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I used to play on the Essex MUD from home using a 300baud accoustic coupler, this would have been 79-81.

I used to play the Essex MUD as well from probably 80-82 -- I can recall the huge speed boost when we got a 1200/75 dialup modem! I got to be a wizard (Gorpli) and I did meet a couple of the other wizards IRL.

Fun times.

With a scrap of paper holding the PSS codes and login info I was introduced to MUD by 'Innocence the Witch', school computer lab admin by day. I played from 1982-84, usually ~5am-7am on weekdays and 2-7am through on the weekends. It was enchanting being in this imaginary world with other people. The PvP was exhilarating.

The F50 article munged together Essex and MUD2 a little, iirc Essex went dark ~1984 and at launch MUD2 was a refactor, unplayably slow and expensive. It went dark quickly.

I made some MUDs of my own... and that scrap of paper led to a startup career in MUDs and MMO development.

I sometimes wonder what the formative experiences my kids are having in Roblox, Minecraft etc. will rustle up in their futures.

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