Recently in Text-based Virtual World (MUD, MU*, MOO) Category

Marvin, Lee E. "Spoof, Spam, Lurk and Lag: The Aesthetics of Text-Based Virtual Realities." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Vol 1. 1995.

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol1/issue2/marvin.html

ABSTRACT
This paper explores communication in six text-based virtual realities through four items of jargon: spoof, spam, lurk, and lag. Research was conducted using the ethnographic tools of participant-observation and close analysis of actual interactions of MOOs (Multiple-user Object Oriented environments). Examples of how these terms are used in real-time interaction were analyzed for what they communicate about the aesthetics of interaction. Close examination suggests that these articulated aesthetics serve as rules for proper behavior, markers of experience and belonging, metaphor for poetic expression and resources for play and challenge within the community.

Dev, M. U. D. MUD-Dev Discussion Group. March, 2006.

http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/02/02/full-mud-dev-archive-for-download/

Dev, M. U. D. MUD-Dev Discussion Group. March, 2006.

http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/02/02/full-mud-dev-archive-for-download/

Muramatsu, Jack. "Computing, Social Activity, and Entertainment: A Field Study of a Game MUD." Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Vol 7. 1998.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/ll564pj22m2k7865/

ABSTRACT
Are game and entertainment systems different than work-oriented systems? What drives the user's experience in a collaborative game? To answer these questions, we performed a participant-observation study of a combat MUD, a game similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Our interest is in how this social world is arranged and managed (rather than, for example, in how participants form or display individual identities). The study explores the social arrangements and activities that give meaning and structure to the participants. We found that conflict and cooperation were the dominant social activities on this MUD, much more so than sociability. The game's management played a critical function in maintaining and promoting these activities. Moreover, novelty and entertainment were important for the design of both the system features and the sociality itself.

Pargman, Daniel. Code Begets Community: On Social and Technical Aspects of of Managing a Virtual Community. 2000.

http://xml.nada.kth.se/~pargman/thesis/

ABSTRACT
This thesis looks at a Swedish-speaking adventure mud - SvenskMud - a text-based "virtual world". I have taken a broad view and describe how this mud functions, with a special focus on "the work to make it work". More specificly I describe the activities in and around the mud from three different perspectives:
- Where muds came from, how they work and how this particular mud works.
- The mud as a computer program and an ongoing systems development project.
- Management of the mud as a task or a hobby for the mud administrators (called "magicians" in the mud).

Pavel Curtis. Mudding: Social phenomena in text-based virtual
realities. Technical report, Xerox PARC, 1992.

http://w2.eff.org/Net_culture/MOO_MUD_IRC/curtis_mudding.article

ABSTRACT:

A MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or, sometimes, Multi-User Dimension) is a
network-accessible, multi-participant, user-extensible virtual reality whose
user interface is entirely textual. Participants (usually called players) have
the appearance of being situated in an artificially-constructed place that also
contains those other players who are connected at the same time.  Players can
communicate easily with each other in real time. This virtual gathering place
has many of the social attributes of other places, and many of the usual social
mechanisms operate there. Certain attributes of this virtual place, however,
tend to have significant effects on social phenomena, leading to new mechanisms
and modes of behavior not usually seen `IRL' (in real life). In this paper, I
relate my experiences and observations from having created and maintained a MUD
for over a year.