Star Wars MUSH

"Star Wars MUSH" (commonly referred to as SW1) is a role-playing game using the MUSH environment, running PennMUSH v1.8.0p13 as of December 10, 2007. "Star Wars MUSH" was created in May 1991 and was released to the public in January 1992, making it the first "Star Wars"-themed MUSH.cite web |url=http://www.mudconnect.com/mud-bin/simple_search.cgi?Mode=MUD&mud=Star+Wars+MUSH |title=Mud Connector: Star Wars MUSH |accessdate=2008-08-31 |quote=Mud Created: January, 1992] The game predates the majority of "Star Wars Expanded Universe" and as such largely deviates from the established "Star Wars" universe set after "Return of the Jedi". The game scenario system is based on the discontinued West End Games' Star Wars d6 Roleplaying Game. The game persisted throughout the '90s as one of the net's more successful "Star Wars"-themed MUSHes, earning a feature in "The Incredible Internet Guide to Star Wars", [cite book |last=Weber |first=Peter J. |others=illustrated by Erin Cristall, contributions by Robin Fox |title=The Incredible Internet Guide to Star Wars |origyear=1999 |origmonth=September |publisher=Facts on Demand Press |isbn=978-1889150123] and continues to run as it nears its seventeenth anniversary.

To connect to the MUSH, a MUSH or Telnet client is required. The host address is www.starwarsmush.com, port 4402.

Game History

"Star Wars MUSH" was created in May 1991 and made publicly available by January 1992. The game's database was accidentally destroyed on April 15, 1994, leading to a game split that resulted in the creation of two other prominent "Star Wars"-themed MUSHes, "Star Wars MUSH 2: A New Threat", later "From the Ashes", and "Star Wars MUSH 3: Minos Cluster", which went on to become "Unsung Heroes", although these two MUSHes were shutdown years later.

After the crash, the MUSH re-opened to the public on May 21, 1994. On August 21, 1996, the players voted to move the game to a new server with a clean database, although most of the story elements and characters were carried over.

In-Game History

The game's story took off after the end of "Return of the Jedi". Since the game was started in 1991, it predates most of the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe and thus does not follow the set storyline licensed by Lucasfilms, although it does draw some elements from Timothy Zahn's popular Thrawn Trilogy and the various West End Games sourcebooks.

Due to the death of Palpatine, the Empire fragmented and fell apart in a bitter struggle that pit Imperial against Imperial. The New Republic thus emerged as the driving force in the galaxy. However, the Empire managed to reunite under and set out to crush the Republic.

The game's current year is set at [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/17_ABY 17 ABY] where there is a stalemate between the Empire and New Republic.

Historical Significance

SW1 created or popularized several major concepts within the MU* community. Not the least of these was the MUSH's Judge system, a board of players trained and authorized to respond on-call to roleplay disputes, and DarrienSpace, possibly the first functional starship and space system for MU*s that didn't require any use of the C programming language to install or maintain. DarrienSpace lent traits to several later engines.

Several of SW1's other coded systems and certain features of its appearance have also become standards within the global MU* community. An unusual example of this is an elevator designed for the game -- the extremely short snippet of code has been adapted for several purposes across MU*space, from trains to conveyor belts.

References

External links

* [http://www.starwarsmush.com Star Wars MUSH Homepage] - Material Out Of Date
* [http://www.stormbreaker.net/spacecode.html Open Source for DarrienSpace]
* [http://sw1mush.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page The Star Wars MUSH Wiki]