Yep, a multiplayer Caves of Qud sounds about right! People don’t tend to make complex graphical UIs on top of MUDs, because the MUD creator is more worried about other things. But the clients often have mapping or other features.

MUDs are also more friendly to play for blind people than a lot of games since they’re based on text.

Incredibly, EverQuest came out two years before RuneScape!

If you’re curious about MUDs at all, my favorite one from the mid-nineties (Alter Aeon) is still being run by players who love the game and seem like good people. I still play sometimes, it provides a different kind of gaming experience than the games we’ve discussed.