MERC Industries produced Merc MUD, a portable version of DikuMUD that made the art of running MUDs available to a wider audience. The Merc group split shortly after Merc 2.2, and the remaining members reformed as Envy Communications. EnvyMUD, or Envy as it was called in its documentation, became the successor form of Merc MUD. Merc's OLC, which was a user contribution from the NiMUD team, was renamed EnvyOLC but remained in compliance with the NiMUD license.
Merc 1.0 was later discontinued, and was the version most like DikuMUD. This early form of Merc was available only to a small audience and was the launching point for Hidden Worlds, where the first Diku-based building features were implemented.
Merc 2.x spawned a variety of direct derivatives including ROM, NiMUD and GodWars.
Required notice by the Merc MUD License:
This mud is based on Merc 2.2, created by Kahn, Hatchet, and Furey. Merc 2.2 is an upgrade from Merc 2.1, created by Furey, Hatchet, and Kahn. Merc 2.2 is available as Merc_22.tar.gz from ferkel.ucsb.edu (most files moved to ftp.tcp.com), ftp.math.okstate.edu, marble.bu.edu, zen.btc.uwe.ac.uk E-mail to 'merc-request@kpc.com' to join the merc mailing list. Thanks to ... ... Diku Mud for starting it all. ... The Free Software Foundation and DJ Delorie for kick-ass tools. ... Copper Mud and Alfa Mud for releasing their code and worlds. ... Aod of Generic for ... well, everything. You're a hoopy frood, Aod. ... Alander for many ideas and contributions. ... John Brothers of Silly for permission to use Silly code and worlds. ... Zrin for administering the mailing list. ... Abaddon for proofreading our comm.c. ... Hind, Quin, Vic, Diavolo, Oleg, and others for porting help. ... Diavolo, Grodyn, Morgenes, Da Pub, Loki, Talen, Kalgen, Sludge, The Crew of Salems Lot, and others for code and bug fixes. ... N'Atas-Ha for the pager skeleton and Blackstar for the improvements and ideas to the pager. ... Raff, Doctor, VampLestat, Nirrad, Tyrst, PinkF, Chris for worlds. ... Ikee, Chaos, Kraze, Maxx, Thoth, Zolstead, Zavod, VampLestat, Cyric, Kelvin, and Jackal for extensively playtesting MERC 2.2 and providing constructive input. ... the players and imps of Mud Dome, Final Mud, Mud Lite, Vego Mud, Rivers of Mud, Ruhr Mud, Mystic Realms, 4th Realm, Dragon Mud, and Salems Lot for bug reports, ideas, new code, and hours of enjoyment. Share and enjoy. MERC Industries