Habitat
Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer (Lucasfilm Games), 1986

Links
Lessons from Habitat

Habitat was the earliest significant attempt at an online, multi-user, graphical chat environment. It was the beta version of many commercial applications to come but, as a first word, it effectively uncovered the challenges future multiplayer cyberspace environments would need to confront. It succeeded in some ways and failed miserably in others, but fortunately its creators were generous enough to offer their experiences and various lessons learned for the book, Cyberspace, First Steps.

Despite the fact that Habitat was developed initially for a modem-enabled Commodore 64, Farmer and Morningstar's lessons remain relevant for programmers undertaking similar projects today. To read them in detail, follow the link above. For our purposes here, I'll simply repeat their bullet points:
• The idea of a many-user environment is central to cyberspace.
• Communications bandwidth is a scarce resource.
• An object-oriented data representation is essential.
• The implementation platform is relatively unimportant.
• Data communications standards are vital.
• Detailed central planning is impossible; don't even try.
• You can't trust anyone.
• Work within the system.
• Get real.

The article is fascinating reading, especially for its surprising citations of social and economic theorists, and certainly seems essential for anyone interested in multi-user online environments. The application itself is effectively lost to history, which is tragic really because the various anecdotes Morningstar and Farmer recount give the impression that Habitat (and its various commercial progeny) were great fun.

It struck me that these many-user applications are, in some way, the video game analog of 60s Happenings or other time-based or performance artworks. Unlike stand-alone titles, like Pitfall or Super Mario Bros. for instance, which are very playable to this day, the true Habitat experience is irrevocably bound to a moment in time and the confluence of manifold conditions. There's no lasting artifact that represents the experience as it was.

Submitted by
Brett Schultz

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