Amy Bruckman...Results from the MediaMOO Project... Doors2
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W h a t i s M e d i a M O O ?
MediaMOO is a text-based, networked virtual reality environment or `MUD' (2) running on the Internet. Its basic structure is a representation of the MIT Media Lab. Users connect in the LEGO Closet, and then step out into the E&L (Epistemology and Learning research group) Garden:
>connect guest Okay,... guest is in use. Logging you in as `Green_Guest' *** Connected *** The LEGO Closet
It's dark in here, and there are little crunchy plastic things under your feet! Groping around, you discover what feels like a doorknob on one wall. Obvious exits: out to The E&L Garden >out The E&L Garden.The E&L Garden is a happy jumble of little and big computers, papers, coffee cups, and stray pieces of LEGO. Obvious exits: hallway to E&L Hallway, closet to The LEGO Closet, and sts to STS Centre Lounge.You see a newspaper, a Warhol print, a Sun SPARCstation IPC, Projects Chalkboard, and Research Directory here. Amy is here. >say hi. You say, `hi' Amy says, `Hi Green_Guest! Welcome!'
Users from around the world connect to this virtual place to socialize, talk about their research projects, interact with the virtual world, and create new objects and places. People from the Media Lab are encouraged to build their own offices; users from other places can build their offices as well and connect them via a `virtual Internet.' The system developers constructed basic infrastructure and a few interesting and evocative objects and places, but almost all the building was left to the users. This is not a result of time constraints, but is a central principle of the project that will be elaborated throughout this paper.
The first MUD or Multi-User Dungeon was developed in 1979 as a multi-player Dungeons and Dragons game. In 1989, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University named James Aspnes decided to see what would happen if the monsters and magic swords were removed, and instead each user was allowed to help extend the virtual world. Aspnes' project, which he called `TinyMUD,' became less like a game and more like a community. There was no longer a score or goal, but instead a gathering of people who enjoyed one another's virtual company and worked together to extend the virtual world.
At the MIT Media Lab, we decided to see whether this technology which began as a game could be adapted to a more serious purpose: enhancing professional community among media researchers. We chose to build on top of the MOO (`MUD Object Oriented') software developed by Pavel Curtis at Xerox PARC. (3) System development began on October 28th, 1992, and MediaMOO was opened to the public on January 20th, 1993, with an opening celebration called the MediaMOO Inaugural Ball, scheduled to coincide with Bill Clinton's inauguration as President of the United States. As of May 7th 1993, MediaMOO had 327 participants from at least thirteen countries, including Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Israel, The Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and The United States. The population has grown over time, with peaks at special events and troughs on weekends. MediaMOO runs on a Sun SPARCstation IPC where it uses 25 Mb of RAM. The database is currently 4 Mb on disk.
A C o m m u n i t y o f R e s e a r c h e r s
While people of a wide variety of ages and backgrounds do MUD, the majority of players on publicly announced Internet MUDs are college students. On MediaMOO, we wanted to attract media researchers. We advertised selectively on electronic mailing lists devoted to media studies, and required people to submit a description of their research interests to register. While we have said no to some applicants, it is primarily a self-selection process.
In most MUDs, characters are anonymous. People who become friends can exchange real names and email addresses, but many choose not to. Conventions about when it is acceptable to talk about real life vary between communities. In most MUDs, people begin to talk more about real life when they get to know someone better. However, in some communities such as those based on the Dragonriders of Pern series of books by Anne McCaffrey, talking about real life is taboo.
On MediaMOO, we wanted to promote discussions of `real life' and real research interests. Consequently, we offered users the opportunity to get an anonymous or identified character, or both. (4) Since there was already a function called @whereis which returned the location of a character, we implemented a function @whois which returns their real name, if they choose to be identified. Real names are set by the system administrators to lessen the chance that people will pretend to be who they are not. We also implemented functions so that people could carry a description of their research interests on their character.
It surprised us that almost all users chose to be identified. To date, 74% of users chose to have only an identified character, and 13% chose to have both anonymous and identified characters; another 13% chose to be completely anonymous. (5) Two days after the opening, one user who had been anonymous sent in this request: I have enjoyed MediaMOO so far and like the direction it is headed. With these forums and such I believe I would like an identifiable character, but would like to continue with my anonymous character as well.
Users clamored for extensions to the functions provided for finding people. At users' request, we made the function @whois return the person's email address as well as real name. One user asked to be able to reveal his/her email address, but not real name. A user whose character is named Daniel (Daniel Rose in real life) wrote a function @char to find the characters associated with a particular person's real name (the inverse of @whois). Users requested that @whois with no arguments return a list of the real names of everyone currently logged on. A user named cdr (Ken Schweller) made a research directory, enabling people to find all the users who mention a particular word or phrase in their research description. The idea of having identified characters and research interests has proved popular and successful.
A T h i r d P l a c e
In The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg eloquently argues for the importance of third places, places which are neither work nor home. The book's subtitle is Cafes, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts and how they get you through the day. Oldenburg summarizes: Third places exist on neutral ground and serve to level their guests to a condition of social equality. Within these places, conversation is the primary activity and the major vehicle for the display and appreciation of human personality and individuality. Third places are taken for granted and most have a low profile. Since the formal institutions of society make stronger claims on the individual, third places are normally open during the off hours, as well as other times. The character of a third place is determined most of all by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful mood, which contrasts with people's more serious involvement in other spheres. Though a radically different kind of setting from the home, the third place is remarkably similar to a good home in the psychological comfort and support that it extends. [Oldenburg 89, p. 42]
The population of third places are self-selected. People go to a cafe because they choose to and not because they must. From this self-selection process emerges a group of people with some degree of common interests and values. Traditional third places draw people from the local geographic area. On the Internet, MUDs become third places which draw people with common interests from all around the world. People from the opposite hemisphere can become a part of your daily life. On MediaMOO, those people also share research interests. MediaMOO is perhaps best described as an endless conference reception. The conversation fluidly moves between personal and research issues.
As Oldenburg points out, conversation is the primary activity in third places, and MediaMOO is no exception. Most of those who chose to respond to an email survey of randomly selected MediaMOO users stated that they had had interesting conversations and met new people in their field through MediaMOO. Paul (Paul Dourish) writes: I've met a number of people whom I've talked to about my research and theirs, although I think there are fewer (probably just the one or two) whom I've actually talked to enough to refer to as new professional contacts.
One I met while he was a Guest; we started talking after he read my research description. The other I met early on when I was stumbling around asking all sorts of people for help on doing things just after I got my character.
The process of helping new players, often called newbies, is an important part of MUD culture. For Paul, the process of being new and reaching out for help has led to his most meaningful professional contacts--once while he himself was new, and once while he was helping another new player. The context of the MUD in these instances provided a shared context and shared activity which promoted social interaction.
A number of users commented that their most meaningful interactions on the MUD were with the regulars--the people who use MediaMOO the most and are most likely to be logged on at any given time. Oldenburg emphasizes the importance of the regulars to a third place. They give a place its character.
Some question the value of the sort of interaction which takes place on MediaMOO. One user wrote that frankly, it strikes me for now as a schmooze place for people with nothing better to do, not a place where more productive things will happen than already happen in other communicative modes. We do not share that perspective for a variety of reasons. Is spending time at a conference reception a waste of time? Most veteran conference-goers attest to the fact that the conversation at coffee breaks and receptions is usually more valuable than the sessions attended. The exchange of ideas and networking which take place on MediaMOO are similarly productive. One might question whether these benefits can be obtained with less time commitment through other media, but this analysis ignores other benefits of the MediaMOO. For media researchers, coming to understand this medium may be interesting in itself. There are also personal, emotional benefits that come from participating in a third place, such as relaxation, friendship, good conversation, and a sense of belonging to a community. In short, if you enjoy it, then you will reap benefits from it which go beyond that pleasure. Some people do not enjoy it, and that is certainly a valid point of view. It is a strength of the medium that the community is self-selected. Everyone who is there wants to be there.
It's worth noting that to determine whether an activity is productive requires a definition of what it means to be productive, and this quickly leads to questions of an ethical and philosophical nature. MediaMOO challenges the boundaries between work and play, forcing one to rethink what counts as productive.
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