BatMUD

BatClient
BatMUD Game Client download art
Developer(s)	B.A.T. ry
Publisher(s)	B.A.T. ry
Designer(s)	Antti Luostarinen Niklas Lindroos
Engine	Mythicscape
Platform(s)	Windows Macintosh Linux JVM
Release	December 28, 2006
Genre(s)	Fantasy MUD
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

BatMUD is a medieval fantasy MUD, established in 1990. BatMUD is Finland-based and operated and owned by Balanced Alternative Techniques ry ("B.A.T. ry"), a non-profit organization, officially registered 1994 in Helsinki, Finland..

History, Legal and Development

Notable (external) events, timeline

Historically a text-based MUD, in February, 2007, BatMUD introduced a Java-based partially graphical client. The client works on Apple's OS X and other platforms and can be downloaded for free.

When BatMUD turned 15 in 2005, an official birthday-gala was held at Kaivohuone (Helsinki, Finland). More than three hundred guests, dressed in an evening attire, from all over the world joined the celebration of BatMUD's 15-year long journey. The event was covered by the oldest Finnish newspaper, Keskisuomalainen. In April, 2005 BatMUD's Niklas Lindroos, the archwizard "Gore", and Christopher Ragusa, the wizard "Banba" attended Notacon 2005 and presented "The BatMUD community - a biased study in running large global communities on the Internet" BatMUD was voted "Game of the month" by MPOGD.com in April, 2003.

Historical description

BatMUD was one of the first LPMuds and has been online with only a few minor breaks since 12 April 1990. The game was initially set-up by a wizard (a term used to describe some of the world-building staff of a MUD) who named himself Jaf, followed by many volunteer coders, "wizards". "Due to the rich set of features, BatMUD may be a bit overwhelming for a newcomer, but more experienced players often help if asked politely, and registered newbie helpers are available to guide fresh players."

Gameworld

In BatMUD, a player initially creates a fantasy character by choosing a race, background (civilized, magical, evil religious, good religious or nomadic), alignment and a name for the character. As usual in role-playing games, there is no specific goal in the game. Players get experience points for various things their character does in the virtual environment of the MUD. For example, player character gets experience points from finding new rooms. BatMUD has over 16,000 unique rooms, plus a large outerworld. BatMUD has an extended selection of races. It is not allowed for a player to have multiple characters in BatMUD. Player killing is permited, but restricted in BatMUD. There is no charge for playing the game.

Maps of the Realm may be viewed through the Java based BatClient interactive map features or by viewing the Google maps hack available for the web browsers. In 2000, a separate "Hardcore" version of BatMUD was launched using a permadeath ruleset. HardCore BatMUD is played in a prior iteration of the BatMUD universe.

External links

• BatMUD website
• Download: Batclient, the Official game client
• BatWiki, a BatMUD based wikipedia
• Realm maps for 'BatMUD: The Age of Exiles', Google Maps hack
• Realm- and other BatMUD-related maps.
• Maps of the Realm
• "Virtual gift - Trading gifts in BatMUD virtual community" Masters thesis in the field of Cultural anthropology, University of Jyväskylä by Anu Ikonen. February 2007 (in Finnish).
• "Artificial Intelligence in text-based computer games' dramaturgy" thesis University of Lapland by Jussi Huhtala (in Finnish).