Too good to be true...
Sometimes even academics get lucky. Recognise that state of your work when you find yourself in need of the perfect quote to support and illustrate your theory? In my case, what I especially have been pining for, are statements from people actually working with online world design, confirming some of my hypotheses and observations. And voila presto, here they are, published no earlier than last week, just in time to make it into the final chapters of the thesis:

Online Worlds Roundtable on Storytelling in Persistent Worlds (at Rpgvault)

Perhaps there is a higher meaning with everything, after all?

update: the quote below is from this very roundtable. Not _that_ relevant to my main thesis, but it is rather funny and quite to the point (fellow EverQuest players should get the drift...):
You can't honestly expect intelligent players to really care roleplay-wise when the nostalgic, mystical and transcending elves of Tolkien's Middle-earth shrink 30% in height and 90% in majesty while wearing neon green trousers. (Story in MMOGs can so far almost seem like Frodo and Gollum grouping and camping Elrond at his spawn point in Rivendell. Fun gameplay, but dreadful story.)
– (Gaute Godager, Game Director, Anarchy Online (
# posted by Lisbeth at: 22:21