@elrainia@lemmy.world describes working on internet infrastructure back in the 1990s. This was on one of those “drive by” AskLemmys where a new user posts a juicy question, then after a couple hours they delete the topic and their account. However, those posts and comments are still visible in Piefed, ex: https://piefed.social/post/1733969#comment_9969293

  • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    27 days ago

    Eh, from what I’m reading, MUD1 could support only a few dozen simultaneous players at once.

    My understanding of the definition of MMO’s is that they commonly support somewhere between 2,000 and 20,000 simultaneous users, hence the word “massive” in the acronym. So, you know… it doesn’t really seem like MUD1 fits that definition.

    • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      27 days ago

      Shade couldn’t support anywhere near that many, but the poster refers to it as “(first mmo?)” which is why I commented.

      • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        27 days ago

        So if I understand correctly, Shades was inspired by MUD1, but not actually an MMO by definition, i.e. “Massively Multiplayer Online.”

        • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.netEnglish
          2·
          27 days ago

          Yep. I’m pretty sure the networking and computing tech required for a true MMO didn’t exist until ~1995, and pretty much as soon as it did we got Ultima Online and then EQ.

        • Elrainia@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          27 days ago

          It was definitely not a MMO! It was a bit of a joke comment (British humour - sorry). I’d be amazed if it had anything more than 100 consecutive players (that’s a complete guess).

          I had no idea of it’s MUD heritage then and it’s only today that the comments above have really made me join those dots up.