From: beorn@elk.Berkeley.EDU (Beorn Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Red Alert! Need History and Opinions About Netrek! Help a Fellow Netrek Player! This is Not a Drill! It's Almost Christmas for Crying Out Aloud! S.E.X.!!!
Date: 24 Nov 1992 02:39:55 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley
Distribution: world
Reply-To: beorn@berkeley.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: elk.berkeley.edu

Timothy C. Worsley <tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
(in <Ef4I7lK00awPJA_GEt@andrew.cmu.edu>):
-  Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 23-Nov-92 Red Alert! Need
-  History an.. Dwight Joe@leland.Stanfo (1065)
-  
-  > (1) What is the history of Netrek?
-  
-  	In order to know the history of netrek, one must know some about the
-  history of xtrek, it.  Xtrek was written at MIT, and ported out to other
-  sites.  However, the ported version tended to crash frequently, so
-  hackers at UCB and CMU began to try to fix/modify the game.  As they
-  were working seperately, they naturally diverged -- CMU hackers adding
-  more elaborate damage controls and configurable ships, and UCB players
-  adding new weapons and changing the cloaking rules.  
-  	When UCB writers added t-mode rules, server-client protocall, and a
-  permanant database (made possible by a permanat server), the game of
-  netrek was born.  As it spread, the MIT and CMU versions of the game
-  were replaced.

Is there a ":-)" that I missed?  This not correct.

Xtrek was written by Chris Guthrie with Ed James (both at UCB), and
based on a game called Trek83 (basically ascii xtrek, written by
another UCB student).  Trek-83 was based on a game called "Conquest"
(or "Empire"?) that ran on the Plato system.  This was (is) "xtrek-I",
now at version 6 (and frequently called "xtrek-6" in the ftp area at
scam.berkeley.edu.  It included a permanent database and "T-mode".  You
should also find the original instructions on scam ("Xtrek: a space
shoot-em up game", or something like that).  The first "publically"
accessible server ran on "eros.berkeley.edu", then a VAX 8600.  Most
people would connect via telnet, and that is why to this day the player
database maintains the keymap and player options on the server.  A few
organized-team constests were played, with the galaxy divided equally
between two races (Fed and Rom I think) and each side able to appear on
either of two homeworlds.  Those days internet connectivity was pretty
poor, so only two UCB teams really "competed".  Fun to watch on the
projection screen . . . Also, a lisp interface was written and some
robots were made, though nothing became of it.

Xtrek-II was a separate client-server based program.  It was written by
Kevin Smith and Scott Silvey, both at UCB.  Plasmas were added and
cloaking modified.  Since there was a seperate client, the reserved.c
code was added to prevent people from writing and using special
client.  Cloaking location was "fuzzed" at this time, I think to
anticipate robots (always an idea), which also required slower
uncloaking.  Xtrek-II was known as "netrek" to emphasize the new
client-server model (and the fact that you need a client to play).  It
was run on the UCB server, which at that time I think had moved to
"sequent.berkeley.edu".

Xtrek-III was developed at roughly the same time as xtrek-II (netrek)
by Nick Lai (started a little later, finished a little sooner?) a UCB
graduate, and a friend of his who I don't remember, both then at UCLA.
Damage controls, configurable ships, and transwarp were key features.
The first major server that ran this version was at Berkeley, also
"sequent.berkeley.edu".

For a time, "sequent" was alternating the three versions on a daily rotation.
Xtrek-I lost out because it had only one ship type, xtrek-III lost out
because configurable ships were not well balanced, and Netrek (xtrek-II)
won out by having the client-server set-up (and "improved" performance).

I hope I have everything straight up to this point.  I went on vacation
from xtrek about here, so my info after this is fuzzy.  I know nothing
about xtrek at CMU before Terence Chang brought netrek, though someone
somewhere made the game into a single-process version (it died).  When
the UCB server went away, CMU became the center of the world (in the
minds of numerous East Coast people :-) -- this may be the underlying
source of the "Berkeley/CMU" flame wars).

The really significant events to change the game after that are (in
order of my opinion of importance):
	1) formation of alt.games.xtrek, then rec.games.netrek
	     and collected advice/info/etc on ftp servers
	     Servers started springing up everywhere after that.
	2) UDP, by Andy McFadden (? I think, and also a UCB grad?)
	3) INL, an effort to collect highly experience players.
	4) The metaserver

Generally, changes are now fairly small and are debated on the newsgroup
(though it is only the person running a particular server that makes the
decision).  There are no more big changes like those between xtrek-I and
xtrek-II and xtrek-III.  Sturgeon is sort of an exception but I don't know
if any of it will catch on (I hope not);  The "NBR" may also be an exception.
I never played a "Chaos" server intentionally, so I don't know about them.

(2) As an application program on UNIX, how does it rank?

What do you mean by "rank"?  Fun?  CPU usage?  Network usage?
Importance for running an efficient UNIX system?  Importance
for closing the sale :-) ?

(3) & (4) Plusses and Minuses

Plusses:  Can relieve stress at work
Minusses:  Can cause stress at work
	Can eat up people-hours, CPU-hours, and net-bandwidth.

(5)  Too Addictive?

I think most people play more than they really should, but also
most people recognize when they have gone overboard and start to
cut back, unless xtrek was the effect and not the cause.
I can stop playing any time I want.  :-) 

	Beorn (aka Snidly)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek