Computers: Nonverbal Communications

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with them,"
(Holmes & Dishman, 1994, p. 6). Having been created in their most rudimentary
form nearly two decades ago, the technology that supports MUD interaction is
well developed and has spawned a new variety of communicative environment, one
that thousands if not millions of users have found fiercely compelling.

Since MUDs are generally restricted to text-based interaction (some support ANSI
codes, and the graphical MUDs are gaining popularity), one might expect that the
interactions therein are characterized by a lack of regulating feedback,
dramaturgical weakness, few status cues, and social anonymity, as Kiesler and
her colleagues have suggested (Kiesler, Siegal, & McGuire, 1984). While these
characteristics may be readily attributable to the majority of interactions
within experiments on computer conferencing and electronic mail, such is not the
case for MUDs, as each (there are hundreds) is a rich culture unto itself, as
will be shown. This thesis is meant to explore the ...

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become.

At the same time as this conferencing research was being done, another group of
programmers was involved in the creation of text-based adventure games in which
a user would wander through a textually-depicted maze, occasionally encountering
programmed foes with whom to do battle. These first single user adventure games,
developed in the early 1970's, expanded the world's notion of computers from
mere super-cooled punch-card-munching behemoths to a more user-friendly
conception of computers as toys and even friends.

Inevitably, the networking technology and the game technology crossed paths. In
1979, Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw developed the first MUD (called "MUD", ...

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