> M**'s are interesting places to look at for how virtual societies
> develop. The distribution of quota and building tend to produce major
> political battles. Many MUDs have big problems trying to deal with this
> sort of virtual spamming. Very few are successful. I can add some more
> virtual community links to the vworlds home page if anyone is interested
> (http://www.etext.org/Zines/UnitCircle/vworlds/). In addition to the
> MUDs suggested, I would point you to some of the following MUDs which
> seem to have survived the "test of time", I don't have telnet addresses,
> I just know about them. FurryMuck and LambdaMoo are both semi-thriving
> virtual communities on the net.
1: LambdaMOO lambda.xerox.com 192.216.54.2 8888
2: FurryMUCK sncils.snc.edu 138.74.0.10 8888
(Those telnets may be old, but were good three months or so ago.)
That being said, MOOs can become fascinating virtual playgrounds.
Few months ago, we discussed on this list of a the possible translation
of a painting to vr (Escher's stairs). For those who missed that string,
or don't know Escher, he did visual illusions where stairs seem to go
infinitly upward in a circle, or up and down at the same time, etc. I
took this idea and tried it in a Moo (ChibaMOO chiba.picosof.com
165.227.31.2 port 7777).
Here is how it worked. From the holographic Gallery you could see
Escher's painting. It's just a pianting on a wall. But in the list of
obvious exits of the gallery, there is Escher. You type Escher and enter
the painting. Here, you can read a description of stairs and the gallery
from the painting's pov. Typically, in this Moo, all room descriptions
end with with "Obvious exits are: East (to the parlor) and West (To the
bedroom)". In Escher's painting, it looks more like "You can can up or
down from here.. but who knows." And when you type up or down you go into
another part of the stairs. You might have gone down or up though. The
rooms are linked in a maze fashion. All descriptions, links, messages of
movement are illogical. While walking in that painting you get the feeling
of a game/dimension/world where up and down are essential but not
trustworthy.
I didn't reproduce Escher's painting. I created a sharable (word?)
interpreation of it. I focussed on the game aspect of it, not the science
of perception side.
Moos are great places to try out such virtual tests. And you get ppl to
interact with it.
Martin
(aka Mart!n in Chiba, Lambda, PostModern Culture Moo, MOOtiny)