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{{Tone|date=July 2025|article}}{{Infobox video game
| title = BatMUD
| image = [[File:BatMUD logo.png|BatMUD Logo]]
| developer = Project community
| engine = [[LPMud]]
| platforms = [[Cross-platform|Platform independent]]
| released = 1990
| genre = Fantasy [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]]
| modes = [[Multiplayer video game|Multiplayer]]
}}

'''''BatMUD''''' is a [[medieval fantasy]] [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]], established in 1990.<ref name="bartle">{{cite book
 | last = Bartle | first = Richard | author-link = Richard Bartle
 | title = [[Designing Virtual Worlds]]
 | publisher = New Riders
 | year = 2003
 | isbn = 0-13-101816-7
 | page = 48
}}</ref><ref name="dog">{{cite book
 | last1 = Mulligan | first1 = Jessica
 | last2 = Patrovsky | first2 = Bridgette
 | year = 2003
 | title = Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide
 | publisher = New Riders
 | isbn = 1-59273-000-0
 | pages = 452–453
 | quote = 1990 [...] ''BatMUD'' opens.
}}</ref>  ''BatMUD'' is Finland-based<ref>{{cite book
 | last1 = Shah | first1 = Rawn
 | last2 = Romine | first2 = James
 | year = 1995
 | title = Playing MUDs on the Internet
 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 | isbn = 0-471-11633-5
 | page = 159
 | quote = For example, BatMud in Finland has peak hours during the middle of the night relative to the U.S.
}}</ref> and operated and owned by a non-profit organization, Balanced Alternative Techniques ry ("B.A.T. ry"), officially registered 1994 in [[Helsinki]], Finland.<ref>The official site of B.A.T. ry [http://www.bat.org/batry/], accessed 2008-12-31</ref>

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, number of subscriptions was similarly over 30,000 giving BatMUD a flat growth (number of new players equal those who no longer frequent the game). It has been called a "very popular and complex game".<ref name="benediktciskowski">{{cite book
 | last1 = Benedikt | first1 = Claire Lisette
 | last2 = Ciskowski | first2 = Dave
 | year = 1995
 | title = MUDs: Exploring Virtual Worlds on the Internet
 | publisher = BradyGames
 | isbn = 1-56686-246-9
 | page = 222
}}</ref>

==History, Legal and Development==
[[File:BatMUD login screenshot.png|right|thumb|A screenshot of one of numerous login screens displayed by ''BatMUD'']]
''BatMUD'' was one of the first [[LPMud]]s<ref name="bartle" /><ref name="dog" /><ref>{{cite book
 | last1 = Shah | first1 = Rawn
 | last2 = Romine | first2 = James
 | year = 1995
 | title = Playing MUDs on the Internet
 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 | isbn = 0-471-11633-5
 | pages = 8
 | quote = LPmuds started appearing at the turn of the decade, popularized at first by such sites as Genesis, BatMud, and the first of the popular sites in the United States, known as Fenris.
}}</ref> and has been online with only a few, if any minor breaks since 14 April 1990.<ref>{{cite newsgroup|title=BatMUD flies to another location|author=Janne Frösen|date=1991-04-06|newsgroup=rec.games.mud|message-id=1991Apr5.124746.18640@santra.uucp|url=http://groups.google.fi/group/rec.games.mud/browse_thread/thread/7f7efbc8f89278a?hl=fi&ie=UTF-8&q=batmud#57e81bb351f2f74e|access-date=2009-01-29}}</ref>
The game was initially set-up by a [[Wizard (MUD)|wizard]] who named himself Jaf, followed by many volunteer coders, all becoming [[Wizard (MUD)|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.
Between November 2007 and August 2021, the main ''BatMUD'' servers were co-located in the two data centers of Nebula in Helsinki, Finland. BatMUD moved to a new data center, Ficolo's The Air in Vantaa, Finland, in August 2021 and is running on dedicated servers with redundant connectivity.

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.<ref name="netgames">{{cite book
 | last1 = Maloni
 | first1 = Kelly
 | last2 = Baker
 | first2 = Derek
 | last3 = Wice
 | first3 = Nathaniel
 | title = Net Games
 | publisher = Random House / Michael Wolff & Company, Inc.
 | year = 1994
 | isbn = 0-679-75592-6
 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/netgamesyourguid00malo/page/91 91–92]
 | quote = '''BatMUD''' With dozens of races to choose from (each with different skills) [...] ''BatMUD'' is for hard-core MUDders, featuring hundreds of skills and spells!  Player killing is common, and the only time a wizard would intervene, explains one player, is "if there's a random mass murdering (i.e., summoning 30 random players into a room without exits and killing them all&mdash;for no reason)."
 | url-access = registration
 | url = https://archive.org/details/netgamesyourguid00malo/page/91
 }}</ref>

===Notable (external) events, timeline===
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"<ref>The Joint corporate information system of the National Board of Patents and Registration and the Tax Administration, Finland [http://www.ytj.fi/english/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908175620/http://www.ytj.fi/english/|date=2015-09-08}}</ref> of Finland.
The game was also previewed in the gaming magazine ''[[Pelit]]'' and was highly praised for its rich set of features, scoring over 90/100 points.<ref>Kaizu, "BatMUD", ''Pelit'', 1994/6</ref>

In 2004, B.A.T. ry applied for the ''BatMUD'' [[trademark]] and "BatMUD" was registered as a trademark by the United States Patent and Trademark Office<ref>[http://www.uspto.gov/ United States Patent and Trademark Office]</ref> on April 5, 2005.
Also, a 91-page Pro graduation [[thesis]] emerges from the [[University of Lapland]], themed "Artificial Intelligence in text-based computer games' dramaturgy.
Study subjects: [[NetHack|Nethack]] and BatMUD",<ref>Graduation thesis, "Artificial Intelligence in text-based computer games' dramaturgy. Study subjects: Nethack and BatMUD", Audiovisual Mediaculture, University of Lapland, written by Jussi Huhtala (in Finnish) {{cite web|url=http://www.elisanet.fi/jotsio/tekstit/gradu/gradu_juhuhtal.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716152821/http://www.elisanet.fi/jotsio/tekstit/gradu/gradu_juhuhtal.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-16 }}</ref> Audiovisual Mediaculture written by Jussi Huhtala (in Finnish).

In February 2007, a 100-page Pro graduation master's thesis with the topic "[[Virtual goods|Virtual gift]] - Trading gifts in BatMUD virtual community"<ref>Masters Thesis, Cultural Anthropology: "Virtual gift - Trading gifts in BatMUD virtual community", University of Jyväskylä, written by Anu Ikonen (in Finnish) [http://thesis.jyu.fi/07/URN_NBN_fi_jyu-2007234.pdf]{{dead link|date=October 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> in [[cultural anthropology]] for the [[University of Jyväskylä]] was published, written by a non-player in Finnish.

''BatMUD'' has a wide variety of [[race (fantasy)|race]]s.<ref name="netgames" /> [[Player killing]] is lightly moderated.<ref name="netgames" />

==Virtual community and Playerbase==
It is arguable that ''BatMUD'' formed one of the earliest virtual communities of gamers on the Internet.
What marks the community significant, is the active operation and participation of the individuals within the [[virtual community]].<ref>[http://www.massively.com/2007/11/25/batmud-back-online-and-still-in-business/ BatMUD: back online and still in business by Jonathan Northwood]</ref>  Several conventions and events are being held across the world, with one of the most notable probably being the Indiana, U.S. based Campcon,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.campcon.org/ |title=Campcon 11 website, Clay City, Indiana, USA |access-date=2008-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517171612/http://www.campcon.org/ |archive-date=2008-05-17 }}</ref> being held for the 11th consecutive year in June, 2009 &mdash; a [[real life]] gathering of active participants of the ''BatMUD'' community.  Similar events are held in Europe and [[Scandinavia]] every year.

''BatMUD'' provides a range of interplayer communication methods, allowing the players to talk and chat.  Though the majority (about 2/3) of the players reside in Finland, the game itself is wholly in English, enabling it to host a large player base from several countries, including many European countries, the United States, Canada and Australia.  Together with [[Role-playing game|roleplay]] not being strictly enforced, the common language of English allows debates to flourish.

With about one hundred players simultaneously online,<ref>'Average online players' user graph on the official web site of BatMUD, checked on 2014-12-27 [http://www.bat.org/help/who]</ref> it is also one of the largest traditional MUDs.  However, with the rise of [[massively multiplayer online game]]s its popularity has fallen off in recent years with fewer new players joining.  Aggressive efforts have been made to make the MUD more newbie friendly<ref name="carton">{{cite book
 | last = Carton | first = Sean | author-link = Sean Carton
 | title = Internet Virtual Worlds Quick Tour
 | publisher = Ventana Press
 | year = 1995
 | isbn = 1-56604-222-4
 | pages = 150–151
 | quote = While it may be a tough place to start out, BatMUD is pretty hospitable for newbies, too, because of its great help system and special newbie goodies.
}}</ref> but most players continue to be well established players who have invested months or years into the game.  As with many other popular online games, [[Behavioral addiction|addiction]] is not unknown.

''BatMUD'' employs a [[virtual economy]],<ref>Masters Thesis about "Virtual gift - Trading gifts in BatMUD virtual community" [http://thesis.jyu.fi/07/URN_NBN_fi_jyu-2007234.pdf]{{dead link|date=October 2016|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} (in finnish)</ref> with players selling rare items and favours to each other in the game's internal currency.  Sale of characters or equipment for real life money is forbidden.<ref>[http://www.bat.org/help/help?htype=extra&str=trading Official BatMUD help file on 'trading']</ref>  If it has occurred, it has not been a major problem.

==Influence==
''BatMUD'' was the first MUD played by [[Matt Mihaly|Matt "Sarapis" Mihaly]], founder of [[Iron Realms Entertainment]].<ref name="neely">{{cite magazine
 | last = Neely | first = Kim
 | title = Caught in the Net
 | magazine = [[Rolling Stone]]
 | issue = 696
 | date = 1994-12-01
 | pages = 61&ndash;66
}}</ref>  Mihaly became a [[Wizard (MUD)|wizard]] on ''BatMUD'', but was banned for making a room that trapped and disabled other wizards.<ref name="davis">{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Steven |url=http://www.playnoevil.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/765-The-World-of-text-MMOs-MUDs-An-Interview-with-Matt-Mihaly,-CEO-of-Iron-Realms-Entertainment.html |title=The World of text MMOs / MUDs - An Interview with Matt Mihaly, CEO of Iron Realms Entertainment |work=PlayNoEvil |date=2006-09-08 |access-date=2010-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002232838/http://www.playnoevil.com/serendipity/index.php?%2Farchives%2F765-The-World-of-text-MMOs-MUDs-An-Interview-with-Matt-Mihaly%2C-CEO-of-Iron-Realms-Entertainment.html |archive-date=October 2, 2008 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=40em}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.bat.org/}}

{{MUDs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batmud}}
[[Category:1990 video games]]
[[Category:MUD games]]
[[Category:Fantasy video games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in Finland]]