Medievia

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Medievia is an online fantasy-themed text-based game, often referred to as a MUD. The game was initially created by Michael A. Smith, Anthony Rowley, and Michael Krause in the early 1990s, using the Merc 1.00 MUD engine.[1][2] The relationship between the Merc MUD codebase and Medievia's code is the subject of some controversy.

Contents

[edit] Prominence

Raph Koster, the lead designer of Ultima Online, wrote a FAQ entry for Medievia,[3]

"Medievia: The most popular free gaming mud I know of. Pioneered the use of things like in-game spam ads for themselves and lack of due credit given for code (:P) but also has things like ASCII map terrain, large algorithmically generated areas, etc."

[edit] In-Game Environment

The world of Medievia is a fantasy-based game with similarities to RPGs involving Orcs, Elves, Dragons and such (i.e.: Dungeons and Dragons type content).

[edit] Classes

Medievia contains the original four DikuMUD classes. Each class has its own specific strengths and weaknesses. The Warrior and the Thief are archetypal fighters, while the Cleric and the Mage are the spellcasters.

[edit] Multi-Classing and Reclassing

Players start out at level 1 as one of the classes described above. By fulfilling all of the requirements for each level, players gain levels until they reach level 31. The most basic type of level requirement is experience; additional requirements include leading points, autoquest points, trading points, egg points, and dragon points. The requirements increase with increasing levels, making the higher levels harder to achieve. Upon reaching level 31, the player has the option to multi-class, in which case the player starts out again at level 1 as a different class, retaining the abilities from the previous class. This process is repeated until the player has completed all four classes and has successfully completed a total of 124 levels. At this point, the player commands the skills and spells of every class and the disadvantages of only the current class - these players are referred to as heroes. Regardless of the order in which a hero completed the classes, as a hero, the player has the option to reclass. Reclassing is similar to multi-classing in that the hero chooses a different class and must reach level 31 to become a hero again. The level from which they must rehero varies depending on certain factors related to reclassing. At the extreme ends of reclassing, players will either start at level 1, or level 30. Heroes also have the option of enhancing their bloodline.

[edit] Equipment

Equipment is a special type of item that players can wear in order to increase different statistics or otherwise gain an advantage. It is one of the driving aspects of the game as the majority of players want to have the 'best' equipment. Useful equipment is obtained by killing a mob who has the desired equipment and taking it from them. Most equipment in the game has a limited lifespan. When its lifespan ends, the equipment's statistics deteriorate to what is called its 'base stats,' at which point it remains in the game under this condition indefinitely. Not all items deteriorate to their base stats. Items may contain flags that alter the outcome of its deterioration. In some cases, items may disappear all together. In other cases, items may deteriorate to half of their base stats. Players are able to determine the outcome of this deterioration via identifying equipment. There is also the possibility of extending the life on an object via the use of eggs. Items may be egged for a limited number of times, at which point the option to unegg the item is possible. Some items may not be egged, unegged, or both.

  • Object Tweaking - Tweaking is claimed to be an integral part of what makes the game interesting. Tweaking refers to the scrambling code that is applied to an item's statistics that randomly adjusts the stats of the piece of equipment. Every tweakable item starts with base stats and is subject to a random roll on its different attributes. There are limits as to how high or how low an item will tweak, however, every object is unique in its own way and is subject to a possible 'freak tweak.' In this, stats can potentially roll very high or extremely low. Each time an item is loaded into the game, the code randomly assigns its stats based on its base stats. Its stats can be above, below, or the same as its base stats.

[edit] Zones

A zone is a collection of rooms that sometimes has an accompanying storyline to it. Some zones in the game are found directly on the wilderness map while others are not as easily accessible. Many zones have internal puzzles or 'mazes' to solve in order to obtain experience or equipment while others are cities where players gather and socialize. Zones are either LPK, NPK, CPK or some combination of the three.

  • Area Types - There are five area types in the game that are broken down in to the following:
    • LPK (Lawful Player Kill) - In LPK, players may attack NPCs but are restricted by the code from attacking each other unless a player has blood. A mob killed in LPK will give less experience points than if it is killed in NPK or CPK
    • NPK (Neutral Player Kill) - Players may attack each other in NPK subject to certain conditions. First, a player gets blood when he or she attacks another player. Players with blood can be attacked in LPK. Secondly, if a player is killed in NPK, he or she is teleported a random distance away with only one hit point. There is no penalty for being killed by another player in NPK.
    • GPK (Grave Player Kill) - A variation of NPK where when a player is killed the player is not teleported out of the zone, but instead suffers a normal death.
    • CPK (Chaotic Player Kill) - CPK is the most dangerous area in the game, but also the most rewarding in terms of experience and equipment. If killed in CPK, a player will lose a level and for a brief time, other players can steal equipment from the deceased player.
    • LLCPK (Loot Limit Chaotic Player Kill) - A variation of CPK where the number of items that can be stolen from a recently deceased player is limited to a particular number (varies between LLCPK zones), but without the CPK's time limit.

[edit] Clans and Towns

A Clan is a group of at most 51 players led by the Clan Leader and Co-Clan Leader. Clan members have a special channel dedicated to them so they can communicate with their fellow members at any time. Towns consist of at most 2 clans and have another channel dedicated to communicate between members of the same town. Towns and clans can be thought of teams - all the towns are competing against each other for their Clan rank. Clans get points for their ranking in several different categories within the game. Higher ranked towns get a hit point bonus based on their overall ranking in each of the following areas of competition:

  • Towngame Ranking - A Towngame is a direct competition between two Towns in a single category. The two clans are given a goal and must obtain a required amount of points before the other town in order to win.
  • Egg Ranking - When a player collects eggs from the catacombs, their clan's egg ranking raises accordingly.
  • Experience Ranking - When a player kills a mob for experience, their clan's experience ranking increases.
  • Clantown Ranking - Towns are given a small zone that they can edit at the cost of in-game gold. Each Town is evaluated on the size of their town zone. A clan's tax rate helps balance this ranking between the two clans in a town by devising ownership of a percentage of rooms by how much tax is paid to the leading clan.
  • Trade Ranking - Like other ranks, this is a ranking based on how much trading a clan does.
  • Fae Ranking - With the introduction of ships came Fae harvesting. Fae does not have any significant use in-game except for the clan ranking and how much they collect. Fae, and how it is acquired is explained in greater detail under the ships section below.
  • Townland Ranking - The newest ranking category, Townland is currently a direct function of the size of one's clantown. A circle of land around a given clantown is owned by the clan and is used for the Townload Ranking. In the near future, islands will be implemented and islands will play a large role in Townland rankings.

[edit] The Catacombs

The Catacombs, or 'The Combs' as they are referred to amongst the community are one of the fundamental areas related to the storyline of the game. The catacombs randomly move about the land from time to time and are an LPK zone. MOBs in the catacombs drop eggs which have many uses.

  • Eggs - Aside from clan ranking, eggs are used for a number of different things. The deterioration of a piece of equipment can theoretically be lengthened to over a year by a process referred to as 'egging' in which the player trades eggs in exchange for an extra amount of life span to be added to an item. Eggs can also be traded to acquire practice points which players use to train their stats or class skills. Most importantly each player needs 1000 eggs to multi-class or reclass. Eggs are traded amongst the players and contribute to a significant part of economic activity within the game.

[edit] Dragons

There are three types of dragons which serve three different purposes within the land.

  • Transportation Dragons - Good dragons are ones which assist players by transporting them abroad. Due to Medievia's enormous size it is not feasible to walk everywhere. A player may call upon a dragon at a cost of gold determined by a formula based on their total level.
  • Wilderness Dragons - Wilderness Dragons are evil dragons that hunt people. Evil dragons chase after players in the wilderness randomly, and attempt to kill them and steal their gold. Players can call upon good dragons to assist them in staving off these attacks.
  • Lair Dragons - Lair dragons dwell in lairs throughout the land. Groups of players hunt these dragons for their precious dragon hide. This hide can then be used to make special equipment, arguably some of the best equipment in the game. The type of equipment that can be made with these hides depends on the color of the dragon. Additionally when players encounter these lair dragons, dragon points are obtained and count towards a player's multi level requirements.

[edit] Autoquests

Autoquests are missions given to players to complete for rewards. The completion of an autoquest (or AQ) will usually grant a player with a gold prize, AQ points, and occasionally items. AQ points are also needed for multi level requirements.

[edit] Ships

One of the newest changes in Medievia was the addition of ships as a feature of Medievia V. Ships added a new seafaring element to the game.

  • Fae - The primary purpose of ships is to collect Fae. Fae is collected by killing evil MOB factions while at sea. Currently under certain conditions, it is possible to attack other clan's ship(s) and steal the ship to acquire more Fae. Having large amounts of Fae however will attract more danger. There has been recent discussion in removing the PvP aspect of ships to promote the use of their intended functions.
  • Serpents - Larger ships are often equipped with magical guns that can be fired at sea serpents, which attempt to attack ships by ramming them. Killing serpents awards the attacking ships with a significant amount of Fae. Larger serpents often split into several smaller serpents when killed, leading to additional peril when the smaller serpents attack the ship simultaneously.
  • Khrait - The Khrait are a strange race of pirates from afar. They appear around ships that have enormous amounts of Fae aboard and attack these ships in an attempt to sink them. Players can sink Khrait ships for Fae, or capture them and kill their crew for even greater rewards.

[edit] Trading

Trading, which was introduced in Medievia IV, is one source of income within the game. The continent of Medievia has many cities that are homes to trade posts which are connected by a network of roads throughout the kingdom. These trade posts each sell goods which a player must physically cart from post to post. Trading is an arguably dangerous task that often requires a formation of people to group together to assist each other to complete. Most trade routes are LPK with little risk of NPK encounters. There are also CPK trade routes which yield considerably more gold, but are not as popular throughout the kingdom. As a challenge, the game's Dungeon Master (or DM) attempts to improve a player's experience by invoking MOB Factions upon them. Trade points are required for a player's multi level requirements.

  • Catastrophes - The value of goods will decrease from post to post as people trade. In order to revitalize the devaluing of goods, catastrophes will occur. These usually cause drastic increases in trade post values for the affected shop.
  • Ship Trading - Ship trading is currently in development, but is expected to add a different dimension to gameplay and add more usefulness to ships.

[edit] Dungeon Master

The Dungeon Master or "DM" is a section of Medievia's game engine which monitors each player's gameplay experience. Medievia's developers claim this system can detect how a player feels and decides whether to invoke MOB factions which help or hinder each player performing different tasks. Additionally, the DM makes self-controlled decisions affecting many other aspects of gameplay including weather patterns and other internal game aspects.

  • MOB Factions - MOB factions (or MFs) are basically a group of themed MOBs which the DM sets upon a player (or players) in many situations. There are two types of MOB factions. Ones that will try to hinder a player's ability to complete a task, and ones which will help a player complete a task.
  • MF Types - The type of factions you may encounter are determined by the Dungeon Master. Little is known about how the DM determines which type a player may encounter, but the development staff have stated there is an attempt to balance a player's experience between good and bad. The severity, helpfulness and strength of a mob faction is determined by the risk level.
  • Risk Level - The further away one is from Medievia City (the center of the game map,) the higher the risk level is. The risk level of an area will determine the strengths of both good and bad types of MOB factions. Risk level only affects areas of the wilderness, including the waters which ships sail in.

[edit] Bloodlines

When a player reaches Level 124 they are allowed to produce a maximum of two offspring. Each generation beneath a player grants the parent a special regeneration bonus giving them a greater game advantage. After a bloodline or people within a bloodline have a certain number of generations beneath them, a player becomes known as a Legend.

Bloodlines have their own communication channel similar to clans or towns, and players within the bloodline may telepath each other.

[edit] Business model

Medievia is owned and operated by Medievia.com, Inc., [4] which was registered as a corporation on 19 January 2000 [5]. The corporation derives income from Medievia by effectively selling players special donation items for use with game characters. The normal fee may be waived for players creating content for the game, for example by building zones or writing articles for the in-game newspaper. There are also annual sales, during which the cost of these donation items is reduced.

The donation items provide advantages to characters that are not attainable with equipment that is freely available. The major items are outlined below, with their costs in brackets, and their closest free alternatives where available. To help the reader to appreciate these numbers in context, it should be noted that mature player characters usually have between 500 and 1400 health, and between 40 and 100 damage roll.

Some donation items and their free alternatives.
Item Location Effects Price Notes
First year Subsequent years
the Mystical Talisman of Medievia worn around neck 100 health, 7 damage roll $50 free 2
the Magical Talisman of Medievia worn around neck 100 mana, 7 damage roll $50 free 2
a collar with the word "Cecilia" etched on it worn around neck 6 damage roll free free 2
the medallion of the Drolem worn around neck 60 health, 2 hit roll free free 2, 5
the Ivory Plume of Maat worn around neck 50 health, 50 mana free free 2, 5
the gossamer image of a mithril unicorn glowing aura 50 health, 50 mana $50 $40 1
the Spirit of Medievia worn on heart 50 health, 50 mana, -1 to saving throw against spells $50 $40 1
an Elemental Focus used as focus maximum health and mana regeneration $25 $20 1, 4
a silvery ring of regeneration worn on finger increased mana regeneration free free 2, 3, 4
a crimson ring of regeneration worn on finger increased health regeneration free free 2, 3, 4

Notes:

  1. There does not exist any free equipment which can be worn on the locations glowing aura, used as focus, and worn on heart listed above; without donation equipment these locations remain empty.
  2. The locations worn on neck and worn on finger listed above are duplicated; each character can wear two items on their neck and two items on their fingers. This means up to two donation talismans can be worn by a single character.
  3. The location worn on finger can take equipment which provides different advantages to those of the regeneration rings listed above; characters without donation equipment must choose between this regeneration and these other benefits on these locations, where those with donation equipment can have both sets of benefits.
  4. No combination of free items provides as much regeneration as an elemental focus.
  5. Some items' statistics are subject to random variation, usually called tweak, and as such can vary widely. The numbers chosen for comparison here reflect "good" values, but are not maximums in any definite sense.

There has been controversy over whether recent versions of Medievia continue to be derivatives of DikuMUD, and what effect this has on the legality of encouraging players to effectively purchase in-game equipment from the proprietors.

[edit] Licensing and status as a derivative work

Although it is generally agreed that Medievia was, at the time of its creation, based on the Merc MUD codebase [1](which in turn was based on DikuMUD), there is controversy over the extent to which it continues to be a derived work. This is significant since, were Medievia still to be a derivative work of DikuMUD, it would be bound by the terms of the DikuMUD license[6].

[edit] Status as a derivative of DikuMUD

  1. "Thranz", a former programmer and administrator for Medievia, has stated that at the time he worked on the source code (c.2000, corresponding to Medievia version 4), Medievia still contained Merc code [7].
  2. Michael Krause (Medievia's owner) has stated that Medievia has been rewritten several times in its entirety, most recently in the switch between versions 3 and 4[citation needed].
  3. Sections of code purportedly from Medievia 4, dated February 1996, have been compared in detail with the original Merc 1.0 code, and show a high degree of similarity, to the extent of apparently retaining comments from the original Merc developers [8].
  4. Two further sections of code, purportedly taken from Medievia 4 in August 2000, show a continuing similarity to the Merc codebase [9].
  5. A signed fax attributed to Michael Krause, the owner of Medievia, has been made available online, which asserts, as part of a takedown notice, that the code dated 1996 used in the comparison above is authentic, and taken from Medievia 4.1C [10].
  6. Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, an author of DikuMUD, has expressed a clear view that Medievia is derived from their work[11].
  7. Michael Siefert, an author of DikuMUD, has stated, "I have been shown the MidThieveia code - version 4 I believe it was (approx. in 1997). Only a very brief examination was required in order for me, as an author of DikuMud, to recognize my old code. There is no doubt that it is Diku based."[8]
  8. In 2005 Medieva's Director of Media & Marketing claimed as Medievia comprised over 450,000 lines of code (over 560,000 in 2006[12]) while Merc 1.0 only had 28,000 lines of code, that did not make them a derivative work of DIKU[13].
  9. It has been stated that Medievia, since version 4, has been written in C++[12], whereas Merc 1.0 was written in C (see [14] for more on the differences between these languages), and that as such it cannot be considered a derivative work [13] .
  10. Michael Krause ("Vryce") has stated that Medievia is now a 64-bit application[15] (see [16] for more on what this involves), whereas Merc 1.0 was not, and it is further stated that as such it cannot be considered a derivative work[who?].

[edit] Comparison with the terms of the DikuMUD license

The following comparison is based on a copy of the DikuMUD license available here [6], and explains the compatibility of Medievia at present with the DikuMUD license. If Medievia is derived from DikuMUD, it is legally required to meet these terms.

  1. You may under no circumstances make profit on *ANY* part of DikuMUD in any possible way.

    As discussed in the section on Medievia's business model, Medievia.com, Inc. receives revenue linked to the sale of in-game items (donation items). It has been claimed [8] this revenue far exceeds Medievia's costs.

  2. You may not remove any copyright notices from any of the documents or sources given to you.

    The code that is claimed to be leaked from Medievia 4 does not include Diku copyright notices[8].

  3. Any running version of DikuMud must include our names in the login sequence. Furthermore, the "credits" command shall always contain our name, addresses, and a notice which states we have created DikuMud.

    Medievia does not provide any credits or attribution to any party in the login sequence, nor does the credits command list the Diku creators. [4]

[edit] Some consequences of the code provenance controversy

  1. Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, one of the Diku codebase authors, has stated that his belief that Medievia had violated the Diku license was among the reasons that he no longer contributes to the open source MUD community. [11]
  2. Some Medievia administrators, including "Thranz" [7] and "Omawarisan" [17] have resigned, and have cited concerns over Medievia's licensing as all or part of their reason for doing so.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Medievia's statement regarding its origins
  2. ^ Encyclopedia of Muds entry
  3. ^ Mud-Dev FAQ
  4. ^ a b Medievia
  5. ^ Pennsylvania Department of State Business Entity Filing History
  6. ^ a b The DikuMUD license, hosted by CircleMUD
  7. ^ a b Google groups archive of former Medievia programmer Thranz's comments regarding the code authorship controversy
  8. ^ a b c d Richard Woolcock's comparison of Merc 1.0 and Medievia IV
  9. ^ Richard Woolcock's comparison of Merc 1.0, and Medievia IV in 1996 and 2000
  10. ^ A signed fax attributed to Michael Krause, Medievia owner, asserting the authenticity of the code.
  11. ^ a b Google groups archive of Hans Henrik Staerfeldt's comments on Medievia
  12. ^ a b Vryce, CEO of Medievia.com, Inc. (2006-11-25). Hiring Two Programmers!. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
  13. ^ a b Soleil, Medieva's Director of Media & Marketing (2005-05-08). Welcome, Medievia. Top Mud Sites Forum. Retrieved on 2008-02-25. “we do not consider ourselves a DIKU derivative. ... Again, I will state, that the Merc code was 28,000 lines of poorly written C. Medievia today is almost 500,000 lines of C++. ... Medievia today is about 451,000 lines of re-coded C++.”
  14. ^ Compatibility of C and C++
  15. ^ Medievia News article dated May 26, 2006
  16. ^ Porting Linux applications to 64-bit systems
  17. ^ Omawarisan's spew - A former administrator's view on the code authorship controversy

[edit] See also