About Worlds

First there was Adventure. You entered a cave and explored. There were other creatures there, but no people. Adventure was fun, but it was lonely.

Then in 1979 Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw wrote MUD1. MUD1 allowed several people to enter an online environment together, explore, and talk. It was great. You could explore the dungeon with your friends. Since then there are a large number of different types of worlds that have been developed.

On a world, you can talk to people and slay monsters. (In some worlds, you can slay knights in shining armor.) You can work together with your friend to solve a puzzle, or speak Italian with a native. You can smile, or dance, or hide behind yourself.

Unfortunately, the way you do these things on different worlds differ quite a bit, so we can't give you help here on how you actually do things on worlds. Fortunately, most worlds have a tutorial for new players, and other players in the world are usually very friendly about helping out new players. On most worlds, you can type help.

Get a Life (& remember your spouse!)

Worlds can be addictive. Like a good drug, they allow you to do most anything your heart desires. But please remember that there is a real world out there, where you need to eat and sleep and interact face to face. We put a timer at the bottom of the Pueblo window so that you'd always know what time it is and how long you've been playing.

The Great Truth and the Great Lie

Especially on social worlds, people tend to live either the Great Truth or the Great Lie (thanks to Ben Calica for the phrase.) Either they pour their hearts out, sharing very intimate details of their lives, or they pretend to be someone else entirely.

This can be fun, except when the Great Truth meets the Great Lie. As an example, imagine a sweet 18-year-old male college student. He gets into a virtual world and meets a woman who seems to be the woman of his dreams. He shares his deepest hopes and fears with her. He tells her things he wouldn’t tell his best friend. Unfortunately, she is living the Great Lie. ‘She’ is really another guy getting his kicks from playing a female role. When this kid finds out that he’s been baring his soul to someone who isn’t what he believed, feelings will be hurt.

There isn’t really anything you can currently do about this, but you should be aware that it happens. On the other hand, cyberspace is a wonderful way to meet people without suffering some real-world limitations. Folks judge you more on what you are, rather than more superficial things like how your hair looks today.

Also see

Types of Worlds

Creating a character

Etiquette

Dictionary of Terminology