Alter Aeon
| Alter Aeon | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Dentinmud Internet Services/Dennis Towne, project community |
| Engine | DentinMud |
| Platform(s) | Platform independent |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy MUD |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Alter Aeon is a MUD, a text-based online role-playing game, which has been running since 1995. Alter Aeon has support for the blind and visually impaired. A custom client for the sighted is also available on the web site, though the game can still be played using ordinary MUD clients.
Over the years, the game was hosted on several different machines and switched locations a number of times. The code base for the game is custom and is named "DentinMud", presumably after the moniker of the creator, "Dentin". The current version is listed as "DentinMud v2.25" using the in-game 'version' command.
Alter Aeon is a medieval fantasy role-playing game, with occasional sci-fi and other fantasy references.
The character system is multi-class level-based. The classes are the standard magic user, cleric, thief, warrior, necromancer and the recently introduced druid. These classes may be leveled at any time assuming fame and experience requirements are met. At and above level 30, 'fame' points are required to gain levels in addition to experience. Fame points are only given by killing various difficult creatures in the game; the rationale given by Dentin is that this tends to increase exploration at high levels.
The skill and spell system is broken up loosely into groups with dependencies, with a large number of isolated standalone spells and skills. The thief and warrior classes have much smaller skill trees than spellcasters.
There is in-game support for clans and clan property. Players in most cases can create clans and modify clan areas without administrative support. Clans also time out and self-destruct if not maintained. Clan dues must be paid either in gold, the in-game currency, or though purchase of 'credits' with US currency.
Player killing is only allowed on an 'opt-in' basis, and opposing players must both opt-in to the desired PK type to fight. There are arenas and events set up specifically for the purpose of player killing. In the past, it was possible for players to become permanently registered for PK, however that feature was removed in early 2010.
The game has several features to improve the text-based user interface. It supports server-side aliases and variables, as well as alias/tty stop using Control-C; the ability to halt an alias and clear the command queue is unusual and very useful for players using simple clients or screen readers. The server-side spam filters are extensive and often used by blind players to reduce the load on screen readers. UUIDs are part of item names, and can be used by players to manipulate those items.
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