The Mud Connector - A Vital Resource in MUD and MMORPG History

Written by: Michael Hartman • Edited by: Michael Hartman
Updated Apr 10, 2011 • Related Guides: Search Engine | CGI | Mmorpgs

The Mud Connector is one of the oldest and most respected web sites devoted to online MUD/MMORPG type games. It has a rich and interesting history. This article is an interview with its founder, Andrew Cowan.

What is The Mud Connector?

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The Mud Connector (TMC) is primarily a search engine for MUDs and MMORPGs. Users can visit the site, choose from a large variety of game criterion, and then receive a list of games with those features. It is also a community with discussion forums, reviews, and resources both for players and developers of MUDs and MMORPGs. In the words of its founder, The Mud Connector: "currently lists over 1100 free MUDs and there are over 80,000 members registered to the website. TMC proides several ways to find a MUD, including simple and advanced searching, categorical lists as well as a purely random-generated mud picker. The website also has numerous discussion boards for the community, resource listings and both staff and player-submitted MUD reviews."

Who is Andrew Cowan?

Andrew Cowan is the founder of The Mud Connector. He is also known by his online pseudonym, Icculus. The rest of this article is a lengthy interview with Andrew that covers not only the history of TMC but also its past, present, and future design goals. In addition to his work on TMC, he is also the Chief Technology Officer (and a co-founder) of GlobalMedia Design (GMD). GMD studios is "one of the world's premiere experimental media laboratories, exploring the frontiers of how networked communities transform the nature of collaboration in the digital age."

Q #1: In your words, what is The Mud Connector? What is its primary purpose?

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Andrew Cowan: The MUD Connector is primarily a site meant to help online game enthusiasts locate text-based games that they will find entertaining, while also providing a free means for the people running those games to self-promote. TMC offers many resources for the mud community but its primary purpose has always been the game listings, allowing mud admins to provide their own listings and promote their game.

Q #2: When did you first create The Mud Connector?

AC: TMC was created in 1995 while I was a grad student in the Mathematics department of the University of North Carolina (Greensboro). It was created in part as a way to help teach me html and cgi programming.

Q #3: How did TMC differ then from what the site is like today?

AC: TMC began as just a mudlist. It began with a newsgroup posting by me soliciting mud information from the people running them promising them that their muds would be listed in a website devoted to their craft.

Q #4: Before TMC, was there anything similar?

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AC: Before TMC there were text only mudlists that were distributed regularly via Usenet, these typically provided the mud name, server type and its location. Doran's mudlist was probably the most popular list at the time, it was my goal to translate this great idea to the world wide web, which was just beginning to pickup some mainstream attention at the time.

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