However, Magnus (and Richard A Bartle in 'Players Who Suit MUDs') have loaded the dice. It all depends on how I interact with MUDs (Multi User Dungeon!) If I play them like games, (ie Chess, tennis, D&D?) then I am an ACHIEVER. Or are they pastimes (ie reading, gardening, cooking?), then I'm an EXPLORER. Maybe like sports? (huntin', shooting', fishin'), then KILLER.. Or else MUDs are entertainments? (like nightclubs, TV, concerts). Then it's SOCIALISER. Er, then I'm none of the above.... maybe more explorer than the other three... and using the four following details seems to be closest to getting me into one of the four.
To summarize Bartle: EXPLORERS will be interested in having the game surprise them; the sense of wonder which the virtual world imbues that they crave for; other players add depth to the game, but they aren't essential components of it, except perhaps as sources of new areas to visit; scoring points all the time is a worthless occupation, because it defies the very open-endedness that makes a world live and breathe; most accomplished explorers could easily rack up sufficient points to reach the top, but such one-dimensional behaviour is the sign of a limited intellect. I think Explorers are a bit smug too, perfect.
However, there appears a caveat from this rigid hierarchy: "Other types could conceivably exist, but they are very rare if they do. The dynamics model is, however, imprecise: it takes no account of outside factors which may influence player types or the relationships between then. It is thus possible that some of the more regimented MUDs (eg. role-playing MUDs, educational MUDs, group therapy MUDs) have an external dynamic (eg. fandom interest in a subject, instructions from a teacher/trainer.)"
"Instructions from a teacher"...Bingo.
Interestingly, (or not) I was in this domain years ago. As a younger version of me, eleven years old or so... My cousin was a Wargamer, and he and his friends would be serious Napoleonic battlers. They wound up outgrowing the living room table and booked a function room in a big pub near an abbatoir in Liverpool. The heady aromas of beer, fags and slaughtering mingled with Humbrol painted lead soldiers on a battle field half filling the room. The whole thing looked amazing. I was fascinated too by their dedication, but not enough to want to do more than roll the dice when asked to. Or help them to locate the correct page in their rigid rule book. Maybe I'd get to pass them a ruler, to allow one to carefully move their infantry down the perfectly modeled valley - though I never actually moved them! It all took forever... week after week after their work/my school. I never saw an outcome, always missing that late night victory/defeat, they would pick another vintage clash to mimic and off they went... three, four, five weeks onwards.
A couple of them went onto playing Dungeons & Dragons and I'd bump into them in the more quality real-ale pubs downtown. They would remember me and tell me the latest news of developments and championships from around the world. It seemed a shame they stopped the Wargaming, it was seriously impressive and a proper spectacle for a young boy. But they dreaded the endless painting and the limited nature of the battle reanactments of their old hobby.
I got D&D as a concept and as a social force, but like the new MUDs I'm not going into a dungeon willingly... I haven't see the old Wargamers for years (my cousin no longer plays, but collects the ephemera), I wonder if they moved with technology. They met to socialise and wargamed out of real passion for their favourite subject. I bet they are connecting with the wider world and playing in a larger domain than the back room in the old pub (which was levelled a few years back) most evenings. I can easily imagine their avatars!...
A bit of history...
This text illustrates the real start of MUD gaming and the huge development from board to computer: 'Colossal Cave Adventure' (1975) by Will Crowther - which ran on PDP-10 mainframe computers. It is - get this - graphics free, or was from the beginning.
Imagine that! Well you would wouldn't you... I was a bit taken by this (belatedly) when we discussed them in class. Natalia recalled playing non graphical MMORPGs in Poland and it was like writing an enormous Exquisite corpse. Her story and its charming denouement touched us all, but she loved it for the specific genre of its imaginary and ever evolving world. Pure Fantasy and from the Dungeons and Dragons, Collossal Cave lineage. This is I know still the most popular genre in MUDs and MMORPGs - the exact stuff that put me off. Just looking at the language of the early Crowther game, I know this to be something I really wouldn't have liked!
"Rubbing the electric lamp is not particularly rewarding. Anyway, nothing exciting happens" You know!
Now if it was being sent to discover the North West Passage... I'd be there! Explorer!*
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