| (1959 - )
Roy Trubshaw wrote the first prototype MUD (multi-user dungeon or multi-user
dimension) program in the autumn of 1978 while a third-year undergraduate
student at the University of Essex. Collaborating with fellow student Richard
Bartle, who enjoyed the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the two
refined MUD into a finished, ultimately marketable product, and founded the
genre of multiple-user online gaming.
In 1978, fantasy games like ADVENT and Zork were already popular in university
circles, but they lacked the ability for users to dial in via modem and
participate in a group environment. By luck, Trubshaw obtained the source code
for ADVENT and then adapted it for user in a multi-user environment, adding new
fantasy-oriented content along the way. While originally written for a DEC 10
minicomputer, Trubshaw rewrote the code in BCPL (Basic Combined Programming
Language) and the two finished the final version in 1980. While Trubshaw wrote
the core structure and databases for MUD, Bartle took over the project when
Trubshaw finished his studies and went off to get married and employed. Trubshaw
had always been more interested in programming while Bartle had the flair for
writing content, and the final program respectively reflected these
contributions.
The commercial journey of MUD and its subsequent versions is given in an
often-tragic overview at http://www.mud.co.uk/muse/backgrnd.htm.
The original MUD ran on CompuServe under the name British Legends from the
mid-1980s until late 1999, when it was finally pulled as part of the company’s
Y2K preparations.
Roy Trubshaw now works with Richard Bartle at Multi-User Entertainment, a
London-based software design house specializing in multiplayer online games.
Trubshaw is the company’s technical director, directing operations like
project management, networking, and database implementation. |
