Spod

People who use Talkers tend to be called spods. The spod tends to be something of a long term fanatic. Where many mudders may move on after a year or two, people who use Talkers typically have been doing so for a decade or more. Talkers are significantly easier to run than an average MUD, since they don't incorporate very much artificial intelligence, and they are usually much more user friendly, since there is not often much fighting as a focus. In other words, whole families of husbands, wives, children, and siblings have been known to spod in certain circles. They also use very little network traffic, and use simple protocols, making them ideal for setting up quietly at work. Some of the early Talker applications were used to play Dungeons & Dragons over computer networks.

The spod has earned a place in the Jargon File.

Spod is also an electro-pop band from Sydney, Australia.

Spod also stands for the "Spinning Pizza of Death" which describes the colorful, spinning circle in the Apple Mac OSX operating system that indicates that the user must wait for something to happen. The SPOD is also described as a SBOD – spinning beachball of death.