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So I’ve just finished reading Julian Dibbell’s My Tiny Life, and I thought it might be worth writing some comments on it. Why? Well, it made me think a lot back on the time around 1998, where I spent about 9 months on a MUD.
First, a note about Dibbell’s book. It was pretty good; written well enough to explain the workings of the MOO to a non-MOO or non-techinically-savvy reader, and yet also not bogged down in explanation. The chapter division was great: I enjoyed the fact he separated out the concepts he wanted to cover, rather than the mishmash he so easily could have made. Also, the moralising being left to the end is a good idea; don’t let it clutter the text. My only problem was the writing style. It’s written the way it is partly to group things by theme rather than chronology, but I did find it irritating within the individual chapters that often facts would be related, and then the crucial background to them would be revealed… I mean, we know it’s important, Julian, so why didn’t you just tell is why first? Is some sensible concept of chronology too much to ask? The only other thing that raised a point was the idea that he needed some serious RL motive, namely, his relationship with Jessica, to drive the book. I see that it’s an important part of the whole thing, but I really found at times that the whole emphasis on the VR/RL split was a bit much; there was enough interesting comment on the VR stuff that his RL-perspective enhanced; I found the last ten pages or so (before the epilogues) a bit much, where he said “oh, look, here’s the moral, do you see?”. I found the moral unnecessary; there was enough momentum already, and the RL-problems he was facing made the point clear enough already. Overall, though, it’s a good read.
And more so given I was on a MUD for about nine months. I'm currently writing a follow-up article, but it's much longer and requires careful editing to make sense. It's entitled "My Tinier Life", and just an explanation of my experiences of a slightly different MUD. The long and the short of it is this, though; I left MUD2 on Wireplay in 1998ish. After reading the book, I was prompted to find another MUD. And I found the one I left, now set up again by people who wanted to keep it going. And a pile of familiar names. And best of all, people who remembered my persona on it. And so I'm dipping in again; and being four years older makes a bit of a difference, even if it's a more game-orientated MUD than the MOO Dibbell describes. I'll write a follow-up, anyhow, because I'd like to hear anyone elses MUD experiences. I'd also argue it's an interesting read for any 'lither, as it discuss net-identity well, and the whole fictionsuit thing is very comparable. Anyhow, that's a kick off. Hopefully there'll be some discussion, I'm sure some of you must have read it, and I'll post either to here or Head Shop or something the second article when it's done. |
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