fad for string quartets and harpsichord recitals, and regularly assists the Royal Society in its scientific research on the tribes and wildlife of the region.

It was with extreme incredulity that Edmund heard there were Barbary pirates in the Caribbean; he thought they were confined to the Old World but soon learned the very concept of “ Barbary pirate” was slanderous European propaganda against the North Africans, who were behaving no differently from the privateers commissioned by European governments, with their letters of marque and reprisal. Pirates of the Burning Sea occasionally plays with the facts of history, but always frankly, showing great respect for the truth and admiring the remarkable accomplishments of the 18th century. Yet this marvelous virtual world has few visitors.

Another educationally valuable virtual world is A Tale in the Desert (http:// www.atitd.com), a set of nonviolent social games with an ancient Egyptian motif with perhaps only 1,000 subscribers today, one 10,000th the peak population of World of Warcraft (http://www. worldofwarcraft.com).

Tens of thousands of people might suddenly subscribe to both Pirates of the Burning Sea and A Tale in the Desert, though this is probably a vain hope. More realistically, leaders of government, education, and computer science in your world could establish a digital library to host the best of the early virtual worlds, not as historical curiosities, but as immortal masterworks of culture and living laboratories with many uses in teaching and research. Legislation comparable to what was used to establish the U.S. Library of Congress (http:// www.loc.gov) might be needed to encourage cooperation by the owners of the intellectual property.

It will also be necessary to create some curriculum in and around the worlds and tweak some of their parameters so users with different goals are spared having to invest months of effort to gain full access, as they are today. For example, Pirates of the Burning Sea allows users who select rare nationali-ties to advance up the experience ladder twice as fast as others. Both World of Warcraft and Age of Conan (http://www. ageofconan.com) allow advanced users to create new characters who start their

[ContinUed FroM p. 128]

The best of
the early virtual
worlds are immortal
masterworks of
culture and living
laboratories with
many uses in
teaching
and research.

virtual lives already far advanced.

My avatar in your world (I call him Bill) has held conferences in both Second Life and World of Warcraft. It would be a simple matter for him to create a high school or college course in either Pirates of the Burning Sea or A Tale in the Desert. The former would be good not only for courses in history but also for political economy. Quite apart from its Egyptian motif, A Tale in the Desert offers challenges in puzzle solving, logic, and the engineering of industrial supply chains. Urban studies could be taught in The Matrix Online, and teaching modules incorporating experiments in many social sciences could be added to any of these worlds.

The library where I work in Rivendell is 1,000 years old, and I have trouble imagining all the difficulties you might face if you were to try to build a Digital Library of Virtual Worlds. Yet what a shame it would be if the glorious creativity of the first generations of virtual worlds were truly gone forever.

The first great grand opera, l’Orfeo, composed by Claudio Monteverdi in 1607 is still performed today, and anyone may buy a recording for a few dollars. Four hundred years from now, I hope your descendents will still be able to visit me so I can introduce them to Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf… and perhaps all go Orc hunting together.

 

*Rumilisoun and Edmund Bainbridge are both avatars of William Sims Bainbridge; the real edmund was bill’s great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, and edmund’s grandson, Commodore William bainbridge, was held captive for two years by barbary pirates.

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