Journal of MUD Research, Vol. 3, No. 1 [TEXT]

coder at ibm.net coder at ibm.net
Tue Jan 6 23:08:40 CET 1998


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                             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 http://journal.tinymush.org/~jomr/,
    and by email. To subscribe by email, send email to
    listproc at journal.tinymush.org with the message
 
                 subscribe journal _Your Name_
 
    Questions about JOMR may be sent to jomr at 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
      _________________________________________________________________

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                SOCIAL MUSHES AND THE ANXIETY OF COMMUNICATION
                                       
                         Christopher N. Larsen, Ph.D.
                          Department of Cell Biology
                            Harvard Medical School
                        clarsen at 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.

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                      HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF MUD SERVERS
                                       
                     Giovanni Ruffini, gruffin at 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.

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                    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 at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...




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