Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs)

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> Multi‐User Dungeons are the venerable progenitors of modern virtual worlds such as <jats:italic>World of Warcraft and Second Life</jats:italic> . They are important in the same way that silent movies are important: They established the defining conventions that shaped today's blockbusters, but technological advances have largely left them behind. This entry explains what MUDs are, their history and influence, how they differ from their descendants and how they evolved into them. To understand why things are the way they are today, it is necessary to understand why they were the way they were originally. </jats:p>