A Creation Myth

By Jason Schreier

It’s summer, 2000. Camp’s busy and bustling; all the boys are out playing sports or getting food or hanging with the girls. But not me. I’m sitting inside my bunk, doodling in a notebook, because the day before camp started I’d first set up my own Multi-User Dungeon—or MUD—a virtual world that I could shape at my discretion. Caught up in the creative process, I spent that entire summer outlining maps, dreaming up creatures, and writing interactive stories. I was hooked. At the time, of course, I had no idea how addictive it would be to build a world. I had no idea how deeply it would affect me, or how many relationships would be created and ruined by my simple little text-based game. All I knew was that I had a second life, and it was wonderful.

So on the last day of that long summer at camp, I hugged my parents, jumped in the car, and endured the two-hour ride home. When we got there, I barreled straight up to the computer and logged into my MUD, where I typed up my ideas and unleashed them onto the virtual world. Years later, as I grew more cynical about MUDs and their communities, I still remembered how fond that moment was—the moment where I started making something that seemed real, that other people would enjoy.