GodWars
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GodWars is a MUD engine derived from Merc, created in 1995 by Richard Woolcock, better known in the MUD community as "KaVir". GodWars MUDs are typically loosely based off White Wolf games such as Vampire: The Masquerade, and generally offer supernatural classes such as Vampire, Werewolf, Mage and Demon. They tend to be more heavily focused upon player versus player combat than most MUDs.
More than once there have been copyright issues involving the GodWars codebase. Aldric with the help of fellow mud players Amoeba and Rotain implemented a renamed and edited version of the GodWars codebase. KaVir saw to it that the mud was shut down and it was only a matter of time before the codebase appeared in the hands of many other unauthorized people. At one point the code was illegally posted and advertised on a website for free download. After fighting extensively to stop the illegal use of his codebase Kavir gave permission to more people to use his license, eventually the situation became uncontrollable and the creator stopped fighting to contain it and rather focused on a different project of his own which is now known as "Last City".
The GodWars codebase was very accessible, and many MUD Designers contributed to later versions of the codebase. GodWars MUDs often included a unique method of gaining "experience points" through explicit, consentual sexual gameplay with another player. The less PvP-oriented Dystopia codebase and the entirely PvP-oriented Utopia codebase are the most successful examples of further community development. Utopia MUDs removed all grinding elements from gameplay, allowing the player to begin and focus entirely on PvP combat as soon as they finish the extensive character creation process - in other words, growth could only be gained by killing other players.
Recently, Woolcock has written a new MUD engine named God Wars II. It features a coordinate based world and a combat system inspired by Firetop Mountain[1], a play-by-email version of Richard Bartle's Spellbinder. The theme and focus resemble the original God Wars MUD, although it has moved away from the White Wolf setting and instead adopted its own dark fantasy theme.
