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DOI: 10.1177/1555412006292622 © 2006 SAGE Publications WoW is the New MUDSocial Gaming from Text to VideoVolda College, Norway 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 gamingthe 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.
Key Words: MMORPG MUD game studies role-playing games
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