MUME: Multi Users in Middle Earth
Multi-Users in Middle-earth (MUME) is a free and unlicensed player versus player text-based online role-playing game, set in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, as described in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The game was released in 1992 and has been continually enhanced since its inception in the fall of 1991.
Game characteristics
The game is set during Middle-earth's late Third Age, taking place nearly 100 years prior to The Hobbit and running through the entire events narrated within The Lord of the Rings. In MUME players can explore and live in Middle-earth, and choose to join the epic war between the forces of Sauron and the armies of the Free peoples. The action takes place between Third Age 2850 (when Gandalf finds the key to Erebor right before The Hobbit) and Third Age 3019 (just after to the events of The Lord of the Rings). The world includes many locations across Middle-earth such as Eriador, the Blue Mountains, the Grey Havens, the Shire, Bree, Fornost, Tharbad, Rivendell, Goblin-town, and the Mines of Moria The world design is based on maps from Middle-earth Role Playing using a gridding process to accurately follow the scale of Tolkien's maps.
Multi-Users in Middle-earth is known for its player versus player where players choose avatars to role-play the conflict and war between the armies of the Free peoples and the forces of the Dark Lord. Players are able to play as an elf, dwarf, human, hobbit, orc, or troll to fight both players and non-player characters. These adventures reward players with the experience and travel points necessary to level their character and attain additional power.
Development
Multi-Users in Middle-earth was started in 1991 by Philippe Rochat at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, who was soon joined by Claude Indermitte, Pier Donini, and David Gay.
Multi-Users in Middle-earth uses the engine of DikuMUD while the mudlib is Mudlle, a custom scripting language developed by David Gay and Gustav Hållberg.
Reception
In April 1998, Multi-Users in Middle-earth was selected as The Mud Connector's Mud of the Month. In a September 2000 interview with Raph Koster, the lead designer of Ultima Online and the chief creative officer of EverQuest II, lists Multi-Users in Middle-earth as one of the games that influenced him as a game designer by "doing such interesting things with player conflict". Multi-Users in Middle-earth was regarded by TotalBiscuit as his favorite MUD and harder than Dark Souls with "crazy [...] Absolutely insane" PvP.
In November 2017, Multi-Users in Middle-earth creator Pier Donini was selected by the podcast Roguelike Radio to join the discussion panel on MUDs.
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 27/05/2026.
