MUSHes (and MUXes) are on-line, real-time text-based roleplaying games. In contrast to MUDs, to which they are related, most MU*s (often used to refer to both MUSHes and MUXes) focus on co-operative story-telling instead of gaining points through going on quests and fighting mobs or other players.

To play on a MU* you connect to a server using a client of some sort. Once logged into the server you take on the persona of a character living in the world that the MU* tries to recreate and you roleplay out various events in your character’s life together with the players of other characters. Plots and storylines on MU*s are generally smaller in scale than in many other role-playing game and they tend to focus on personal drama and character development rather than epic save-the-world storylines. In contrast to table-top RPGs, MU*s generally depend very little on storyteller-guided plots. Because of this, MU* players need to be able to take their own initiatives and to create roleplay for themselves, because most of the time they will not have anyone guiding them.

Roleplaying on a MU* is a little like writing a story, except you only control the actions of your own character and you always need to keep in mind that each character is the hero of their own story and that the purpose of the game is to co-operate to produce the best possible story. MU*ing is not about ‘winning’. Examples of MUSH roleplaying can be see on the Logs page.