IfMUD
IfMUD is a MUD associated with the rec.arts.int-fiction newsgroup accessible via telnet or a MUD client. It is central to the interactive fiction community, frequented by many of the genre's best-known writers. Every year, the XYZZY Awards are hosted on ifMUD during an online ceremony.
IfMUD
- Date
- 1997
- Genre
- interactive fiction · MUD
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q5990263
In this article
The object
The object
IfMUD was founded in 1997 by Liza Daly. It is written in the Perl computer programming language making use of an extensive hack of the earlier PerlMUD, with many additional features.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — ifMUD • Developer — Liza Daly and project community • Engine — PerlMUD • Platforms — Platform independent • Released — 1997 • Genre — Interactive fiction MUD • Modes — Multiplayer • Italic Title — no
Game characteristics
Game characteristics
ifMUD is organized into areas, with a distinct area usually the work of a particular contributor or group of contributors and having its own interactive fiction plot. For example, Save Princeton was created by Jacob Weinstein and Karine Schaefer.
Innovations
Innovations
The tradition of SpeedIF, in which short interactive fiction works, created around story prompts, are developed and shared in a two-hour timeframe, was originated on ifMUD by David Cornelson.
MUD bots
MUD bots
Two major bots exist on ifMUD, Alex and Floyd. Floyd acts as an interpreter for many different IF writing platforms. It was named after a fictional character from the Planetfall game by Infocom. Alex, a "parrot" bot named after Alex Pepperberg, keeps track of memos on any topic, editable by anyone, similar to a wiki. It was written by Dan Shiovitz and was inspired by the Perl infobot Purl.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
IfMUD is associated with United States.
Country
Reception
ifMUD has, at times, simultaneously been praised for its service to the interactive fiction community and criticized for fostering an excessively self-referential, socially impenetrable environment. Its userbase has been described as a "small but friendly multinational tribe".
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article IfMUD, revision 1352235338 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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