Multi-user graphical online virtual worlds, multi-user dungeons -- these things were already booming on the University of Illinois' PLATO system in 1978; they'd started popping up in 1973, maybe even '72. You had pedit5, moria, oubliette, krozair, dnd, dungeon, then in 1979 avatar, just to mention but a few. Multi-user dnd games were one of the most popular activities on PLATO all during the mid to late 70s. And these games were all graphics-based, not limited to just text like the far more primitive MUD1.
Bartle has gotten a lot of mileage over the years with the MUD1 story, leading to a misinforming of the media and the public, both of whom, when it comes to technology and the history of technology, seem to be perfectly fine with being misinformed. It's a shame to see an institution as prestigious as Stanford fall for the same misinformation and ignore the real history. Five minutes of Wikipedia browsing would have set them straight.
I'm sure MUD1 was very cool during its time, and got a lot of people interested in the ideas of MUDs. Unfortunately, it was not first. Hard as it might be for people to grasp the concept, but more sophisticated multi-user dungeon games existed before MUD1 was even conceived. Deal with it.
Bartle has gotten a lot of mileage over the years with the MUD1 story, leading to a misinforming of the media and the public, both of whom, when it comes to technology and the history of technology, seem to be perfectly fine with being misinformed. It's a shame to see an institution as prestigious as Stanford fall for the same misinformation and ignore the real history. Five minutes of Wikipedia browsing would have set them straight.
I'm sure MUD1 was very cool during its time, and got a lot of people interested in the ideas of MUDs. Unfortunately, it was not first. Hard as it might be for people to grasp the concept, but more sophisticated multi-user dungeon games existed before MUD1 was even conceived. Deal with it.