7/12    Any MUD afficianados around here?  My buddy is teaching a class
        to kids in "interactive fiction" and wants a MUD or mud like app that
         - Easy and fun to learn.  Presumably it is fun when you get a lot of
           results for little effort.
         - Can be played on the net via a java applet, so parents can play it
           without installing anything
         - Illustrations with the text -- some of the text adventure systems
           allow you to include sound or
           text, and that would be a fun thing to add to the story telling
           aspect.  I.e. here's a picture, write an adventure related to it.
        Advise?
        \_ Why do you want to ruin their lives? -phuqyu
        \_ Why do you want to ruin their lives?
        \_ Weren't aaron / danh pretty active with arctic?  I also recall
           sowings mucking with Genocide a lot a while ago.  You have been
           eaten by a grue.  -John
           \_ I played mume and sojourn once upon a day.  Armageddon is
              probably the best roleplaying mud on the net.  You know, now that
              I think of it, I am not sure there ARE muds for kids.  Some
              infocom games might be appropriate, but they are not multiplayer.
                -- ilyas
              I think of it, I am not sure there ARE muds for kids.  -- ilyas
              \_ You could port griljor to Java.  Now _that_ would rock. -John
        \_ Check out http://www.skotos.net  It was a mud company when I worked
           there, though it's branched out a bit in recent years.  I'd
           particularly recommend checking out the articles section:
           http://www.skotos.net/articles
           Skotos' games are fairly complex and aimed at older audiences so
           they may not be the best thing for a class oriented towards kids,
           but the articles have a lot of useful thought on game design in
           general, and muds in particular.  The articles might be useful food
           for thought for an educator crafting a curriculum.  I'd also
           suggest taking a look at the single player interactive fiction
           development tools.  On the easy and fun to learn front, you might
           consider rolling your own system in scheme or logo modelled after
           the 61A interactive fiction project. -dans
        \_ Oh yeah, now that I think of it, there was a lot of work done on
           Crossfire (which, although not strictly a MUD, still incorporates
           a lot of the elements of one.)  For some names, take a look in
           /csua/share/include/crossfire*  -John
           \_ I played mume and sojourn once upon a day. -- ilyas
                \_ there is no /csua/share/include
                   \_ /csua/share/aliases.include.  Sgt. Bobby Shaftoe says:
                      "Display some fucking adaptability".  And man locate, you
                      Cal student, you.  -John