<s>
DikuMUD	B-Application
is	O
a	O
multiplayer	O
text-based	O
role-playing	O
game	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
type	O
of	O
multi-user	B-Application
domain	I-Application
(	O
MUD	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
1990	O
and	O
1991	O
by	O
Sebastian	O
Hammer	O
,	O
Tom	O
Madsen	O
,	O
Katja	O
Nyboe	O
,	O
Michael	O
Seifert	O
,	O
and	O
Hans	O
Henrik	O
Stærfeldt	O
at	O
DIKU	O
(	O
Datalogisk	O
Institut	O
Københavns	O
Universitet	O
)	O
—	O
the	O
department	B-General_Concept
of	I-General_Concept
computer	I-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Copenhagen	O
in	O
Copenhagen	O
,	O
Denmark	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Commonly	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
simply	O
"	O
Diku	O
"	O
,	O
the	O
game	O
was	O
greatly	O
inspired	O
by	O
AberMUD	B-Protocol
,	O
though	O
Diku	O
became	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
multi-user	O
games	O
to	O
become	O
popular	O
as	O
a	O
freely-available	O
program	O
for	O
its	O
gameplay	O
and	O
similarity	O
to	O
Dungeons	O
&	O
Dragons	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
gameplay	O
style	O
of	O
the	O
great	O
preponderance	O
of	O
DikuMUDs	B-Application
is	O
hack	B-Application
and	I-Application
slash	I-Application
,	O
which	O
is	O
seen	O
proudly	O
as	O
emblematic	O
of	O
what	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
stands	O
for	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DikuMUD	B-Application
was	O
created	O
by	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Copenhagen	O
's	O
Department	B-General_Concept
of	I-General_Concept
Computer	I-General_Concept
Science	I-General_Concept
among	O
a	O
group	O
of	O
student	O
friends	O
:	O
Katja	O
Nyboe	O
,	O
Tom	O
Madsen	O
,	O
Hans	O
Henrik	O
Staerfeldt	O
,	O
Michael	O
Seifert	O
,	O
and	O
Sebastian	O
Hammer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
Richard	O
Bartle	O
,	O
co-creator	O
of	O
the	B-Protocol
first	I-Protocol
MUD	I-Protocol
,	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
's	O
developers	O
sought	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
better	O
version	O
of	O
AberMUD	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
TinyMUD	O
and	O
LPMUD	B-Application
,	O
which	O
encouraged	O
live	O
changes	O
to	O
the	O
virtual	O
world	O
,	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
hard-coded	O
its	O
virtual	O
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
making	O
of	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
was	O
first	O
announced	O
on	O
Usenet	O
by	O
Hans	O
Henrik	O
Stærfeldt	O
March	O
27	O
,	O
1990	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Stærfeldt	O
stated	O
that	O
their	O
intention	O
was	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
MUD	B-Application
that	O
was	O
less	O
messy	O
than	O
AberMUD	B-Protocol
,	O
less	O
buggy	O
than	O
LPMud	B-Application
,	O
and	O
more	O
like	O
Dungeons	O
&	O
Dragons	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
was	O
in	O
working	O
development	O
as	O
early	O
as	O
October	O
1990	O
and	O
officially	O
opened	O
publicly	O
running	O
at	O
freja.diku.dk	O
port	O
4000	O
on	O
February	O
3	O
,	O
1991	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
second	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
appeared	O
in	O
January	O
1991	O
,	O
running	O
at	O
hayes.ims.alaska.edu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
1991	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
public	O
version	O
of	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
,	O
known	O
as	O
Diku	O
Gamma	O
,	O
became	O
available	O
at	O
beowulf.acc.stolaf.edu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Afterwards	O
the	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
at	O
freja.diku.dk	O
was	O
shut	O
down	O
and	O
the	O
game	O
and	O
development	O
moved	O
to	O
alfa.me.chalmers.se	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
Diku	O
Gamma	O
MUDs	B-Application
appeared	O
in	O
March	O
1991	O
running	O
at	O
eris.berkeley.edu,	O
followed	O
by	O
a	O
multiprocessor	O
version	O
running	O
at	O
sequent.berkeley.edu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
early	O
April	O
1991	O
,	O
there	O
were	O
DikuMUDs	B-Application
running	O
at	O
spam.ua.oz.au,	O
goldman.gnu.ai.mit.edu,	O
bigboy.cis.temple.edu,	O
and	O
elof.iit.edu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Diku	O
Alfa	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
July	O
1991	O
and	O
the	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
team	O
hereafter	O
continued	O
with	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
DikuII	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
version	O
was	O
however	O
never	O
released	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
but	O
continues	O
to	O
run	O
today	O
under	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
Valhalla	O
MUD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
June	O
21	O
,	O
2020	O
,	O
Michael	O
Seifert	O
released	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
III	O
for	O
HTML	O
5	O
with	O
Websockets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
now	O
the	O
last	O
official	O
release	O
of	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
its	O
easily	O
operable	O
codebase	O
,	O
several	O
major	O
standalone	O
MUD	B-Application
codebases	O
were	O
spun	O
out	O
using	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
's	O
code	O
,	O
namely	O
Circle	O
,	O
Silly	O
,	O
and	O
Merc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
turn	O
,	O
Merc	O
led	O
to	O
ROM	B-Application
(	O
Rivers	O
of	O
MUD	B-Application
)	O
and	O
Envy	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
each	O
spawned	O
their	O
own	O
codebases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
such	O
derivative	O
of	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
and	O
Merc	O
was	O
SMAUG	O
(	O
Simulated	O
Medieval	O
Adventure	O
Multi-user	O
Game	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
been	O
proposed	O
by	O
Raph	B-Application
Koster	I-Application
(	O
lead	O
designer	O
of	O
Ultima	B-Protocol
Online	I-Protocol
and	O
chief	O
creative	O
officer	O
of	O
EverQuest	B-Protocol
II	I-Protocol
)	O
that	O
Diku	O
has	O
resulted	O
in	O
the	O
greatest	O
proliferation	O
of	O
gameworlds	O
due	O
to	O
being	O
the	O
easiest	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
and	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
further	O
pointed	O
out	O
that	O
"	O
Diku	O
codebases	O
did	O
eventually	O
popularize	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
major	O
developments	O
in	O
muds	B-Application
"	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
the	O
Diku	O
gameplay	O
provided	O
inspiration	O
for	O
numerous	O
MMORPGs	B-Protocol
,	O
including	O
EverQuest	B-Protocol
,	O
World	B-Protocol
of	I-Protocol
Warcraft	I-Protocol
and	O
Ultima	B-Protocol
Online	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
was	O
a	O
minor	O
controversy	O
in	O
late	O
1999	O
and	O
early	O
2000	O
regarding	O
whether	O
the	O
commercial	O
MMORPG	B-Protocol
EverQuest	B-Protocol
,	O
developed	O
by	O
Verant	O
Interactive	O
,	O
had	O
derived	O
its	O
code	O
from	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
began	O
at	O
the	O
Re:Game	O
gaming	O
conference	O
in	O
1999	O
,	O
where	O
the	O
Director	O
of	O
Product	O
Development	O
for	O
EverQuest	B-Protocol
,	O
Bernard	O
Yee	O
,	O
allegedly	O
stated	O
that	O
EverQuest	B-Protocol
was	O
"	O
based	O
on	O
Dikumud	B-Application
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
did	O
not	O
specify	O
whether	O
he	O
meant	O
the	O
code	O
itself	O
was	O
derived	O
from	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
,	O
or	O
if	O
it	O
just	O
had	O
a	O
similar	O
feeling	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
attendees	O
had	O
understood	O
it	O
to	O
mean	O
the	O
former	O
,	O
given	O
that	O
the	O
chief	O
designer	O
,	O
Brad	O
McQuaid	O
was	O
an	O
avid	O
player	O
of	O
SojournMUD	O
and	O
TorilMUD	B-Protocol
that	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Sequent	B-Protocol
DikuMUD	B-Application
derivative	O
,	O
and	O
reported	O
to	O
that	O
effect	O
on	O
Usenet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
the	O
Diku	O
group	O
requested	O
clarification	O
,	O
Verant	O
issued	O
a	O
sworn	O
statement	O
on	O
March	O
17	O
,	O
2000	O
that	O
EverQuest	B-Protocol
was	O
not	O
based	O
on	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
source	O
code	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
built	O
from	O
the	O
ground	O
up	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
response	O
,	O
the	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
team	O
publicly	O
stated	O
that	O
they	O
find	O
no	O
reason	O
whatsoever	O
to	O
believe	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
rumors	O
that	O
EverQuest	B-Protocol
was	O
derived	O
from	O
DikuMUD	B-Application
code	O
.	O
</s>
