The Social and Educational Aspects of MUD's
by Noel Germundson
at Carleton University
ae117@freenet.carleton.ca
Copyright (c) 1994 Noel Germundson
Carleton University Working Papers in Communication Technology and Culture
*Note: Please do not reproduce this document in any form without first getting
the written permission of the author. If permission is granted this document i
s not to be altered in any way , and this statement is not to be removed.
Abstract:
MUD's are Multi-User, text based, networked computer environments that up until
1989 were used mostly for gaming. Since 1989 thanks to an innovative student
(James Aspnes) at Carnegie Mellon University, MUD's have become more of a tool
for communication where dozens of people can meet online to chat, program and e
xpand the virtual world. As a social tool MUD's are becoming extremely popular
as a place for people to interact. There are also a number of pilot projects
using MUD's as Educational environments for teachers and students. A number of
MUD's even cater to various professional communities. This paper explores the
se aspects in a number of ways.
What is a MUD?
A MUD is a text-based multi-user computer environment. As of December
1993, there were 424 publicly announced MUDs based on twenty one different kind
s of software on the Internet.(1) The original MUD's were adventure games based
on role playing books (such as Advanced Dungeon's and Dragons), and text based
computer games such as Adventure (1978). The first MUD was started by student
s at the University of Essex in 1979. In 1989, James Aspnes a graduate student
at Carnegie Mellon University decided to remove the fantasy aspects and allow
people to chat or expand the virtual world instead. Since he created this new
type of MUD based on his TinyMUCK software, there has been a proliferation of a
lternate MUD's. (2)
Current variations include UnterMUD's, MUSHes, MUCKs and MOOs. Each ty
pe varies as to the complexity of the programming allowed, the forms of communi
cation that 'characters' can use, and to any specific goal or mission statement
s of the MUD.(3)
When a person first logs on to a MUD (by Telneting to a specific site),
he or she creates a character which can be the persons real name, or entirely
made up. Usual one logs into a system as a guest to have a look around. Then
an account can be requested and character is created. When a person creates a
character s/he is given the opportunity to set a number of parameters. These i
nclude @describing what the character looks like, setting the @gender which can
be male, female, neutral, or some alternate description. It is very confusing
and unnerving talking to a gender neutral character on a MUD. Characters coul
d also be plural such as a 'flock of seagulls' or 'Beavis and Butthead'.(4)
Many people are totally lost when it comes to MUD environments. It's s
imple really. MUD's are organized around the concept of physical space. You c
an talk to anyone in the same virtual room, and read text based descriptions of
the locations that you enter. As an example, here's a recent conversation and
log in at Media MOO, a MUD based at MIT which is designed specifically for Med
ia Researches -- gamers need not apply:
telnet purple-crayon.media.mit.edu 8888
Trying 18.85.0.48 ...
Connected to microworld.media.mit.edu.
************** ** Welcome to MediaMOO! ***********************
Type: 'connect <character-name> <password>' to connect to your character,
'connect Guest' to connect to a guest character,
'help @request' for information on how to get your own character,
'@who' just to see who's logged in right now,
'@quit' to disconnect, either now or later.
connect lh (password)
*** Connected ***
The LEGO Closet It's dark in here, and there are little crunchy plastic things
under your feet! Groping around, you discover what feels like a doorknob on o
ne wall. Obvious exits: out to The LEGO/Logo Lab
>out
The LEGO/Logo Lab The LEGO/Logo Lab is a happy jumble of little and big compute
rs, papers, coffee cups, and stray pieces of LEGO. Obvious exits: closet to The
LEGO Closet, center to Center of Centers, library to o Library Foyer, and atri
um to Third Floor Atrium Landing You see a newspaper, a Warhol print, Sun SPARC
station IPC, Projects chalkboard, Sign about stuff in the garden, MediaMOO Map,
Research Directory, STS Sign, Cons tructionist Flag, and Train Transfer here.
>out
You step out into the hallway. Third Floor Atrium Landing The hallway here open
s up into a four-story atrium. You are on the third floor. Over the railing an
d across the atrium, you see a mural of grey squares with co lored lines betwee
n them. Obvious exits: lego to The LEGO/Logo Lab, cw to VisMod Hallway, ccw to
E&L Hallw ay, stairs to Third-floor Stairwell, elevator to elevator, and kitch
en to Media Lab Kitchen You see an elevator call button here.
>@join blip
Apothecary Shop A traditional victorian parlor with high ceilings, elaborate or
namental detailing g and a massive marble fireplace along the northern wall. T
he room has intricat e paisley wallpaper and is furnished with a graceful old r
ocking chair, a big ov erstuffed armchair and a cozy couch. Please, make yours
elf at home. Have a sea t. Help yourself to a snack. blip is standing here.
You see a Librex 386SX, Experimental Drug #3, a plate of French pastries, and b
l ip's TV set here. You join blip.
>say hello
blip exclaims, "Howdy!"
blip asks, "What's cookin'?"
>You ask, "I'm writing a paper on MUD's right now! Can you give me some commen
ts as to there use as social and educational tools?"
blip says, "Sure, I would love to.
blip says, "I think that these places are fascinating laboratories of human co
mm unication."
blip says, "But, I also think that we bring all sorts of RL baggage in here.
Th is place only pretends to be a refuge from RL."
You ask, "have you done any programming here, how is this different (better/wor
se e/comments) from traditional means?"
blip says, "I'm not a traditional programmer - I have zero background. I've d
on e a bit of programming here. I've been trying to develop virtual recreation
al d rugs - with mixed success."
blip says, "The business applications are seemingly bo endless. Unfortunately t
his technology is still limited to an elite and very small population. In my f
ield (economic and community-based development) they are now just discovering P
Cs."
blip says, "Absolutely find the programming educational - its a whole side of m
y brain that's lain dormant for many years."
>say "can I quote you?"
blip says, "Whatever you want to quote "
>say Ok thanks, -- how long have you been using MUD's for? And what have you f
ound most useful about them -- is MediaMOO the first you've used?
>say also have you been to any of the online conferences here or on other MUD's
? have they been useful? comments...
blip says, "Could I see your paper when you finished it. (I'm sure others wo
uld b e interested) You might want to leave it in the Library."
>say Ok I'll put it here on the MUD, and Make it available for Ftp'ing from a s
ite which I will announce, I could also E-mail it to you
blip says, "MEdia MOO is my first. I've been here for about three months. I l
iked the varied nature of this one - that it's not strictly social, people tend
to be articulate. It's full of a adventures..."
blip exclaims, "This lag is killing me!"
You ask, "so you find the fact that this is a Professional MUD useful? How has
it benefitted your work?"
blip says, "Im not a media professional. So I don't really think that this ha
s contributed to my career. It has made me consider switching careers though..
."
You ask, "you see the potential in Internet environments?"
blip says, "Hopefully, as I learn to navigate the net I'll find a place where o
thers in my field hang out. So far, haven't found that place."
blip says, "Virtual environments provide the opportunity to exchange ideas and
information quickly in a nonthreatening and fun environment with others. In th
e field of community and economic development exchange of ideas is extremely im
portant."
>say I see how it directly relates to you then
>say how have you found the learning curve?
blip says, "The wonderful thing about c-space is its infiniteness. It cannot be
known by a mortal person. And its growing by the nanno second."
blip says, "My learning curve has been pretty fast - but I think I have a laten
t affinity for this type of activity that has been dormant for many ye ars - a
pent up geekiness."
blip says, "I know others that are baffled by this place"
blip says, "I'm just sticking with MOOs for now - its too much to learn a new
system."
blip says, "I haven't really ventured out into the non-MOO muds. I used to be a
big adventure game player in the mid-1980s. This interactiveness adds the per
fe ct twist to it."
blip says, "I gotta go now. I'll write to you if I think of anything else."
>say ok bye -- thanks
blip has disconnected.
In this transcript I have Logged on to Media MOO. Once there I went th
rough several locations and then typed @who to see who else was logged on. I @
join(ed) blip (Esther Sandhof) and had a conversation about MUD's. It also show
s some of the communication commands which are available. By typing 'say' and
then a sentence, blip receives it with 'lh says' at the front. If others were
in the room, they could have read the message as well. Messages and conversatio
ns can be held in a more private atmosphere by @whisper(ing) or @page(ing) othe
r players. Emotions can be expressed through @emote(ing). For most new users
(like blip) the learning curve is easy (easier if you are already familiar with
computers).
While MediaMOO is geared towards researchers, there are numerous Mud's
geared to other topics. On the educational front 'Cyberion City' and 'Diversit
y University' are at the forefront of education through MUD's. At 'LambdaMOO'
run by Pavel Curtis at Xerox PARC's Labs, there are no specific goals, just soc
ializing and programming and expanding the MOO. LambdaMOO is likely the larges
t of them all right now, with up to 200 people online at any given time.
Clearly this is just a small overview of what MUD's have to offer.
A list (Appendix A) of some MUD's may be of interest for further study, or exp
erience.
Education in MUD environments:
Although the majority of MUD's are still used for gaming, there is a ne
w breed that is becoming more and more popular among a variety of groups. Teac
hing and learning in computer based environments is a relatively new phenomenon
. At MIT, a MUD called 'Cyberion City' was started as a fun learning environme
nt for children.
"Since most MUDers are 20 year old males, violence often permeates the
virtual worlds. In response to the growth of elaborate slash-and-hack universe
s, one experimental world running at MIT outlaws killing altogether. That worl
d is Cyberion City. Based on the idea of a cylindrical space station, Cyberion
City has gathered a huge following of elementary and high school kids. On a
ny random day, about 500 kids beam up into Cyberion City to roam and build
without pause."(5)
This MUD is very involving for the children there. They have created a
text based movie theatre, a city hall, tour bus, theme parks, etc. One of the
main bonuses of MUDs as learning environments is that they place everyone - te
achers and students, adults and children on the same level. Everyone learns fr
om each other. Programming is a combined effort, as one can request help onlin
e from anyone who's there. Most people would agree that leaning to program is
beneficial, especially in a world where computers are the norm. Programming fo
r children is great because it will likely give them more control over their li
ves in an information based society. Familiarity with computers may also open
more doors in different career fields. Also understanding computers will make
them better overall. (6)
Pushing this line of thinking is Amy Bruckman, a doctoral candidate at
MIT. Some of her preliminary work has included being the co-architect of Media
MOO. In MediaMoo the theme is Media research. It is a varied environment, wit
h weekly conferences on a variety of topics which are announced in news bulleti
ns. As a professional environment it is great because people from all over the
world can log on, and participate in meaningful discourse related to this fiel
d.(7) Personally I've made contacts with people at Oxford in London England, an
d people in Brazil, South Africa, Australia, the Netherlands have become a part
of my online life.
With conferencing on MUD's a number of problems still need to be resolv
ed. For instance, if 30 people show up, how do you decide who talks when and f
or how long. Talks can often be multi-threaded meaning that everyone is typing
and reading text at the same time, it can become quite confusing. A method fo
r solving this was tried on MediaMoo where one conference was subdivided into t
wo rooms. In one everyone could talk at once, and in the other people waited i
n turn to speak. Both methods had some shortcomings, and more trials are plann
ed to see if there are better methods for virtual conferencing.(8) One conferen
ce held in march 1994 had its introduction presented in (text) slides as follow
s:
Tari shows slide #1.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ATTENTION:
Before we begin: please know that this session is being logged. All Netoric log
s are kept on file by GregS. At the end of this session, we'll tell you how to
get copies of Netoric logs.
Before using materials from Netoric sessions for research or any type of public
ation, paper, article, etc., consult ALL characters whose words or ideas you wi
sh to cite.
You are of course welcome to remain anonymous, but at this time we invite all o
f you who wish to do so to identify yourselves by your real life names, and, if
you like, where you are from.
We now pause briefly for introductions.
Welcome to Netoric's Tuesday Cafe Discussion for March 1, 1994
Topic: Using Others' Networds: May We Quote You on That?
If you say something here, or on a newsgroup or listserv, or anywhere on the n
et, and someone wants to quote it, can they do so? Do they need your permissio
n? We want to talk about that here tonight. Laura Gurak, whose dissertation r
equired her to become an expert on this topic, has joined us and provides the f
ollowing remarks as an introduction to this discussion:
Tari shows slide #4.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Laura Gurak: Using Cyber-texts as Research Data (c) 1994 Laura J. Gurak. Plea
se do not redistribute or reproduce without written permission from the author.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tari shows slide #5.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For language scholars wishing to study the discourse of CMC, unresolved issues
arise about how to handle the 'cyber-texts' produced on computer networks. Who
owns the files and how much of a text can be fairly quoted? Should one get pe
rmission to cite a posting even if the author posted a note to a public compute
r conference? What is the correct bibliographic style for citing such postings
?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tari shows slide #6.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
My dissertation, a study using the texts from five Usenet newsgroups, forced me
to deal with these questions. My study is a rhetorical analysis of the rhetor
ical communities used computer networks as forums for a protest. In 1990, Lotu
s Development Corporation announced the impending release of a new product call
ed MarketPlace: Households. The product was a database containing direct marke
ting information on 120 million American consumers. Many people became concern
ed with the privacy implications of this product and used the global Internet n
etwork to orchestrate a protest against Lotus. In what was perhaps the first c
ase of a 'protest in cyberspace,' the Lotus case highlights traditional issues
such as the importance of delivery and contemporary concerns such as what const
itutes an electronic rhetorical community.
Tari shows slide #7.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After much research, I went on to write a chapter for a forthcoming SUNY Press
anthology about the novel methodological issues when using 'cybertexts' as rese
arch data. In this chapter, I identify three areas of concern. I worked closel
y with lawyers who specialize in intellectual property and computers and with l
ibrarians and citation style guide editors. During the Tuesday night Netoric c
onversation, I can provide specifications or point people to places where I got
information.
Tari shows slide #8.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LEGAL Copyright and fair use Cascades Licenses/notices Compilation copyright Pr
ivate versus public forums
ETHICAL Even if it is legal to use real names, is it ethical for me as a resear
cher? What expectations do network participants have about privacy and re-use
of their texts?
CITATION STYLES What citation styles are adequate and appropriate for both in-t
ext citations and proper bibliographic ve reference when citing network convers
ations?
Tari shows slide #9.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That's Laura's intro; she has also provided a list of suggested readings, which
you can view by doing READ READINGS at any time during this discussion. If yo
u have your own MediaMOO character and would like a copy of the suggested readi
ngs sent to your email account, the one through which you registered your Media
MOO character, enter the command MAILME READINGS any time during this discussio
n. (The mailme command will not work for guests because the MOO doesn't know y
our e-mail address--sorry.)
Setting up the conference in this format (using a programmed slide proj
ector to show text slides) was very useful. It gave everyone the main informati
on they needed at once. This conference (which followed) was more like a brain
storming session than anything near what one would consider a traditional confe
rence. Its main usefulness lies in the making of professional contacts, and ge
tting ideas from people with widely different views on the subject.
"Some question the value of the sort of interaction which takes place o
n MediaMOO. One user wrote "frankly it strikes me for now as a shmooze place f
or people with nothing better to do, not a place where more productive things w
ill happen than already happen in other communicative modes." We do not share
that perspective for a variety of reasons. Is spending time at a conference re
ception a waste of time? Most veteran conference goers attest to the fact that
the conversation at coffee breaks and receptions is usually more valuable than
the sessions attended. The exchange of ideas and networking that take place o
n MediaMOO are similarly productive.
One might question whether these benefits can be obtained with less tim
e commitment through other media-- but this analysis ignores other benefits of
MediaMOO. For Media researchers, coming to understand this medium may be inter
esting in itself. There are also personal, emotional benefits that come from p
articipating in meeting places, such as relaxation, friendship, good conversati
on, and a sense of belonging to a community. In short, if you enjoy it, then y
ou will reap benefits from it which go beyond that pleasure. Some people do no
t enjoy it, and that is certainly a valid point of view. It is a strength of t
he medium that the community is self-selected -- everyone who is there wants to
be there."(9)
As an example the 'MediaMOO' project is a stepping stone on a path towa
rds MUD environments for children. it is the belief of the Media Lab researche
rs at MIT that "this technology can provide an authentic context for children t
o learn reading, writing and programming." and that MUDs are a "Constructionis
t" playground where programming becomes a means of self expression to a communi
ty of peers.
Developing good MUD objects involves more creative writing than anythin
g else. "One hypothesis of this research is that divisions between the humanit
ies and the sciences are often too sharply drawn and counter-productive, and a
more holistic approach has advantages for many children. A second hypothesis i
s that the social and contextual nature of these worlds may help young girls to
be more comfortable with computers."
The programming interface however needs to be simplified for children.
In that regard Amy Bruckman is working on a new MUD called MOOSE for 'MOO Scri
pted Environment". It is based on the Logo programming language which has been
used for nearly a decade for teaching children.(10)
In his book "The Great Good Place", Ray Oldenburg states;
"Third places exist on neutral ground and serve to level their guests to a cond
ition of social equality. Within these places, conversation is the primary act
ivity and the major vehicle for the display and appreciation of human personali
ty and individuality."
MUD's are the 'third places' of the internet. Places where people can
gather as equals. Where they can learn from peers. And where 'Real World' teac
hers often have the most to learn.(11)
At the conclusion of 'MindStorms', Seymour Papert describes his vision
of technological samba school. In samba schools in Brazil, members of a commun
ity gather to prepare a performance for Carnival. Everyone is learning and tea
ching -- even the leads need to learn their parts. People of all ages learn an
d play together as a community. Papert believes that computers can create a ki
nd of technological samba school, and those at MIT believe that MUDs may begin
to realize that vision.(12)
Clearly MUD's are useful as a learning environment, and as tools for cr
eative expressionism.
The Social Side of MUD's:
While MUD's are of great value os educational tools, their prime use is
as a means of social interaction. People spend time on MUD;s to communicate w
ith others. On Role Playing MUD's the theme is just for fun. On other MUD's h
owever social interactions can be as complex as they are in real life, even spi
lling over into it. People have met on MUDs and have ended up meeting in real
life. Some online couples have even tied the knot in real life. There are a n
umber of important aspects of social interaction on MUDs that differ from the r
eal world.
(1) Gender of characters is user selected. People can be the opposite
sex, neutral or even something they've imagined up themselves. On a MUD called
FurryMUCk for example people log on as animals and often congregate in places
like the Hot Tub, where they feel each others tails and things.(13) Netsex with
a fish is quite the experience when you have someone at the other end typing d
escriptive prose. One player described herself as"
"[Alendia] is a very attractive squirreloid in her later teens. Her so
ft red fur clings damply to her body and a few droplets of water trickle from h
er cutely upturned pink nose. Her long red hair hangs silkenly down her back a
nd a few damp strands fall in front of her large gentle eyes. She is completel
y nude before you. The fur of her inner thighs is orange and damp, becomming t
hinner and steamy near the uppermost edge. Her waist is very narrow and her bo
dy curves up towards her firm breasts, making a nearly perfect hourglass shape.
.."(14)
FurryMuck has a huge following and is as large as LambdaMOO. This goes
a long way towards explaining the Usenet group alt.sex.bestiality. One may wo
nder if virtual sex isn't kind of empty.
"Quinn, a proponent of good, old fashioned netsex says 'Not at all'...'
It's a leap above phone sex. It's like interactive erotica. Of course, not ev
eryone is that good.' .. Of course... But it's not physical sex either, it's vi
rtual... 'How do you mean' Quinn asks. "We share orgasms. That's physical. I
suppose that it's real as two people on a bed facing each other, masturbating
as they recite Anais Nin.'...".(15)
While such interaction may seem to be all fun and games there have been
reports of Net Rape. The first recorded case of which occurred on LambdaMOO.
A New York University student using the name Mr_Bungle was the perpertrator.
Using a voodoo doll program he had figured out a way to make it seem as
it two well know MOOers, Legba and Starsinger were performing explicit sexual
acts.
This incident caused a crisis on LambdaMOO, namely how to reprimand the
player responsible for the attack. Some suggested that he be @toad(ed), a ter
m used to describe the public pilloring of a character in public on many RPG MU
D's. Others suggested that his character be destroyed. In the end the Wizards
(Chief programmers) at Lambda decided to give the persons E-mail address to th
e victims.(16)
A panel at MIT recently discussed the 'Approaches to Managing Deviant B
ehavior in Virtual Communities', on the panel was Amy BruckmanIOrganizer and pa
nelist), Pavel Curtis(panelist), Cliff Figallo(panelist) and Brenda Laurel (Mod
erator).
They suggested a number of methods ranging from (a) Techniques to promote indiv
idual learning and social conformity, (b) Social solutions, ie:talking with som
eone who is being obnoxious and wants attention as opposed to programming virtu
al guns or canceling their accounts.
Pavel Curtis notes: For behaviour to be deemed 'deviant' it must by def
inition deviate from some accepted norm. Who defines the norms in any given so
ciety and how are the norms communicated to newcomers? Hand-in hand with estab
lishing behavioural norms, societies decide how to cope with members or visitor
s who violate these norms. He argues that two categories should be distinguish
ed for deviants and separate policies should be drafted to deal with them.(17)
From these positions it is clear that social deviance on MUD's has no p
revious example for dealing with it. In designing rules a number of factors mu
st be weighted.
Social interactions in MUD's have no grounding in anything that societies have
experienced before. Virtual environments are a frontier. And the rules of tra
ditional social interaction need not apply.
Gender Swapping:
In text-based virtual reality environments on the Internet called MUDs,
it is possible to pretend to be the opposite gender. The way gender structures
basic human interaction is often noticed and reflected upon. It is so fundame
ntal to human interaction that the idea of a genderless person is unthinkable.
On many MUD' s people can and do create gender neutral neutral characters. Whe
verer I've met ungendered characters i feel strange because its usual to relate
to people differently depending on gender. Amy Bruckman states:
" Gender pervades human interaction in such basic ways that its impact
is often difficult observe. Phenomena that are subtle in real life become obvi
ous in MUDs, and are a frequent topic of discussion on Usenet newsgroups about
MUDs. For example, men are often surprised at how they are treated when they lo
g on a female character...
Gender is just one example of an aspect of personal identity that people explor
e on MUDs. Examples abound. Jack is a British student studying in America. H
e logs on to MUDs in the morning when it is afternoon in Britain and many Briti
sh players are on. He enjoys confusing them-- he tells them he is an American,
but displays detailed knowledge of Britain. On further questioning, Jack tells
me he is trying to decide whether to return to Britian or to continue his stud
ies in America. What does it mean to be British or American? Jack is explorin
g his sense of national identity in virtual reality. MUDs are and identity wor
kshop. Gender swapping is an extreme example of a fundamental fact: the network
is in the process of changing not just how we work, but how we think about our
selves -- and ultimately, who we are."(18)
Clearly the social interactions which take place inside MUDs are far mo
re complex than initial appearances would suggest. The rules of social interact
ion which exist in the real world have no claim inside of the bounds of virtual
worlds.
Conclusions:
Educators are constantly examining new ways of teaching and new methods
for learning. A number of pilot projects suggest that the Internet, and Multi
-User learning environments is the wave of the future. Real time interaction w
ith people from around the world brings true meaning to the term 'Global Villag
e'. For what can compare to learning about other countries, places, people and
ideas then direct from the sources. For professionals, MUDs are increasingly
being using as cost effective means for meeting at any time and at any place.
Virtual conferencing is a utopia in the sense that the audience is potentially
the world, and the medium is multilayered. What can be compared to online foru
ms where people from around the world can share ideas, collaborate, and connect
.
As social places MUDs are beyond the realm of past experience. Textual
ly you can be or do anything that you've ever dreamed of doing. There are prob
lems with social deviance, just as there are in the real world but effective so
lutions do exist to deal with problems. There appear to be more benefits than
detriments.. Those who are confined in one way or another in the real world (f
or example) have a new means of meeting others, sharing ideas, connecting their
minds.. MUDs are the meeting places on the Internet where our minds are free
of our bodies, and in many ways are more egalitarian and free than any places t
hat exist in the material world.
Appendix A: Listing of MUDs
A Short listing of MUDs mentioned in this paper, as well as some other useful o
nes.
(1)'Cyberion City' - telnet to michael.ai.mit.edu -- register and connect as '
guest'.
(2)'Diversity U.' - telnet to erau.db.erau.edu 8888 - follow the login prompts.
(3)'LambdaMOO' - telnet to lambda.parc.xerox.com 8888 - login as 'guest'.
(4)'PMCMOO' - telnet to hero.village.virginia.edu 7777 - login as guest
A listing of MUD's can be found at various ftp sites, or through gopher and WW
W services.
Endnotes:
1Bruckman, Amy. (Programming for Fun: MUDs as a Context for Collaborative Lear
ning. Unpublished paper, 1994. Available via anonymous ftp from media.mit.edu
in pub/asb/papers MudContext. {ps,txt}.) (no page #'s)
2ibid. (no page #'s)
3Carlstrom, Eva-Lise. (Better Living Though Language: The Communicative Impli
cations of a Text-Only Virtual Environment, or, Welcome to LambdaMOO. Unpublish
ed manuscript, 1992 at Grinnell College. Available via anonymous ftp from parc
ftp.xerox.com in pub/MOO/papers/ Communicative.txt {txt}.) (no page #'s)
4ibid. (no page #'s)
5WiReD Magazine. (The Dragon Ate My Homework. (Kelly, Kevin and Howard Rheing
old), July/August Issue, 1993.) pg 70.
6ibid., pg 72.
7Bruckman, Amy and M. Resnick. ( Virtual Professional Community: Results from t
he MediaMOO project. Presented at the Third International Conference on Cybers
pace in Austin, Texas on May 15th, 1993. Available via anonymous ftp from medi
a.mit.edu in pub/asb/papers/MediaMOO-3cyberconf.{ps.Z,rtf.Z,txt}.) (no page#'s)
8ibid. (no page #'s)
9Bruckman, Amy. (Programming for Fun: MUDs as a Context for Collaborative Lear
ning. Unpublished paper, 1994. Available via anonymous ftp from media.mit.edu
in pub/asb/papers MudContext. {ps,txt}.) pg 1 - 4.
10ibid., pg 4 - 6.
11Oldenburg, Ray. (The Great Good Place: Cafe's, Coffee Shops, Community Cente
rs, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and how they get you through
the day. New York: Paragon House, 1989.) pg 42.
12Papert, Seymour. ( Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas. New Y
ork: Basic Books, Inc. 1980.) pg 80.
13WiReD Magazine. (Why playing in MUDs is becoming the addiction of the 90's:
Johnny Manhattan Meets the FurryMuckers. (Josh Quittner), March Issue, 1994.) p
g 92.
14ibid., pg 138.
15ibid., pg 138.
16ibid., pg 138.
17Bruckman, Amy. (Approaches to Managing Deviant Behaviour in Virtual Communit
ies. (c) Association for Computing Machinery, 1994. To be presented at CHI '9
4 in April 1994.) pg 1 -2.
18Bruckman, Amy. (Gender Swapping on the Internet. Proceedings of INet '93.
Available via anonymous ftp from media.mit.edu in pub/asb/papers/ gender-swappi
ng. {ps,txt}.) pg 1-2.
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================================================ Jay Weston jweston@c
arleton.ca Carleton U aa002@freenet.carleton.ca
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