Its all Greek to Me... Discussion Question- Week 4 part one

Its all Greek to me. I know for most you, most of what these authors discuss is not completely new to you and you have a pretty good grasp on the jargon and language of the field. To me, it is all Greek, or Latin, or what ever other foreign language sounds good to you. Coming into this from a completely different background, some things stick out to me that you would probably never notice. One example this week was while I was reading through Bartle's Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. I quickly found that he never once says what MUDs means. I read the first page, nothing. I figured by the 2nd or 3rd page, I would find out. Again, Nothing. Luckily, I am a smart girl and went straight to my quick find source-- Wikipedia! Wikipedia defines MUD as:

"In computer gaming, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games and social chat rooms. Typical MUDs are text-driven, where players read descriptions of rooms, objects, events, other characters, and computer-controlled creatures or non-player characters (NPCs) in a virtual world. Players interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a natural language. It has been argued that modern game-like MMORPGs, such as World of Warcraft, and social virtual worlds such as Second Life can have their origins traced back to the original MUDs.[1] Traditional MUDs implement a fantasy world populated by fictional races and monsters, with players being able to choose from a number of classes in order to gain specific skills or powers. The object of this sort of game is to slay monsters, explore a fantasy world, complete quests, go on adventures, create a story by roleplaying, and advance the created character. Many MUDs were fashioned around the dice rolling rules of the Dungeons & Dragons series of games. Such fantasy settings for MUDs are common, while many others are set in a science fiction–based universe or themed on popular books, movies, animations, history, and so on. Not all MUDs are games; some, more typically those referred to as MOOs, are used in distance education or for virtual conferences. MUDs have attracted the interest of academic scholars from many fields, including communications, sociology, law, and synthetic economies." (From: Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, from there, I had to figure out what NPC's, MMROPGs, and MOOs are. Luckily, they are all linked to further articles where I am finally up to speed with all of the jargon of the article/field.

I just thought that was an interesting tid-bit, but I am certain for you all, it seems very odd that I don't know these things!