A Brief Look at MUDS and Trade Wars

MUDs or Multi User Dungeons and Dragons as it was originally termed, are complex fantasy worlds based on the role-playing board game Dungeons and Dragons. (Wertheim, 1999: 234) It is a text-based game wherein the user navigates the game world created by programmers. Wertheim notes that various MUDs have been spawned and refashioned according to the programmer’s fancy. There is a Star Trek MUD called TrekMUSE, where MUDers can work their way to becoming a Star Ship captain. (Ibid) There is also DuneMUD, based on Frank Herbert’s book and series Dune, to name a few. Wertheim observes that ‘MUDing is quintessentially a communal activity in which players become integrally woven into the fabric of a virtual society… is sustained by the characters who populate it … [it is] a paradigmatic instance of the “consensual hallucination” of cyberspace.’ ’ (Wertheim, 1999: 235)

This hallucination can be seen in an alternative form to MUDs, in the game Trade Wars which is programmed to run on Bulletin Board Systems, for online users.
John Pritchett, one of the later developing programmers for Trade Wars version(s) stated that its origins can be traced to the early 1970s, and even as it approaches its 34th anniversary of the release of the original version of the game, it is still being actively played today via Telnet. (Pritchett, 2003) Due to its nature as a BBS ‘door’ program, Trade Wars variants have often been ignored, in favour of the more popular MUD phenomenon, in the history of on-line games.

As the 17th century author John Donne observed, ‘No Man is an island’. ( The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002 on ‘No Man is an island’) and being embroiled in the fury of Trade Wars should reinforce this notion. While one could venture out alone, you would probably run foul of members of other corporations who would likely gang up on you and put an end to your adventures. Rules and further details on how the game is played can be accessed at www.eisonline.com. Thus, for one’s safety, to identify oneself with a corporation is the smart thing to do.

During game play, it is not uncommon for two players or more to co-operate and destroy a certain corporation’s planet or home base. There were many occasions when I had to call upon my mentor of sorts, ‘Uncle Sam’ to walk me through the tactics required to disarm a corporation’s planet base, for example. Or there were instances when we deliberated on whose turn it was to take out the base(s) with the sacrifice of one’s ships and lives for the cause of galaxy domination. Sometimes these tactical planning even occurred outside the Trade Wars realm, and via the instant chat messenger ‘ICQ’.

Fans of Trade Wars have even started on-line forums and developed ‘scripts’ and ‘helpers’ to facilitate the mundane tasks of trading in Trade Wars credits, which are a financial instrument for transactions in commodities and star ship purchases, amongst other applications. These scripts allow the user to ‘auto-run’ certain procedures which would otherwise be laborious. Such as trading in, and colonizing, planets. It is interesting to note that during the early 1990s, when Trade Wars was played on Bulletin Board Systems, scripts were banned. And it was only during the last decade that their use was approved.

To reinforce this notion of a virtual community in Trade Wars, there is even a Trade Wars league ladder, where tournaments are held online, and the winning Corporation gets a prize in the form of a free software (usually a Trade Wars Helper) or scripts. And the scores are usually reflected on the league ladder/table, which is tabulated in conjunction/for comparison with other sites hosting their own Trade War games. Thus, reputation is broadcast on-line, and a sense of community is fostered, not to mention a spur to competition.