I recall some XMCA'ers expressing an interest in MOOs some moths ago.
Hence I am forwarding this email from another list which I think may be of
interest to some of you.
martin
>>Date: Mar 26 2000 12:20:21 EST
>>From: FTS <architext@cable.a2000.nl>
>>Subject: Thesis online
>>
>>
>>My thesis is finished and I've defended it succesfully, and consequently
>>I've graduated :)
>>
>>"The Words That Took Us There: Not An Ethnography" is an ethnography,
>>based on three years of research on/in online role-playing games, aka
>>"text-based virtual worlds" or MUDs. In this text I try to accomplish two
>>main goals. The first is an analysis of how the players of MUDs "perform"
>>or "enact" a convincingly gendered character. I have chosen gender as an
>>"entry point" or "handle" on role-playing and a discussion of the
>>"virtual" and the "real," but that is not to say that this text is an
>>exhaustive rehearsal in gender theory (although there's some of that
>too).
>>The second goal I try to achieve is to give the reader an impression of
>>the experience of playing a character in a text-based virtual
>environment.
>>This more ethnographic goal I pursue by not just writing in a scientific
>>prose, but by incorporating pieces of text and prose of different
>>"persuasions" on the same level as the scientific text. This slightly
>>unorthodox use of both form and content eventually leads to a (mostly
>>anthropological) discussion of the ethnography as an (un)attainable form
>>of representation.
>>
>>You can find my thesis online, on my website:
>>
>>http://people.a2000.nl/fschaap/thesis/index.html
>>
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