Shades

Neil Newell wrote the game for Micronet 800, the corner of Prestel aimed at people with home micros. The format was familiar to anyone who had played MUD1 at the University of Essex: rooms described in prose, objects to collect, points to earn and eventually wizard status, with power over the other players.

What differed was the audience. The Essex MUD was mostly reached by students and people with access to research networks; Shades players dialled in by modem from the living room and paid for their time. That made it one of the first games where the general public could meet in a shared fictional world — and discover that the socialising was more fun than the treasure hunting.