Papers: Communications: Synchronous: Virtual Communities


The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat

Author: Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer

Previously Published: (1990) in Michael Benedikt (ed.), _Cyberspace:First Steps_, MIT press, Cambridge, Mass.

Abstract: "This paper was presented for The First Annual International Conference on Cyberspace in 1990. If you only have time to read one of these papers, read this one."

The essential lesson that we have abstracted from our experiences with Habitat is that a cyberspace is defined more by the interactions among the actors within it than by the technology with which it is implemented. While we find much of the work presently being done on elaborate interface technologies - DataGloves, head-mounted displays, special-purpose rendering engines, and so on - both exciting and promising, the almost mystical euphoria that currently seems to surround all this hardware is, in our opinion, both excessive and somewhat misplaced. We can't help having a nagging sense that it's all a bit of a distraction from the really pressing issues. At the core of our vision is the idea that cyberspace is necessarily a multiple-participant environment. It seems to us that the things that are important to the inhabitants of such an environment are the capabilities available to them, the characteristics of the other people they encounter there, and the ways these various participants can affect one another. Beyond a foundation set of communications capabilities, the technology used to present this environment to its participants, while sexy and interesting, is a peripheral concern.

ASCII (64k), or Rich Text Format (81k), or Microsoft Word (71k).


Habitat Anecdotes

Author: F. Randall Farmer

Date: Fall 1988

Abstract: This is a notebook of stories gathered during the Habitat Beta Test. The best of these are incorporated in the other papers. These stories assume that the reader is already familiar with the Habitat project and concepts.

ASCII (34k), or Rich Text Format (41k), or Microsoft Word (38k).


Habitat Citizenry

Author: F. Randall Farmer

Date: ?

Previously Published: in Carl Loeffler (ed.), _Virtual Realities: An Anthology of Industry and Culture_,(1993) Tokyo: Gijutsu Hyoron Sha. US: Van Nostrand Reinhold

Abstract: I was the Oracle, or system administrator for a cyberspace known as Lucasfilm's Habitat during it's shakedown period and paying-pilot test from June 1986 to May 1988. Here are a few observations about the unique social dimensions of online communities. Most of these ideas were composed while I reigned over a small Habitat town named Populopolis, with a population of 500 citizens. The Oracles of the currently operating Habitats: Club Caribe in the United States and Fujitsu Habitat in Japan, have contributed much to later refinement of these thoughts.

ASCII (16k), or Rich Text Format (23k), or Microsoft Word (20k).


How to Deconstruct Almost Anything, My Postmodern Adventure

Author: Chip Morningstar

Date: 5 July 1993

Abstract: As a result of WIRED 1.0 mentioning a culture clash at 2Cyberconf, Chip wrote this response.

ASCII (26k), or Rich Text Format (35k), or Microsoft Word (29k).


Cyberspace: Getting There From Here

Author: F. Randall Farmer

Date: 1989

Previously Published: _The Journal of Computer Game Design_, Oct 1988 and The First International Conference on Cyberspace Proceedings, Austin, Texas, May 1990

Abstract: This older paper contains a projected timeline for the development of cyberspace. It is amusing considering the current state of data superhighway hype.

ASCII (14k), or Rich Text Format (17k), or Microsoft Word (37k).


From Habitat to Global Cyberspace

Author: F. Randall Farmer, Chip Morningstar, and Doug Crockford

Date: ?

Previously Published: CompCon '94 Proceedings, IEEE Computer Society.

Abstract: "With this paper, we begin to apply our experience building systems like Habitat and AMiX to the problems facing the emerging Global Cyberspace."

Cyberspace. Interactive Television. Networked Multimedia. The Great Convergence. The Information Superhighway. The National Information Infrastructure. These are all names for the same thing: a huge network connecting people to other people using computers. Billions of dollars are being invested to develop this connectivity, ignoring the experience already available from the online industry. Cyberspace is the next important telecommunications paradigm: many-to-many communications. The authors relate their experiences with the Habitat and AMiX online services to outline the nature of the emerging Global Cyberspace Infrastructure.

ASCII (30k), or Rich Text Format (52k), or Microsoft Word (35k), or just the abstract (1k)


Oracle Layza's Tales from Fujitsu Habitat

Author: Tomoko Kojima [formerly Tomoko Tsuchiya], Re-told by F. Randall Farmer

Date: November 1990

Abstract: Tomoko Tsuchiya AKA 'Oracle Layza' has has collected these stories over the past year. An Oracle is a system operator, an employee of Fujitsu that acts as a liaison between the operators, programmers and the participants in Habitat. Unlike the original 'Oracle' in U.S. Habitat, she had no special 'powers' to create or destroy objects or events. Fujitsu Habitat Oracles are a special breed, existing partially in a fantasy world and the 'practical world'. As you'll see in her stories below, it is a difficult line to walk.

ASCII (8k), or Rich Text Format (11k), or Microsoft Word (11k).


The Second International Conference on Cyberspace: Literary Criticism Collides With Software Engineering

Author: F. Randall Farmer & various others

Previously Published: sci.virtual-worlds

Abstract: This is a net discussion of a cultural gap observed at 2Cyberconf in 1991. It starts with a letter by Randy addressed to the Usenet news group sci.virtual-worlds, and contains replies from various net folks.

ASCII (56k)


Settlements on The Electronic Frontier

Author: Chip Morningstar

Abstract: Transcript of a talk presented at IEEE CompCon '91. This presentation foreshadows our controversial 2Cyberconf piece "Cyberspace Colonies."

ASCII (22k), or Rich Text Format (30k), or Microsoft Word (29k).


Technology is Easy, Comedy is Hard

Author: Douglas Crockford

Date: ?

Previously Published: Presented at Multimedia Expo in 1993

Abstract: A State of the Convergence Rap

ASCII (8k), or Rich Text Format (10k), or Microsoft Word (10k).


Virtual Communities in Japan

Author: Kumiko Aoki

Source: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Date: 1994

Abstract: In recent years, virtual communities have proliferated thanks to the converging technologies of telecommunications and computing. In the United States, numerous virtual communities exist in the form of bulletin boards, newsgroups, computer conferencing, etc. and have been expanding its scope beyond the national boundaries. But, those virtual communities originating in the United States carry heavy American-biased culture which members often take for granted because of the long history of domination in developing computer networks by American organizations. As examples of alternative virtual cultures, this paper presents major virtual communities in Japan which originated in Japan and mainly sustained by people in Japan.

ASCII (43k)



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