MU Clients

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A client is a program used to connect to a MUSH server over a TCP/IP connection. The oldest client program is the venerable telnet program; telnet and other remote terminal programs are adequate for connecting to a MUSH, but clients developed specifically for mudding often include several incredibly useful features beyond simply negotiating the connection and relaying text to and from the MUSH.

Client Features

Some key features of clients developed for mudding include:

  • Word-wrapping of MUSH output
  • Separation of input and output text, either into different screen regions or by redrawing partial input so it is not intermixed with MUSH output
  • Scrollback of output
  • Input command-history and editing
  • The ability to automatically log into a given MUSH with a particular player and password
  • The ability to connect to multiple MUSHes at once
  • Visual or audible alerts when activity occurs in a MUSH
  • Logging of MUSH output to a text file
  • "Macros": client key combinations that send more extensive text to the MUSH
  • "Triggers" and "hooks": scripted client actions that take place in response to output or events from the MUSH
  • Support for one or more protocols for rendering MUSH output in HTML (Pueblo, MXP) or playing sound (MSP).
  • Communicating with Zlib-compressed data streams (MCCP) to save on server bandwidth costs.
  • Transmitting plugin-specific data (MCP) out-of-band from visible text.
  • Support for SSL-encrypted connections to servers that support SSL.

Available Clients

Below is a rough list of MU* clients out there for a variety of platforms. Choosing and picking one is a matter of preference, most have similar features and are perfectly adequate for the majority of text-gamers.