This is one of the best long form articles I know that captures the wonder and majesty of worlds that are player defined. I remember fondly when I played EVE and Darkfall, MMO's that share this world defined by the player trait. One of the best things about them was that they set a stage and then let the players take it where they will. I wonder why more people aren't focusing on this in modern game development, although personally I would never have the time to play an MMO again. I really do wonder what the next generation of player crafted worlds looks like.

The exact scope of the game is unknowable. Even if the notoriously secretive immortals were to release the map of “rooms” (delimited areas of play including everything from wind-swept ergs to cramped wagon cockpits, and numbering over thirty thousand), the catalogue of items, and the roster of characters (still growing at a Malthusian clip), decades of events, residing only in the memories of players, would remain undisclosed. Because Armageddon MUD is not a static or deterministic fiction but a book written in sand—a constantly moving, sentient flux of story in silicate. If Percy Shelley had built an RPG, he might have come up with something like this singular game, a vast, unmerciful “Ozymandias Online.”

Be sure to read the full thing at Cabinet Magzine