It was just another day playing guitar, listening to music and well, enjoying myself. As I sat on my friend's bed, I was going through the usual routine whenever we get together, unaware of the new world I would soon be sucked into. I casually browsed around his room, looking for something to keep me occupied when I saw his computer flicker into life. A connection here, a program there, and before I knew it, a strange picture of a castle appeared on the screen. I read the words "MUD2: The Quest for Immortality." He gradually explained to me what he was doing, and that the next few minutes would be very confusing to me since I wasn't used to this type of "text" only game. Well, I found out exactly what he meant...the computer screen ran wild with action and was followed with brilliantly quick typing of indecipherable nonsense. After adjusting my eyes, I noticed him glancing back at me and asking if I would like to try. Mazzic the sorcerer logged off, and Beermug was born.

I stumbled around, scoring about 250 points after an hour (heh, I learned the art of sipping T, so I was one step ahead of the game). The commands sunk deeper into my head, and with the occasional input from Mazzic and another friend, known to everyone at the time as Inferno the warlock (POTM), I completed the dangerous journey from the Narrow Road Between Lands to the Cottage Hall! Being so confident at this point, I didn't realise how easy it was to die...until I attempted to practice my newly mastered art of ZWing from anywhere in the game--with a lit brand in my hand. WHOOSH! I decided to press my luck another time with Beermug, as the loss of about 40 points was too great to handle. With Mazzic's approval, however, I could return and temporarily use his 3rd persona slot!

Deeply indebted to him for his gratuity, my addiction began. My heart broke a few times as a couple of heroes bit the dust, and someone even attacked me and killed a superhero! <sigh> Hours of work down the drain again. Anyway, sometime later, I made it to the mind-boggling rank of Champion and held my first encounter with the touchstone. This only drew me deeper into MUD2 and my irreversible addiction. With a few chats from Innocent the white witch, I managed to learn some strategy (I thought that swamping flowers all set was perfectly acceptable, but she disagreed.) Another few sorcerers died before I had my first necromancer. This was still in the same month, mind you be wondering, and Beermug the necromancer was part of Mazzic's account. The time came for me to get a new account, and thus my prized necromancer was wiped out. The horrors! I rebuilt my character from scratch and after discovering the mirror and having my first snoop on Lucretia the necromancess, I learned the secrets of the Crypt, Dragon, Wolf, and Druids in no time!

It has been 3 months since I first started playing my first ever MUD, and many of my earlier friends such as Inferno, Mapper, Grumpy, and Deianneira have made WIZ, leaving me behind to fiddle around with the rest of the Land's mortals. Currently, I am at my highest score ever, 81K. And I end this with a piece of advice to new players: Don't be intimidated by the vast array of information that you don't yet know, or of how good others seem to be at MUDding. Just play at your speed, have some fun, and with a little bit of practice (and snooping) you will be able to hold your own in no time!