I have slowly been working on a MUSH, which is an online, multi-player, text-based social game. The game Zork (1977) is probably the most popular game in this style, although it is not multi-player. I decided to use PennMUSH as the server distro since it seems to have the widest support.
MUSH servers open a raw TCP socket for incoming connections and most sessions occur over plaintext. There are a handful of MUSH clients that players can use but a simple TELNET connection also works. MUSH servers understand enough of the TELNET protocol to refuse option negotiation.
At one time I decided to create restricted shell accounts for users and have them connect to the MUSH via localhost rather than expose the MUSH server to the open internet. I have since walked that back and just opened it to the internet but shell accounts are still an option. See this page for some details. ...continue reading "MUSH and Restricted Shell"