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Over at there's a discussion that poses the (kind of inane imho) question, "Are text MUDs virtual worlds?"
To be fair, the poster states that he considers the question a bit of a strawman since he and most (probably all) of the other Terranova authors think they are, but the fact that the question had to be asked at all is a little funny to me.
Happily, there haven't been any posters that have seriously questioned the worldy-ness of text MUDs, and an interesting, if informal, definition of virtual worlds emerged from TN author Thomas Malaby that says that touches on the total possibility space for emergent behavior as a measuring stick for virtual worlds.
Terranova can be a bit uselessly academic at times, but it goes well beyond newbie-level discussions of virtual worlds and as such is worth wading through for the gems. Some of you should check it out more often. I occasionally see Threshold/Michael Hartman post there, but that's it. Represent the possibilities of text!
--matt
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