ROM...Rivers Of Mud: game

Da Game ...

A BRIEF EXPLANATION FOR THE IGNORANT (Like myself until very recently): ... Aye! Get yer swords and wands out maties! It's time to play ROM, a.k.a. RIVERS OF MUD, my new discovery on the web. I bet it's not gonna be new for a lot of you. MUDs are the grand-daddies of all those modern, hopped-up doohickies like Diablo, Quake, Dark Reign, Command & Conquer... same thing, in as much that you play a game with multiple players over the web.... 'cep there's NO GRAPHICS AT ALL!!! Sound horrible? ... It's kind of a relief actually, to be able to play a multiple user game with as little distraction as possible. Not that I'm not a big fan of graphics, but getting back to the basics and down to the nit gritty can be enthralling. The lack of graphics leaves everything up to the imagination, and somehow I feel that's lacking these days. ROM is just as addictive, if not more, than other online games. I hate computer games actually, cuz they suck the creative juices out of my life, make me stay up all night (like right now), and cut me off from the rest of the world... well, I should be blaming myself, actually. Case in point, I see a lot of the same people every time I go to ROM and wonder if they ever sleep and what kinda social lives they have. That's not meant to be insulting, it's just sort of a general concern for the dark side of humanity in this high tech world. I include myself, obviously. OK, so computer games are evil. we've established that. i LOVE them more than I hate them, but... I feel weird promoting one here, cuz you should go paint a picture or pick up a guitar or something. But IF you wants ta play, this makes you feel 'healthier' somehow. Maybe it's psychosomatic, but it seems to tax my creativity more than most games. ... Another positive aspect is the overall intelligence of the ROM players. I suspect this has something to do with the fact that you have to be literate to play. That, and their sense of humor. It's a safe, funny little world filled with kind and helpful people. Sound corny? Well I suppose it is sorta, I was just so surprised when I got there that, first off, you can't kill other players and people are willing to answer most of your stupid questions, and second, I didn't get banned for my cynical sense of humor. Believe me that's happened before. Many of my net encounters have been accompanied by either absolutely NO sense of humor, or one of a juvenile nature. ... ROM players, or the overwhelming majority at least, are funny! and seem to have a lotta cool things to say. At least compared to most chat lines. It's sort of a chat with people you can deal with AND a game in one! This is what interactive computer games should be like! Not "I f*** your mommy's p****!!!" quotes and/or total annihilation before you know what hit you. ... Oh yeah, one other thing that impressed me was the amount of chicks on ROM! Hey, I got my own wonderful girlfriend, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't be scamming on ROM. And I'm certainly not suggesting it. Lord knows there're enough horny little idgits out there with some sort of ridiculous presumption that the best way to get laid is to sit at home alone in front of your computer and make annoying comments to people who may or may not be of the preferred gender. That's not my point, as far as the high female ratio in ROM goes. I just don't know hardly any girls who play computer, and those that do seem to only go in for the more intelligent games. I have my theories on why this is so, but I won't go into it now. I just mean to say I have a lot more faith in a game that women get into too. Makes me feel less like I'm wasting my brain and my time on moving ones and zeroes around at ridiculous speeds to no positive end. I know, the truth is, just cuz girls are playing too don't make a beanhill o' difference, but it feels like it, and that makes me happy. ... So: funny, intelligent, and tolerant people meet to chat and play on one of the simplest, easiest formats around. So it don't sound so bad after all, huh? Ready to try it? Read on: ...

First off, you'll need a Tel net client, which comes with windows and which Netscape loads automatically when you click on a Tel net link. Of course, it's nice to have a better one than Hyper Term 1.0, so go get one for win95 at http://tucows.phoenix.net/term95.html. You don't NEED windows or a PC, or anything fancy, so don't get discouraged... UNIX or LINUX are good too I believe. Basically you ONLY need a connection to the net. try here for a client: http://www.sdgate.com/download/ http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/ http://www.tucows.com/ for mac: http://tucows.iol.it/mac/telnetmac.html http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Brochure/Overview/MacTelnet.overview.html

Ok. Now go to the top of this page and click on the ROM icon (telnet://rom.cmc.net:9000, or protocol: telnet, hostname/IP: rom.org, port: 9000) and start playing, or check out some of the pages made by ROM players I've met while playing:

Stardeo http://www.angelfire.com/or/stardeo I found out all about rom here.

Zantaril http://home.ccon.net/~gmcgraw/ mud's the word

Yib http://www.angelfire.com/ia/dismemberment/ Nude Pope Central: thrice a Phreak.

Beorn http://www.primenet.com/~danelle/rom.htm maps! getcher hot fresh ROM maps.

Kendryck http://voruebergehend.geschlossen.com/~kendryk/ with pictures of club ROM. MOMENTARILY UNAVAILABLE

And the makers of this particular MUD whom I don't know personally, and hope don't mind that I'm linking to them (I'll ask next time I'm on ROM), but whom I thought I oughta mention anyway:
Alander http://www.efn.org/~rtaylor/
Zump http://www.cmc.net/~bem/

<--BACK to my home page and/or email me at: m.c.eye@earthling.net . .

http://www.oocities.org/ .