Creating and Hosting Multiple MU*s

[u/Typical_Let3336]

I am new to the whole MUD development pipeline. But I have installed Evennia and am in the process of developing my first game.

The thing is I have ideas for multiple games but no idea how it would work to host them. Would I need a server dedicated to each MUD or can I host them all on the same one? Again, new to the whole thing but am willing to learn.

[u/AdmiralMcNugget]

DigitalOcean Droplets are a good bet if you want a flexible Linux environment. You only strictly need one for as many projects as you like, though you might need to upgrade the storage and RAM at some point.

I suspect your desire to run multiple MUDs in various genres is limited in a practical sense by the small pool of players available to play them. Maybe try your hand at various styles on your local machine, then put your favorite one on a server?

[u/Typical_Let3336 → u/AdmiralMcNugget]

DigitalOcean Droplets are a good bet if you want a flexible Linux environment. You only strictly need one for as many projects as you like, though you might need to upgrade the storage and RAM at some point.

I run on Windows, but thanks for the recommendation. And, considering my only computer is this busted old laptop (joking about the busted part), I will need to figure out how to upgrade that. Or just build a PC dedicated to hosting my MUD. Speaking of which...

I suspect your desire to run multiple MUDs in various genres is limited in a practical sense by the small pool of players available to play them. Maybe try your hand at various styles on your local machine, then put your favorite one on a server?

You got a point there. Maybe, somehow, I can lump them all together into a single game with how they all have similar themes. The ideas I have would definitely work as expansions for the virtual world.

[u/Early_Rooster7579 → u/Typical_Let3336]

I highly suggest not hosting these off your own home network if you don’t know what you’re doing.

[u/Typical_Let3336 → u/Early_Rooster7579]

You, also, got a point there. However, I do plan to create my own MUD in the future.

[u/ComputerRedneck]

Best bet is a single server.
Standard MUDs usually default to port 4000. What you could easily do is run multiple muds and change the ports.

So you have your directories... MUD/Name of MUD
Then you have
Name of MUD = port 4000
Name of MUD 2 = port 5000
Name of MUD 3 = port 6000

Etc.

The big thing is to make sure you open the ports on the server so the data can flow.

As someone else said, Linux is a good place to build your server.

Personally, I like CENTOS, I think they are version 8 or 9 now. But there are plenty of other options for a linux machine. I don't recommend a Linux version that is aimed at more of a desktop environment.

25 + years ago, I ran a free MUD host. I think I had about 2 dozen MUDs running fine.

[u/Typical_Let3336 → u/ComputerRedneck]

Best bet is a single server.
Standard MUDs usually default to port 4000. What you could easily do is run multiple muds and change the ports.

So you have your directories... MUD/Name of MUD
Then you have
Name of MUD = port 4000
Name of MUD 2 = port 5000
Name of MUD 3 = port 6000

Is it as simple as opening the Terminal/Command Prompt and typing that out to change the ports? Again, I'm new to all of this, lol.

[u/Zireael07]

Check out vineyard [dot] haus, it's supposed to be a free MUD host. Their list has a couple of Evennia games

[u/Typical_Let3336 → u/Zireael07]

Thank you for the recommendation and I will.

[u/IndependentBat8365]

Do you want others to connect and use it?

If no, then go ahead and host it on your personal windows PC.

If yes, then I would not recommend hosting it on your personal windows PC nor home network.

1. Nobody likes the game they’re playing to just random reboot, or have resource issues b/c you happen to be loading a picture or doing something intensive.
   
2. I doubt your home network will handle the potential number of folks that will connect or even just “wiggle the doorknob” and see what’s going on.
   
3. Home networks aren’t very reliable: power outages, local neighborhood outages (car wreck against a pole). Folks won’t like the unreliability.
   
4. Home networks are typically low performance: high latency will frustrate users.
   
5. Windows desktop isn’t really optimized for multiple user access: which is what you’ll be doing if you host a MUD or gaming server.
   
6. Most MUD code you’ll find out there is written for Unix and ported to Linux or BSD. You might be able to get it working under Windows, but you might not find a large community that is also doing that for community support and assistance.

Also, muds are a game, and thus you will need to spend a lot of time on content, not just game mechanics. The fastest way to kill a mud is poor game mechanics and stale content : in that order. It’s very difficult to do all of that on your own.

[u/Typical_Let3336 → u/IndependentBat8365]

You make a bunch of good points. Frankly, I think I'll just stick to creating interactive fiction. I've had some time to reflect on what I want to do with my game development hobby.

[u/stirge-hunters]

You can totally host multiple MUDs on the same machine!