Here is the obligatory "check out POE" post. POE is a cool environment that allows you to do network programming fairly easily. Also check out Perl for MMORPG Server - a lot of good perl game coding links in there. In particular for this MUD question, try Re: Perl for MMORPG Server. From personal experience, it was really easy to get a client/server model up and running using tcp/ip and/or udp and POE. Just don't get scared about the parts you don't understand in their tutorials - they will come in time.