Richard Bartle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (June 2009)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2009) (Find sources: Richard Bartle – news, books, scholar)

Richard Bartle
Born	January 10, 1960 (1960-01-10) (age 49) Ripon, England
Known for	MUD1

Richard Allan Bartle (born 10 January 1960 in Ripon, England) is a British writer, professor and game researcher, best known for being the co-author of MUD, the first multi-user dungeon. He is one of the pioneers of the massively multiplayer online game industry.

Contents 1 Life and career 2 Awards 3 Works 3.1 Books 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Life and career

Bartle received a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the University of Essex, where he created MUD with Roy Trubshaw, in 1978.^[1]

He lectured at Essex until 1987, when he left to work full time on MUD (known as MUD2 in its present version). Recently he has returned to the university as a part-time professor and principal teaching fellow in the Department of Computing and Electronic Systems, supervising courses on computer game design as part of the department's degree course on computer game development.^[2]

In 2003, he wrote Designing Virtual Worlds, a book about the history, ethics, structure, and technology of massively multiplayer games.

Bartle is also a contributing editor to Terra Nova, a collaborative blog that deals with virtual world issues.

Bartle did research on player personality types in massively-multiplayer online games. In Bartle's analysis, players of massively multiplayer online games can be divided into four types: achievers, explorers, socializers and killers.^[3] This idea has been adapted into a popular online test generally referred to as the Bartle Test.^[4] The test is very popular and scores are often exchanged on MMORPG forums and networking sites.^[5]

[edit] Awards

• International Game Developers Association "First Penguin Award" (now called "The Pioneer Award"), at the 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards, for his part in creating the first MUD.

[edit] Works

• Spellbinder, 1977, a pencil and paper game also known as Waving Hands, first described in Bartle's fanzine Sauce of the Nile^[6][7]
• MUD1, 1978, with Roy Trubshaw
• MUD2, 1980, based on MUD1. This was arguably the first "playable" multi-user dungeon.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Books

• Artificial Intelligence and Computer Games, Paperback, 256 pages, Century Communications, 25 July 1985, ISBN 978-0712606615
• Designing Virtual Worlds, Paperback, 768 pages, New Riders Pub., 25 July 2003 ISBN 978-0131018167
• IN^sight_flames, 1999, Online publication. Also 2 Paperbacks, NotByUs, "IN Sight", 422 pages, July 2007, ISBN 978-0955649400 & "IN Flames", 416 pages, August 2007, ISBN 978-0955649417

[edit] References

1. ^ Bartle, R: "Interactive Multi-User Computer Games", section 1.5; Retrieved on 2009-01-05.
2. ^ "University of Essex Module Details - EE224-5-FY: Computer Games Architecture and Design". http://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/default.aspx?coursecode=EE224&level=5&period=FY. Retrieved on January 31, 2009. 
3. ^ Bartle, R. "Players Who Suit MUDs". http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-05. 
4. ^ "Random Dialogue: You Shuffle, I'll Deal(archived)". April 26, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20071223023405/http://www.mmorpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=951. Retrieved on January 31, 2009. 
5. ^ "Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology". http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology. Retrieved on January 31, 2009. 
6. ^ "Waving Hands from Duel Purpose". http://www.gamecabinet.com/rules/WavingHands.html. Retrieved on January 2009. 
7. ^ "Spellbinder". http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/spellbnd.htm. 

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Richard Bartle

• Richard Bartle's website
• Richard Bartle's blog
• Dr. Bartle's MUD history page
• Terra Nova collaborative blog
• Sci-Tech Today, January 4, 2006, "Inside the Underground Economy of Computer Gaming" (see page 4)
• GameSpy interview, October 27, 2003
• GameZombie.tv, Videotaped Discussion of Hero's Journey with Lee Sheldon (writer)
• IN^sight_flames HTML and PDF versions of the book, and link to the 2-volume print version at Cafe Press