Sunday, April 15, 2007

Annotations of Ch. 5: “Multi-User Dungeons and Alternate Identities” by Howard Rheingold

Having never been exposed to MUDs, besides my introduction to second life last Monday, I found Howard Rheingold’s Chapter: Multi-User Dungeons and Alternate Identities very useful in describing the allure, use and implications of these imaginary worlds. What I have the biggest problem with in regards to MUDs is the question Howard Rheingold asked in the opening page of his article: “Don’t they have lives?” It is hard for me to understand why people who use MUDs spend countless hours in these alternate universes and how these make believe worlds can benefit a person in everyday life. Also, as Rheingold discusses, the danger of becoming addicted to the MUD universe is a common problem and I believe this addiction is a rather scary phenomenon.

The most important distinction that Rheingold discusses from the viewpoint of Richard Bartle in his article is the difference between MUDs as social tools and as games. As social tools, MUDs seem to limit ones ability to interact in real life. The danger of such online communities as a social tool is that people spend so much time in alternate universes that they leave little time to engage in the physical world. So, their social interaction is restricted to the Internet. As games, however, MUDs are perfectly acceptable and seem very appealing. They seem to offer a never-ending variety of experience and offer users immense creative ability.

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