Writing the History of Virtual Worlds

BBC News offers a look at a University of Texas project to find a way to archive the history of virtual worlds.

“We want to raise the consciousness in the industry about how important these records are,” said Prof Winget. “I do not think they save anything or it’s saved in such a way that they would not be able to recognise the significance of what they are holding.”

As well as talking to game makers the project will conduct interviews with players who took part in or witnessed the significant world events seen in some online games.

Examples of this, said Prof Winget, were the assassination of Lord British in Ultima Online, the death of Morpheus in The Matrix Online and the “Corrupted Blood” plague that killed hundreds of characters in some parts of World of Warcraft.

Spotted on Slashdot.