WoW is the New MUD: Social Gaming from Text to Video

Publication Type  Journal Article
Year of Publication  2006
Authors  Mortensen,Torill Elvira
Journal Title  Games and Culture
Volume  1
Pagination  397-413
Abstract  

With the immense popularity of massively multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft (WoW), other media as well as game research have discovered gaming as a topic of discussion and study. These discussions, however, tend to ignore the history of both games and of game studies. This article addresses the connections between one of the old and, today, obscure forms of using computers for multiplayer gaming--the text-based Multi-User Dungeon (MUD)--and the current, highly visible and massively used graphic interface game World of Warcraft. These connections range from player style through game-play options to social interaction and player-controlled social modifiers within both types of games. The comparison is based on play, observation, and interviews with players in MUDs and in WoW.

URL  http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/1/4/397

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