The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat (1990)

If you liked this paper, you might also find Ultima Online's resource system interesting:

* Part 1: http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/03/uos-resource-system/

* Part 2: http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/04/uos-resource-system-par...

* Part 3: http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/06/05/uos-resource-system-par...

Seems disingenuous to not mention MUDs at all, the first of which had been running for a decade at that point. Yes, they added graphics, apparently, but I was playing Neverwinter on AOL a year later in 1991 with graphics as well, and quests that worked fine for any number of players, and GM led events and contests that did as well.

The MUD I was on had GM led quests and stories and adventures for every single new region that opened as well. So the huge problem they ran into of an event only working for one user just sounds like some thing they blew out of proportion to write what they wanted to write, or they were just ignorant of what everyone else was doing at the time.

This paper was fascinating and made me wonder if it was one of the inspirations or reference materials in writing the fictional work 'The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect' by Roger Williams. A crazy virtual reality turned real... for lack of a better paraphrase. The great debate, the sheriff, DEATH and THE SHADOW, user created content - all things that reminded me of strong themes in Prime Intellect.

Prime Intellect: very NSFW sci-fi you can read online at http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/

I love this paper, and keep re-reading it every 4-5 years. It's incredible how actual it still is. From Habitat, to Worlds Chat, to Second Life, or upcoming metaverses using Oculus Rift.

If you love this paper, I'd strongly suggest reading "Death and Life of Great American Cities". It plays out the same issues in the central planning of NYC in the 1960s.

I was struck by how the lessons learned were not specific to virtual world games, but applied as much to developing any online community application (like eBay, Facebook, Twitter) including the rejection of big, upfront design, letting your community guide development, and facilitating user created content.

Randy and Chip also have a great series of essays and articles here, including a bunch on the topic of online communities:

http://habitatchronicles.com/

What a gem. The reference list seems to tell a story all by itself.