BatMUD

BatMUD
Developer(s)	Project community
Engine	LPMud
Platform(s)	Platform independent
Release	1990
Genre(s)	Fantasy MUD
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Batclient

Original author(s)	Antti Aleksi Luostarinen, Niklas Lindroos
Developer(s)	B.A.T. ry
Stable release	1.99k, 2014-04-09 / December 28, 2006
Written in	Java
Platform	Windows Macintosh Linux JVM
Website	http://www.bat.org/

BatMUD is a medieval fantasy MUD, established in 1990.BatMUD is Finland-based and operated and owned by a non-profit organization, Balanced Alternative Techniques ry ("B.A.T. ry"), officially registered 1994 in Helsinki, Finland.

By 2006, over 100,000 players had frequented the game, making it one of the largest text-based multiplayer games on the Internet. In the beginning of 2008, it had over 30,000 subscriptions. At the end of 2011, amount of subscriptions was similarly over 30,000 giving BatMUD a flat growth (amount of new players equal those who no longer frequent the game). It has been called a "very popular and complex game".

BatMUD was one of the first LPMuds and has been online with only a few, if any minor breaks since 14 April 1990. The game was initially set-up by a wizard who named himself Jaf, followed by many volunteer coders, all becoming wizards in the process. The MUD's name comes from the name of the server the game was first hosted on, batman.cs.hut.fi. Since then, BatMUD has relocated several times, at one point residing in Oulu, Finland. As of November 2007, the main BatMUD servers are co-located in the two data centers of Nebula in Helsinki, Finland.

Despite its phenomenal age as an Internet community, the MUD is constantly evolving which makes it both challenging and entertaining to new and old players alike. Due to the rich set of features, BatMUD may be a bit overwhelming for a newcomer, but more experienced players often help if asked politely, and registered newbie helpers are available to guide fresh players.

Like most other active MUDs, BatMUD is also constantly developed. Over the years there have been over 200 coders contributing to the codebase. It is expected on BatMUD that a coder will actively work on development of the MUD, with newcomers who have not been productive enough to a level being periodically purged. All coders agree to an intellectual property rights agreement in order to secure the legal-aspects of the modern day world, even though coding is done volunteer-based.

In September 1994, the organization Balanced Alternative Techniques ry was officially registered in the "Joint corporate information system of the National Board of Patents and Registration and the Tax Administration" of Finland. The game was also previewed in Pelit-magazine and was highly praised from its rich set of features while scoring over 90/100 points.