From L.O.R.D.S To WoW
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
L.O.R.D.S interface
All this WoW talk has really inspired me to consider the evolution of virtual communities. My first experience with an online environment was playing a games called L.O.R.D.S on BBS. BBS were a precursor to the World Wide Web (WWW). Essentially it was a local network of users who could dial into a variety of BBS site.
L.O.R.D.S is a text based game and players were limited to about 15 minutes of gameplay per day (http://tiny.cc/vByEA) . This limit was due to server constraints. Also, only 1 player could operate in the environment at a time. While in there you could still attack other players, message them , develop relationships, and even marry inworld. It is certainly noteworthy that someone has reinvented LORDS for the digital age (http://www.lordsgame.com/).
WoW (World of Warcraft) is like L.O.R.D.S on steroids. Wow has taken all the recent advancements in technology and applied it to create a world similar to that of L.O.R.D.S. Players can attack, build relationship, and unofficially marry just as they could in L.O.R.D.S. The main difference is that now they are not limited by time constraints and they can interact real time.
It is interesting to watch the evolution of virtual worlds. To see text based games evolve into 3D virtual worlds in just over 10 years. With such dramatic evolutions in technology I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years will bring.
