[ratacat]

There are still several hundred once prominent MMOs called MUDs that came about in the 1980s and are all text based. They deal with these sorts of problems in very diverse and creative ways. If you've never played one, I might suggest Duris, Land of Bloodlust.

It's old-school, beautiful, huge world and incredibly delicate, strategic and fun combat. It's a race wars, so RvR style full player killing and full player looting. Rough game :p but makes modern MMOs look like Fisher Price editions.

[astrobe_]

They can be found there for instance:

http://www.mudconnect.com/

I've played Aardwolf which is, from my limited experience, a good introduction (lots of people 24/7, helpers, tutorial).

The great thing about MUDs is that you don't need 2D/3D/audio artists, so the resources go to the engine and world building.

Some MUDs are focusing on role play, like Sindome. It's fascinating to listen people talking about how to RP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av1d4PtUCdE

[filiph]

Author of the article (and the game) here. I didn't mention MUDs because I didn't want to scare away people with more concepts, but of course they are a huge part of what I consider interactive fiction.

I'm not sure if any MUD worked with something I'd call a "fractal story", though. The combat I remember was fun but it was always "you miss X. X hits you." I didn't play all MUDs, of course, so I'd love to know if there are any examples from that era.

[ioddly]

I think most MUDs definitely fall under what you described as "kill bandit," (as do many graphical MMOs), but I do recall a few exceptions. I remember God Wars II, for example, as a game that had more complex and interactive combat: http://www.godwars2.org

[qplex]

>makes modern MMOs look like Fisher Price editions.

From the point of view of the MMORPGs the MUDs don't look or sound much like anything. Literally.