i've been reading a late-90s book about virtual worlds - some of them VRML-based, many custom 2d and 3d clients, and some MUSHes/MOOs/MUDs

i came across a scientific MUD i had never heard before, and i'm absolutely blown away by its goals and implementation: NAU Solar System Simulation/SolSys by prof Reed Riner at northern arizona university. it was online from 1990 until at least 2017 (and maybe longer?).

there is a little information out there on what SolSys was:

"The Solar System Simulation, originated at CONTACT VI in 1987, was developed into an intercollegiate curriculum at Northern Arizona University by Reed Riner, as an honors course in Anthropology and Engineering. Since 1990, it has included student teams from many colleges and universities around the globe.

The teams represent colonies in a simulated future human community in space. For example, Mars Colony is normally manned by NAU and the Cabrillo College team traditionally inhabits the L-5 Colony near Earth. (See L-5 artwork left by Joel Hagen.) Teams communicate via websites, Internet e-mail and a Multiple User Domain (MUD), a text-based, virtual reality program. Students are directed and encouraged by their local faculty advisors and by a board of professional consultants in the social and space sciences."

https://www.contact-conference.org/c03.html

seriously - a hardcore scientific MUD built around real-life anthropology and space exploration. and entire mud devoted to teaching players how to cooperate in order to accomplish goals together, instead of killing a bunch of shit. how fucking cool is that?

did anyone here play/use SolSys when it was still alive?

the urls went dead when prof reed passed away last year, and the university wiped his webspace

SolSys ran on a modified version of tinyMUD, focused largely on building and communicating. this is its last known homepage:

https://web.archive.org/web/20250328124317/https://www2.nau.edu/rdr/SolSys/

dr. riner's obit:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/azdailysun/name/reed-riner-obituary?id=58181563

#mud #moo #virtualWorld #mush