Gods and Griefers

Nevertheless, digital gods prompt us to consider what we do when we create civilizations unbounded by the constraints of the physical world. Game worlds free us to indulge in atavistic exploration, not only of those worlds, but of who we are. In the space of 30 years, players moved from cults of magic and personality toward a kind of constitutional state, retracing a much longer real-world journey familiar to any historian. What other lessons about the human condition exist in the greatly accelerated experiment that is online gaming?

-- How We Make Gods - Nautilus - Pocket

I miss MUDs.