This is one future of interactive fiction or interactive game playing.  The other one is, as he was mentioning, is the massive-multiplayer online role playing games.  I recently got sucked into, it was about three weeks, I haven't been playing it long, EverQuest.  If you've never tried a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, that is something worth trying.  

Right now, it used to cost $50 for the game and $10 a month to play, right now they brought back the classic version.  It costs $10 to buy the game, they give you the first month for free, and you can cancel it at any time.  So basically, you can try the game for $10 for a month. 

It’s extremely addicting because it’s not only do you go in and you’re fighting the monsters. That’s fun. Everybody wants to fight monsters, sure. What you’re doing is you’re building a character. You basically come into the world in a loin cloth or a bikini, depending on the sex or gender you’re playing, and a couple of cents in your pocket and a wooden club and you go from there. You’re not just fighting the NPC’s, which are non-player characters. It’s the PCs in there. 

At any given time when I log on to the EverQuest world there are literally 50 to 100,000 people playing at the same time. Now we’re not all playing in the same world, they are divided up into multiple servers. The world that I’m playing in usually has about 2000 people online at the same time. 

So you have all these people playing together. We’re not only relating to the monsters, we’re relating to each other and that is the fascinating part. 

Here’s an example. First day I’m playing this character, I get into the world and there I am in my loin cloth and my wooden club and I said, 'I’m going to role play.'  You can role-play or you can be an avatar. Role-playing means that I am a creature that really lives in this world. I’m acting

Somebody comes up to me and says, 'Hey man, what level are you?' And I say, "Excuse me young sir, I am a new apprentice and do not know what this level is that thou talks about."

"I said what level are you!!!"

"Please do not shout at me I am just a lowly apprentice and do not understand this strange talk." 

Jumping up and down, "What level are you!!!"

By this time he has attracted a crowd around us, I don’t know why. So we have other players standing around looking at this guy jumping up and down, yelling at me, "He won’t tell me what level he is!!"

(Sniveling voice) "I am a lowly apprentice. Please sir, don’t hurt me." 

A woman walks up dressed in big flowing robes and a crown on her head and a scepter in her hand. Obviously not a new player. And she starts talking to me and she says, “Is there a problem here?” 

And I said, “O noble lady, please I am but an apprentice and do not understand the strange ways of this land.” 

We start talking back and forth, meanwhile this guy is over in the corner—“What level are you!!” 

(Laughter.) 

One-track mind, OK. 

Talking to the nice lady, every thing going well, every once in a while she would turn and say, “Shut up!” 

(Laughter.) 

Still no good, he’s still bouncing up and down. 

She turns and she gives me 10 pieces of platinum. A platinum is approximately a thousand dollars in this game world. I have the equivalent of fifty cents in my pocket, starting as a game player. She suddenly gives me ten thousand dollars. This is a tremendous boost. 

By the way, when you go into this game, it doesn’t matter who you are, rich, poor, whatever. Everybody starts the game at the same level, starts with the same things. Everything you want, you have to get for yourself or have somebody give to you as you build up your character. Socialization is very important in this game. It is amazing. 

So she gives me the 10 pieces of platinum and I turn to the other guy and he’s looking at me... (Crying sound.) She just gave me a small fortune and he’s going, “What level are you?” 

So I decide to take pity on him and I go OOC mode, out of character mode. It means that anything I say, I’m deliberately not role playing, I’m talking person-to-person, and I say to him: “I’m role playing, I’m not really mad at you, I’m not upset -- I’m just simply role-playing a character."

And he types back, “What’s role playing?” 

Very serious. So I proceed to explain to him and all of the sudden on his avatar was like “DING”. A light bulb goes on over his head -- and he’s role-playing now. 

He gets into it a little slowly but he falls into it and we play that night. I played with him. So I was having fun. We went out and killed monsters and looted their corpses. And he was a level 7! Ooh! I was a level 1. So he could go after monsters I didn’t dare attack. And he got some loot that there was no way I could get. And he gave 90% of it to me. He was really generous and friendly. 

At the end of the day I said to him “This is really nice. You were a tremendous friend to me.”  I kept calling him Young Sir. “You were a tremendous friend to me, Young Sir. I shall always remember you when I become a famous fighter.”  And I had a plan to become a tailor. I know, sounds funny, but hey, it pays well -- let me tell you.

And I said, “Maybe someday I’ll be able to help you out.” And he says, “Ha ha ha, I’m a level 7. You’re a 1. You’ll never be able to do anything for me. Never mind, just forget it.” 

Yesterday, or just last week, I was playing and I ran across him again. I’m a level 12 now, he’s a level 7 still. I was able to help him tremendously and I told him it was because of the nice things he did for me while I was first playing.

The key to this whole thing is, though: I’m getting sucked into this world these designers created, and I’m creating the story as I go along. And there are a thousand other people doing the same thing at the same time. We’ve got guilds; we’ve got groups that play together. It is utterly amazing, what is happening.

The graphics are still relatively primitive compared to going to see a movie or something like that. But the interaction between people is what makes the game a lot of fun. And there are those people who get in that simply go in, kill the monster, get what you can and get out. That’s fine. You can play it that way. They don’t know what role-playing is. For those who jump into the world and wrap themselves in it and want to become an actor, it’s fascinating.

Now... you had a question.