[Freddy]

This can be found via the 'Articles' link or here's a direct link :

http://aidreams.co.uk/forum/index.php?page=Second_Life_and_the_history_of_Virtual_Worlds

[GT40]

Thanks Freddy. Nice to know how this cool thing happened. 

[one]

Freddie, Art,
I thought MUD'S were multi user 'Dimensions' not dungeons??

I used to go down to the library (now the Da Vinci ctr ) and play at colleges
all around the country, basically any that had a maze or something to navagate.
Now THAT was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away!

Can you believe there was a time when we actively sought out technology,
now it is hard to escape it, I used to laugh at 8track & quadraphonic speaker sound.
oops I do believe I am, dating myself..

[Freddy]

Always been 'Dungeons' to me...

But yeah it was fun in the early days trying out new things like that.  We used to have a big mainframe at the college I went to and used to play this unbelievably simple by today's standards, space game.  I think it was based on Star Trek and you had to go round the galaxy trading and shooting things.  Very simple graphics, we're talking ASCII characters, but it was multi-player and strategy based which was pretty amazing at the time.

[Art]

Yes, it was always known as dungeons for me as well.

One of my favorites was the early game of Adventure or Colossal Caves.

"You are in a maze of twisty little passages..."

Think about it. This (and some others) were only TEXT versions of adventure games
yet the descriptive nature of it seemed to pull the player right into the environment.

It did not force you to see someone else's images / pictures but rather, to form you
own image of what you envisioned for the setting. I hated that little maze.

Then there was the famous 'xyzzy' and 'plugh' commands.

The good old days... For more info about the very cool old game click on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure

[Freddy]

There's always a lamp isn't there ?!  

But yes, I see what you mean - it's very similar to the difference between books and film.  Very few films seem to be as good as the book, notable exceptions for me are the Lord of the Rings and the Da Vinci code & Angels and Demons.  Most other ones never seem to have the atmosphere of the book and like you say a book gives the reader more freedom of imagination.