for a new MUD and aren't sure what you're looking for, this is the place to park it. We're talking big time bookmark material here. {{cite book}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  2. ^ Pantuso, Joe (1996). The Complete Internet Gamer. John Wiley & Sons. p. 115. ISBN 0471137871. The Mud Connector has, at the time of this writing, links to 205 active Muds. The Muds are reviewed periodically, so there are few dead links. What sets this site apart from some of the other Mud link connections listed here is that each link includes the name of the Mud, the kind of code it is based on (nice for developers), the telnet address written out, an active hyperlink to the telnet site and Web home page if one exists, and a short but useful description of the Mud. The list is alphabetized and broken into four sections for easy loading. There are also forms for submitting your Mud to the list. There is even a page for dead links in case you want to see what has gone before.
  3. ^ Condon, William; Butler, Wayne (1997). Writing the Information Superhighway. Longman. p. 306. ISBN 020519575X. "The Mud Connector" is a complete on-line service designed to provide the most up-to-date listings of registered Multiuser on-line games. Every entry lists the site of the game, the base code used, descriptions of the game as submitted by the administrators, links to WWW homepages (when available), and Telnet links to the game.
  4. ^ McClellan, Jim (1999-01-28). "Mind game in the MUD". Guardian Unlimited.
  5. ^ Slatalla, Michelle (1998-02-26). "Computing; Parents' Dilemma: A Child's Own PC?". New York Times.
  6. ^ Peal, David (1998). America Online Official Internet Guide. Mcgraw-Hill Osborne Media. p. 396. ISBN 0078825164. At the excellent MudConnector Web site (littp://www.mudconnect.com), you will find a huge amount of information about MUDs, as well as direct links to just about all of them. Its list of MUDs includes every variety, from aggressive galaxies to peaceable kingdoms, from Age of Dragons to New Age. Particularly useful are the plain-English MUD categories, which allow you to link to MUDs that are Educational, Safe for Children, Research Oriented, or Newbie Friendly, for example. Or, choose a theme such as Cyberpunk, Medieval Fantasy, Science Fiction, Star Wars, or Tolkien.
  7. ^ Google Book Search.
  8. ^ "Google Scholar".
  9. ^ John Bellone (March 2002). "So you want to be a coder, eh?". The Mud Companion (3): 28. ISSN 1499-1071. There are good resources on the Internet that deal with codebases, one of which is the Mud Connector ... The Mud Connector has a lot of great information
  10. ^ Michael Tresca (Winter 2001). "An interface only a mother could love". The Mud Companion (2): 42. ISSN 1499-1071. Take a look at the latest MUDs (http://www.mudconnect.com/mudcategory.html), and you'll see there are a lot to choose from. In fact, there are too many to choose from; 1,795 when this article was written. The good news: it's fairly easy to distinguish the good MUDs from the bad MUDs. The bad news: there are a LOT of bad MUDs. It's just a matter of sorting through the chaff and finding the MUD that's right for you. Got your notepad open? Good! ..." {{cite journal}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  11. ^ Cowan, Andrew (1995-01-08). "WWW Mud Connector". rec.games.mud.diku.
  12. ^ Cowan, Andrew (1995-03-29). "WWW Mud Connector is back!". rec.games.mud.diku.
  13. ^ Cowan, Andrew (1996-08-19). "The MUD Connector (mudlist)". rec.games.mud.announce.
  14. ^ "Discussion Engine - Hyperthread". Radiation.
  15. ^ "TMC Articles". The Mud Connector. Retrieved 2011-01-05.
  16. ^ "Acknowledgements". The Mud Connector.
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