Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

I would like to post a thread about my favorite MUD in the World. Gemstone 4.

http://paulvincenti.com/TheWhiteWizardFramed.JPG

Simutronics

In 1987 David Whatley, who in previous years had played Sceptre of Goth and Island of Kesmai, founded Simutronics with Tom and Susan Zelinski. In the same year they demonstrate a prototype of GemStone to GEnie. After a short-lived instance of GemStone II, GemStone III was officially launched in February 1990. GemStone III became available on AOL in September 1995, followed by the release of DragonRealms in February 1996. By the end of 1997 GemStone III and DragonRealms had become the first and second most played games on AOL.

The first Online Mud that I ever played was Gemstone 3. Which as I'm sure you read above was at one time the most popular played game on America Online. That was back in 1995, but the game is still around today in the form of Gemstone 4. In my opinion, Gemstone 4 sets the standards for what a MUD should be like.

Here's the website:

http://www.play.net/gs4/

For those who are going to check it out, make sure to study before you play. I found out back in the day when I made sure I studied alot about the races, spell circles, action commands, etc., that it made it a heck of alot easier to play the game.

Also, as an extra benefit to the game, If you build up your character in the game, you can sell it for REAL money outside the game. I've seen level 100 characters go for as much as $1,000 US dollars. You can sell anything from weapons, to gold, to armor, to just about whatever the game has to offer for REAL cash in REAL life.

Here is the website that auctions off the characters and such:

http://www.gsauctions.com/faq.asp

Or...you can always take the lazy way out and instead of building up your own character you can purchase one from that site and equip him/her full of gear.

Here's another tip that is really important for anyone who plays this game. If you choose to use the Wizard client (The one I highly recommend), or the JAVA client to play the game, and if you want to ask any questions to any other people playing it or if you just want to talk in general then you have to first type in an apostrophe before you say anything because it's the way to talk in the game. If you don't use the apostrophe before you say something then the wizard client through which you are playing the game won't let you speak. So thats something I think is very important for anyone who first starts playing the game.

For the monthly price of about two packs of cigarettes I say the game is worth it though you know?

If anyone wants to learn more about Gemstone 4 they can go to krakiipedia.org. Here is the link for those who want to study more about Elanthia and it's virtual geography and realms:

http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

For people who would like to study the Verbology of Gemstone 4/Elanthia you can go to the following website:

http://sylvanfair.com/Verb_Scripts/verb_page1.htm

I hope some of you try it and I hope you end up liking it as much as I did.

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/images/DragonEye.jpg

GemStone IV is a text-based role playing game (often known as a mud) produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a High Fantasy game world named "Elanthia". The first playable version of the game was known as GemStone II and was launched in April 1988 on Genie. It was one of the first MMORPG's and is one of the longest running online games still active. Access to the game is subscription-based (monthly fee) through its website, with two additional subscriptions levels available, "Premium" and "Platinum".

GemStone IV is a text-based game built on Simutronics' proprietary engine, the IFE (Interactive Fiction Engine). This engine is capable of changing nearly any aspect of the game on the fly which allows updates without the necessity for downtime, a problem of many graphical RPGs. Due to the use of the IFE, GemStone is rarely taken offline, giving a 24-hour uptime cycle aside from the occasional game crash.

The GemStone interface is simply a text stream, and the game can be played with a Telnet Interface after authentication. There are several official interfaces to the game, as well as several unofficial ones. The oldest interface for Windows is called the "Wizard Front End" and offers several useful features such as status readouts, macros, and limited scripting abilities. The Wizard has since been superseded with the "StormFront" Front End introduced in 2003. StormFront offers several additional extensions to the game, including a "point and click" interface that allows one to click on text within the game and bring up action menus applicable to that portion of text. The Java FE and a browser-based version named "eScape" are less popular alternatives. A Wizard (similar to the Windows version) also exists for Macintosh Classic, while a Front End named "Avalon" is available for. Mac OS X. No official Linux client exists.

Here is a picture of the wizard front end client I was telling you guys about before:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/GemstoneIV_Wizard_Screenshot.jpg/754px-GemstoneIV_Wizard_Screenshot.jpg

GemStone was first demonstrated to GEnie in 1987 before Simutronics was officially incorporated. It was only used as a demonstration model and was never available to the general subscribers. GemStone II was released in April 1988 to GEnie customers. However, GemStone II was very short-lived, and GemStone III went into open beta testing in December 1989, officially launching on February 1, 1990. The transition from "II" to "III" maintained significant portions of the environment, but not all, and character records were not maintained over the transition, requiring all players to begin anew. GemStone III evolved into GemStone IV in November 2003, but the game world and character records were maintained over the transition. Gemstone III was promoted on GEnie by promising players the opportunity to receive real-life versions of gems found in-game, something that persisted for many years.

GemStone originally operated with a license to use the Rolemaster game mechanics and Shadow World environment from Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE). In 1995, Simutronics and ICE agreed to let the business relationship expire, necessitating the removal of all ICE intellectual property from GemStone. Many of the game changes were simply renaming ICE names, such as changing the world name from Kulthea to Elanthia, and renaming the deities while keeping their previous characteristics.

Game mechanics were greatly changed with the de-ICEing (as the period is colloquially named), which required every game character to undergo significant changes. Character racial and class choices were also changed, making any direct translation between the two systems difficult. The end result was that every character was required to "re-roll" their character with the option to change race and skills, but maintaining their old experience level, class, and equipment.

GemStone became available on AOL in September, 1995, just after the de-ICEing process. Shortly thereafter, it became available on CompuServe and Prodigy as well. When AOL switched to flat-rate pricing, GemStone did over 1.4 million customer-hours in a single month, while the number of simultaneous users could rise above 3000 during prime time. Simutronics launched a web portal in 1997, and started phasing customers off of the online services and onto the web interface, although it would take several years before the last of the online service portals were closed.

Gemstone has won different awards for it's amazing gameplay including:

1998 Finalist, Online Game of the Year, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences
December 1996, AOL Members' Choice Award

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/83/GemstoneIV_Logo.png/360px-GemstoneIV_Logo.png

Here is the official Gemstone 4 Players created message Board where people go to talk about the game. Perhaps those interested in playing could learn more about the game by visiting it?

http://forum.gsplayers.com/index.php

Look, you were already told not to do this. You were, in fact, banned very recently for doing this, as well as warned.

Let's see if you learn this time.

Oh, and thread closed.