Wizard (MUD)
Encyclopedia
Wizard is commonly used in MUD
s, particularly LPMud
s, AberMUD
s and MU*, as a term for the MUD's developers and administrators. The usage originates with Richard Bartle
's original MUD1
and MUD2
. It is frequently abbreviated "wiz", which is sometimes used as a verb; to wiz is to become a wizard. The plural of "wiz" is "wizzes".
A wizard's duties may involve various combinations of software development
, gamemaster
ing, and other administrative tasks. Modifications such as apprentice wizard, elder wizard ("elder") and archwizard ("arch") indicate junior or senior staff members. Other commonly used terms with the same or related meanings are coder, developer ("dev"), administrator ("admin"), immortal
("imm", "immort"), God
, and implementer
("imp"); the last two most often refer to the system's owner. The term "builder" may be used to indicate a wizard, usually junior in standing, dedicated to content development.
A common convention, especially on early MUDs, has been that players have the opportunity to become wizards after advancing to a certain level within the game. This practice sometimes presents "wizhood" as another level of game, with wizards competing to develop popular content. As this is, at best, a questionable approach to staffing and development, its popularity has faded with the MUDs of later years.
A "wizard" in a MUD is not necessarily a staff member; it may be used simply in its ordinary fantasy-genre meaning, referring to in-world magicians. (Being able to employ this usage is sometimes one of the reasons a MUD chooses to use setting-neutral terms like "administrator" and "developer" for staff.)
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
s, particularly LPMud
LPMud
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of MUD server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö...
s, AberMUD
AberMUD
AberMUD, pronounced , was the first popular open source MUD, named after the town in which it was written, Aberystwyth. The first version was written in B by Alan Cox, Richard Acott, Jim Finnis, and Leon Thrane based at University of Wales, Aberystwyth for an old Honeywell mainframe and opened in...
s and MU*, as a term for the MUD's developers and administrators. The usage originates with Richard Bartle
Richard Bartle
Richard Allan Bartle is a British writer, professor and game researcher, best known for being the co-creator of MUD1 and the author of the seminal Designing Virtual Worlds. He is one of the pioneers of the massively multiplayer online game industry.-Life and career:Bartle received a Ph.D...
's original MUD1
MUD1
Multi-User Dungeon, or MUD is the first MUD and the oldest virtual world in existence. It was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw at Essex University on a DEC PDP-10 in the UK, using the MACRO-10 assembly language...
and MUD2
MUD2
MUD2 is the successor of MUD1, Richard Bartle's pioneering Multi-User Dungeon. Rather than a sequel, it is the result of over 20 years of continuous development, and is still largely based on the game's original code....
. It is frequently abbreviated "wiz", which is sometimes used as a verb; to wiz is to become a wizard. The plural of "wiz" is "wizzes".
A wizard's duties may involve various combinations of software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
, gamemaster
Gamemaster
A gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
ing, and other administrative tasks. Modifications such as apprentice wizard, elder wizard ("elder") and archwizard ("arch") indicate junior or senior staff members. Other commonly used terms with the same or related meanings are coder, developer ("dev"), administrator ("admin"), immortal
Immortal (MUD)
An immortal, in MUDs and particularly DikuMUDs, is an administrator and/or developer of the game, often a player who has achieved "immortal" status by achievements within the game world. It is frequently abbreviated "imm" or "immort"...
("imm", "immort"), God
God (MUD)
God or Goddess, in MUDs, often refers to an administrator of a MUD server, most typically the owner. Sometimes multiple individuals with the title of God are present, or the term may even be applied to all administrative and development staff, but it is usual for the term to refer to the most...
, and implementer
Implementer
Implementer was originally the self-given name of the creators of the Infocom text adventure series Zork. Implementor, often shortened to Imp, became the title given to game designers and programmers at Infocom. Implementers were inserted as minor characters in several Infocom games...
("imp"); the last two most often refer to the system's owner. The term "builder" may be used to indicate a wizard, usually junior in standing, dedicated to content development.
A common convention, especially on early MUDs, has been that players have the opportunity to become wizards after advancing to a certain level within the game. This practice sometimes presents "wizhood" as another level of game, with wizards competing to develop popular content. As this is, at best, a questionable approach to staffing and development, its popularity has faded with the MUDs of later years.
A "wizard" in a MUD is not necessarily a staff member; it may be used simply in its ordinary fantasy-genre meaning, referring to in-world magicians. (Being able to employ this usage is sometimes one of the reasons a MUD chooses to use setting-neutral terms like "administrator" and "developer" for staff.)
External links
- Confessions of an Arch-Wizard, an article by Michael LawrieMichael LawrieMichael Lawrie is a British computer security and social networking expert known for many things ranging from running MUDs to accidentally being the world's first Cybersquatter...
about the wizard hierarchy on MIST