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<H1>Re: Journal of MUD Research, Vol. 3, No. 1 [TEXT]</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: Journal of MUD Research, Vol. 3, No. 1 [TEXT]</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 06 Jan 98 23:08:40 -0800</LI>
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<PRE>
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Journal of MUD Research
Volume 3, Number 1 (January 1998)
In this issue:
Comments
* Social MUSHes and the Anxiety of Communication
Christopher N. Larsen
* Historical Analysis of MUD Servers
Giovanni Ruffini
Editorial Note
* New additions to the Journal of MUD Research editorial board
_________________________________________________________________
The _Journal of MUD Research_ is a refereed electronic journal which
publishes academic research that relates to MUDs or makes use of MUD
environments. Of particular interest are psychological,
anthropological, sociological approaches. Both empirical and
theoretical work is welcome. The _Journal_ also publishes "Comments"
(shorter pieces which propose new directions for research on MUDs) and
book reviews. Submission guidelines are available at the JOMR web
site.
JOMR is published on the Web at <A HREF="http://journal.tinymush.org/~jomr/">http://journal.tinymush.org/~jomr/</A>,
and by email. To subscribe by email, send email to
listproc#journal,tinymush.org with the message
subscribe journal _Your Name_
Questions about JOMR may be sent to jomr#journal,tinymush.org.
_________________________________________________________________
_JOMR Editor-in-Chief:_
Dr. Alan Schwartz, University of Illinois at Chicago
_JOMR Editorial Board_
Dr. Richard Bartle, MUSE Ltd.
Commercial MUDs; adventure MUDs; player dynamics
Paul Curtis, University of Pennsylvania
MUDs as educational tools; development of human interaction
systems
Dr. Dave Jacobson, Brandeis University
Social anthropology; Social relations in cyberspace
Lydia Leong, Digital Express Group, Inc. (digex)
Community and personal development; theories of building,
roleplaying, administration, etc; ethics
Dr. Alan Schwartz, University of Illinois at Chicago
Organizational behavior on MUDs; quantitative research methods
James Sempsey, Temple University
Social climates; comparison of face-to-face and MUD groups
_________________________________________________________________
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
SOCIAL MUSHES AND THE ANXIETY OF COMMUNICATION
Christopher N. Larsen, Ph.D.
Department of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School
clarsen#warren,med.harvard.edu
A unique feature of social MUSHes which makes them popular is their
facilitation of personal interactions, for those who experience
anxiety during normal conversation. Several aspects of the MUSH make
this possible.
Discrimination is greatly reduced on the MUSH. For example, users with
physical disabilities can safely MUSH without distraction, from the
virtual and real environments of their choice. A user can type
leisurely in their bedroom, in the virtual "room" which makes them
most comfortable. Because the user is shielded from copious visual
cues, social stresses and phobias involving race, gender, sex, body
shape, wealth, or age do not become apparent. It is also possible for
those with visual or auditory impairments to converse effectively over
a MUSH. Blind users can use speech digitizers, a headset (and no
monitor) when MUSHing, and need not adjust to different dialects,
voice styles, or tones. The text-based interface of the MUSH makes it
possible to avoid unwanted sexual tension envisioned in other unseen
users. It is in this environment that discrimination, prejudicial
treatment, and anxiety are highly reduced. Thus, the site becomes a
private place where fewer social pressures are present.
In this environment, several positive and somewhat playful behaviors
emerge. Frequent among many MUSHes are text-based wordplay, puns, and
"inside jokes" of the MUSH. This allows the users to be more humorous
and light-hearted. Additionally, grave attitudes are not usual (at
least not without a wry, self-effacing humor), partly because of the
contribution of continual and sporadic typos. These are tolerated at
least as well as the slang of verbal conversation. And if a user is
interested, the text can be used to generate highly sophisticated puns
or anecdotes. Bilingual or multi-person jokes are not uncommon.
Several MUSHes also incorporate "polls" which allow the user to assess
the social milieu from the "WHO" list before actually venturing in,
thereby increasing the safety or privacy of the conversations in which
they will engage.
Because of the lessened social tension, ease of use, and its
nondiscriminating environment, the MUSH is an easy way to easily
communicate globally with other people. Frequently, users can become
involved in long-distance relationships that evolve faster than those
traditionally performed through letter writing or email.
Although the above features of MUSHes make them popular among the
sensitive, the ease of communicating also can backfire, because many
users show less restraint than in their everyday conversations. The
conversational boundaries are thus "deattenuated". Because many
barriers to communication are dropped, the extremes of verbal care and
abuse are also allowed to emerge. This makes the MUSH somewhat
volatile socially, but also contributes to rapid and easy interactions
between new acquaintances. As such, the burdens of tact and restraint
are also greater.
The above issues demonstrate that social MUSHes can be useful
facilitators of conversation among those predisposed to social
anxiety. Despite many new advances in other virtual, electronic
communication environments including visual and auditory data, it is
plausible that MUSHes will survive permanently for these reasons. The
text based features of the MUSH can make it a haven for facilitated
discussions, where it may not have been possible before.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF MUD SERVERS
Giovanni Ruffini, gruffin#netcom,com
Research on multi-used dungeons in the recent years has focused on the
psycho-social aspects of mudding. The discussion has largely stayed
within the narrow range of definitions between mudding as a dangerous
addiction and mudding as a hip new form of psychotherapy. Little
thought has been given to the historical origins of these phenomena.
The discussion takes place completely outside of its own context, as
if these MUDs emerged fully formed from the ether. What sketchy
historical analysis takes place usually covers two decades in two
hundred words, running from Dungeon to Ultima Online without pausing
for breath. It is the proposition of this comment that the best way
for the mudding community as a whole to understand itself is to engage
in a thorough discussion of its own social, institutional, and
political history.
There are a number of reasons why this approach is not already common.
To begin with, the concept itself can seem a bit nebulous. What are
the subjects for such a history, the players, or the characters that
represent them? What are the institutions through which they move,
ever-altering pieces of code, or the mental concepts which they serve
to create? Does the history of a MUD depend on the so-called "real
life" externals, such as the geographic locale of the machine and the
sexual proclivities of its implementors, or can it be described as if
it had an independent cyberspatial existence in its own right? How are
we to reconcile the need for an honesty about real life issues with
the average mudder's desires to have their lives remain in a quiet
anonymity? Finally, how are we to deal with problems of scope? At what
point does the history of a mudding community begin to lose sight of
meaningful detail, and at what point do the political dramas of one
MUD cease to have meaning to the history of the community as a whole?
These are difficult questions, depending largely on the biases of the
author.
A comment on methodology is in order at this point. What are the tools
available for engaging in such research? Obviously, the richest body
of knowledge a mudding historian is likely to find is the oral
tradition of the community itself. Interviews, usenet posts, session
logs, and old emails are now the necessary tools of the modern
historian. Most useful, however, and to date the avenue least
explored, is what I think of as "code criticism".[1] Simply put, one
copy of a MUD's source can tell more than any number of session logs.
Compare the code, line by line, with the base source from which it
stems. Read the comments of past coders. Look for tell-tale changes in
style, deletions, insertions, incongruities and overlaps in approach.
Glean evidence of immortal careers by careful perusal of old wizlists
or backup copies of area submissions. Even pay close attention to the
date of last edit on each specific file.
We can show the utility of these historical approaches to mudding by
discussing a concrete example. My mudding career began five years ago
on a DikuMUD known as JediMUD. The approaches formulated herein have
stemmed from a prolonged stay within the Diku community. Thus, little
attempt has been made to place the issue in the context of the wider
mudding world. Nevertheless, discussion of the social, institutional,
and political history of mudding can be elucidated even by such a
narrow example as JediMUD's historical role within the Diku community.
This story is the subject of an unfinished narrative history over a
hundred pages in length. I will share here a condensed version of one
of the more significant aspects of this work. One of the largest
branches of the Diku community is CircleMUD. Jeremy "Ras" Elson's
public release code has defined the paradigm of an entire generation
of mudders. What is the historical explanation? The development of
CircleMUD cannot be understood without the sociopolitical context of
JediMUD, where Ras served as head coder for over a year. During that
time, he became dissatisfied with JediMUD and sought to release his
own code, partially as a form of escape from the political quagmire
around him.
This is the paradox of minute cause leading to great effect. To
understand why Ras drifted from JediMUD, one must explore the first
months of JediMUD's version 4.0. A picnic at Johns Hopkins University
is one of the fascinating points of the tale. Rampant factionalism
marred the event.[2] Members of KHFC, a well-placed and notorious
JediMUD clan that included several friends of Ras, drove some members
of the Jedi administration to accusations of sexual harassment. The
administration's cyber-vengeance against that clan left Ras stuck
between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Barely a week after the
picnic's political disasters, Ras announced the public release of
CircleMUD, including in the package large amounts of JediMUD code that
he himself did not write.[3]
This is a single anecdote that makes no claim to a thorough analysis
of cause and effect. It simply takes a step towards revealing the ways
in which historical context deepens our understanding of the patterns
of the mudding community as it currently exists. The eventual
publication of a complete history of JediMUD will do more justice to a
tale well worth telling. Other topics suggest themselves readily. What
sort of personnel continuities existed within the fledgling Diku world
that led to so much conceptual overlap amongst the earliest public
release versions of Silly, Sequent, and Copper? How are we to
understand the mammoth impact of Sojourn and its spin-offs? Hopefully,
these comments will inspire others to illuminate the many rich corners
of the Diku community.
[1] See a discussion of the topic on a macro-historical level in
Martin Keegan JOMR 2(2).
[2] Documentation of this event in the personal possession of the
author includes archives of KHFC clan email, including eye-witness
accounts from KHFC members, and the JediMUD implementor named Torg,
JediMUD news postings from the summer of 1993, and transcripts of
online personal interviews with JediMUD's Ras, Romulus, Kombat, and
Naved.
[3] See the "credits" file in the standard releases of CircleMUD 2.2
and CircleMUD 3.0 beta patch 11. JediMUD's Torg in particular is
responsible for a number of coding concepts transplanted directly into
the Circle release.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
New additions to JOMR editorial board
The Journal of MUD Research is pleased to announce 3 new members of
the editorial board:
* Dr. Richard Bartle of MUSE Ltd. was the co-author of MUD1 (with
Roy Trubshaw) in 1979, and author of MUD2, a commercial MUD
server. He earned his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from Essex
University.
* Dr. David Jacobson is a Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis
University. He recently published an article in the Journal of
Anthropological Research (v52n4) entitled "Contexts and Cues in
Cyberspace: The Pragmatics of Naming in Text-Based Virtual
Realities." and teaches a course on social relations in
cyberspace.
* James Sempsey III holds an Ed.M. from Temple University and is a
Ph.D. candidate in Psychological Studies in Education/Computer
Mediated Communications. His dissertation is entitled "Comparative
Analysis Of The Social Climates Found Among Face To Face And
Internet Based Groups Within Multi-User Dimensions." He is also an
Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Broadcasting,
Telecommunications, and Mass Media at Temple University, where he
has taught "Introduction to Cybermedia" and "The Psychological,
Social, and Educational Aspects of Cyberspace".
JOMR editors select outsider referees to provide reviews of submitted
manuscripts, and integrate these reviews with their own impressions to
recommend the disposition of articles.
--
J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net
----------(*) Internet: coder#ibm,net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00088" HREF="msg00088.html">threaded servers (was Re: [MUD-Dev] request for comments</A></strong>,
Mike Sellers <a href="mailto:mike#online-alchemy,com">mike#online-alchemy,com</a>, Wed 07 Jan 1998, 18:37 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00113" HREF="msg00113.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] request for comments</A></strong>,
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00166" HREF="msg00166.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] request for comments</A></strong>,
JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Sat 10 Jan 1998, 03:17 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00129" HREF="msg00129.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] request for comments</A></strong>,
JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Fri 09 Jan 1998, 05:33 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00083" HREF="msg00083.html">Re: Journal of MUD Research, Vol. 3, No. 1 [TEXT]</A></strong>,
coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Wed 07 Jan 1998, 07:12 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00336" HREF="msg00336.html">[MUD-Dev] Arctic's Project?</A></strong>,
Brandon Cline <a href="mailto:brandon#sedona,net">brandon#sedona,net</a>, Wed 28 Jan 1998, 16:29 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00339" HREF="msg00339.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Arctic's Project?</A></strong>,
Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:nightfall#user2,inficad.com">nightfall#user2,inficad.com</a>, Thu 29 Jan 1998, 05:26 GMT
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00346" HREF="msg00346.html">[MUD-Dev] Arctic's Project?</A></strong>,
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<LI><strong><A NAME="00079" HREF="msg00079.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Guilds & Politics [was Affecting the World]</A></strong>,
JC Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM">claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM</a>, Wed 07 Jan 1998, 00:57 GMT
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