From: cyberoid@u.washington.edu (Bob Jacobson)
Subject: Re: CULTURE:   Battletech Center makes me gag
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1992 17:36:40 GMT
Message-ID: <1992Feb25.173640.11539@u.washington.edu>
Organization: HIT Lab, Seattle WA.



In article <1992Feb25.165429.7494@u.washington.edu> nicho@vnet.ibm.com writes:

>In <1992Feb14.082359.1763@u.washington.edu> Bob Jacobson writes:
>
>>A whole lot of angst
>
>   Can someone help please ??? I'm trying to find Sci.virtual.worlds
>in the hope of discussing technical aspects of VR. I seem to have
>inadvertently strayed into alt.pc.thought or something like that. Is
>there a newsgroup where partical VR is discussed ???

Apparently Greg is one of those benighted computer technologists who
believes all questions of cultural criticism can be callously dis-
missed by labeling them (in rather cliche' fashion) as "p.c."
("politically correct," not personal computer, for those who may not
have been reading the proper mainstream rags and missed the pc tempest
in a teapot).  Greg, even VR can have a cultural and political dimen-
sion.  In fact, what you do probably has; you just haven't noticed.
How what we do is perceived by the public is a bigger question, in 
fact, then the quality of our software, as it determines in large
part whether we will even have the resources to continue with our work.

As someone who has not, to my knowledge, inputted anything pertinent
to "practical VR" to this newsgroup (and apparently has not been
reading it very long, or he would know the answer is "here"), Greg
is in a very weak position to criticize.

For those who took up my challenge and debated the Battletech issue
with force and fervor, thank you.  Although I still believe that
it is not good for our field for people's first association with VR
to be a boyish arcade game, still I recognize now the historical
origins of this game and can see it in a broader perspective.

This is not a flame, just a defense of this common space as a place
where any legitimate issue of relevance to virtual worlds, technical
or otherwise, is permissible.

I look forward to your practical contributions, Greg.

Bob Jacobson