It’s Not a Game, It’s a… on Designing Virtual Worlds

Points of View

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Virtual worlds began as games. However, right from the beginning—MUD1—it was clear there was more to them than being mere games. Trying to convince people to take what they considered to be a “game” seriously was problematical, though. In academic circles, the only intellectually acceptable games were traditional ones, such as chess and checkers. A new game was not a worthwhile object of study. Playing games was a waste of computer resources.

Conclusion

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This has been a long and difficult chapter. It took me longer to write it than it did the rest of the book put together. However, I hope it has served its purpose, which is to show

Virtual worlds are a meaningful object of study.
Most of those research fields that look at virtual worlds do so with respect.
Virtual world designers can learn much from researchers in other fields and vice versa.