Mu* and history and time
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It’s sad but MUSHes are in the same boat as most online services. When they end they end. All we can really do is keep some exceptional logs when it’s all said and done
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Y’know, I’ve been a lurker on this site (and the predecessor) for a long time now. I never really felt like taking a side, or voicing an opinion with any discussion, but this one caught my eye. Then again, perhaps I’m just getting so old I need to start putting my two cents in. So, here is my opinion, take it, burn it, throw shade at it, or move along.
As someone who’s been around since nearly the dawn of MU*ing (1995 at the tender age of 23), the idea of archiving old sites, logs, and games that have long since passed is not something that I have ever really considered before. The games I played within have lived, breathed, they have had a life, and then they died, and you move on to the next one. The logs that I enjoyed, I kept, I archived for my own perusal, though even those I can honestly say I have never read over again, and were the first to be deleted as space was needed. (In older computers, kids, you use to have to worry about that!)
I am not one to get sentimental over things, and as a result the idea of a kind of archaeological repository for future generations to find and enjoy isn’t something that I have ever thought of, or about. You are correct in the fact that history tends to forget about the every day life and focus more on the grandeur scheme of things. I guess, for those that really want to have this world, this environment, that we have created to remain, for those that have children, teach them about it. It’s always upon the next generation to learn, and keep it all going for future generations to discover and rediscover.
As far as the last question? If this hobby didn’t exist, if I hadn’t started gaming, I would never have met my husband, gotten married, and enjoyed thirty (plus) years of cooperative story-telling. So, yes, it has been worth while, the good, the bad, the ugly.
Right. My two cents.
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Archive.org may have already captured some of your game’s wiki, but it’s not terribly clever about which bits it records.
Login-only stuff like the old WORA and SWOFA are probably just gone if the one or two people who made captures don’t share them or lost them.
I lament the loss of a collection of scanned drawings I had, from back when the internet barely had pictures on it and we used FTP to exchange character art. I still have the drive they’re on, somewhere, but no way to open it myself.
From a professional archivist sort of standpoint, this has always been a problem. People don’t record a lot of everyday life, and what they do produce is often the shit we call ephemera, and gets thrown away shortly after it’s used. TTRPGs produce a shitload of it. Researchers and museum goers love it. Inexplicably, my brother has managed to keep every concert ticket stub from every show he’s ever been to since Mötley Crüe in 1986 or something. In keeping with her character, a friend has every birthday card she have ever received. You know you wanna look at that shit. Alas, digital environments make it even more ephemeral.
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Archive.org may have already captured some of your game’s wiki, but it’s not terribly clever about which bits it records.
Login-only stuff like the old WORA and SWOFA are probably just gone if the one or two people who made captures don’t share them or lost them.
i don’t think anybody even like peripherally involved with WORA MUSHes anymore and last I heard Spider was creeping on Tumblr or something
edit: Im pretty sure at one time there was an actual WORA Wiki but as best i can remember it was deleted by somebody who hostile takeovered the site or something like that?
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an actual WORA Wiki
Thenomain’s still around, but I think he’s the last person of admin-level around from that era. Lord knows if he’s kept anything.
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I have, on occasion, wanted to do video essay deep dives into THE CULTURE, if for no other reason than to have it compiled and learn about some of the history (and maybe serve as advertising for the community?)
But oh god do I not know where to even start.
Mummy Pun? MUMMY PUN!
She/her -
@Jennkryst Do a video about Jill in the style of those Jeff the Killer or Slenderman videos. 🤭
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@Jennkryst You should.
Lol now I kind of want to write a book about the history of MUSHes, even though it would basically only appeal to the tiniest of audiences.
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@Faraday If you don’t have a Jill the Guest or a Bane section, I will riot.
I don’t know what I’m doing. Poke at Seven Nations sevennations.aresmush.com port 2021
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@Faraday If you don’t have a Jill the Guest or a Bane section, I will riot.
I don’t have enough WORA/Hogpit tea to do it justice.
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