Worlds are everywhere, someone needs to have the skills to run them.
World building, virtual worlds, entertainment worlds, media franchises, corporate worlds, theme park design, XR/VR, volumes, escape rooms, tabletop games, undirected play, hybrid/mixed reality storytelling, and much much more.
Emerging over the horizon is a new discipline: World Running.
‘World Runner’ was first coined in 2020 as portmanteau of worldbuilder + showrunner. I belive it’s a term that will come to encompass so much more.
Cohesive worlds are hybrid environments made up of the people, places, and technologies that create them. Running worlds, is now what I’d like to do professionally, full time.
Hearing the term World running for the first time was like being struck by lightning. Wording worlds, and figuring out how to run them is literally what I’ve been doing doing with my life.
One day I want to write a book live on livestream at worldrunning.guide. In the mean time my thoughts, writing and observations on the subject are below.
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World Running
MUDs to Metaverse: The Unreal Estate Deal | 2308
Costly virtual land in the metaverse today is a result of memory constraints on…
February 25, 2023
What a Difference A(I) Week Makes | 2307
In less than 6 weeks we’ve gone from ‘OpenAI’s chatbot is weird but interesting’…
February 19, 2023
Cultural Fracking | CMF 2023 Annual Trends Report
I was interviewed by the Canada Media Fund, as they have included a *whole…
January 31, 2023
Good Taste Online | 2303
Given the affordances of different social media platforms. How does one demonstrate taste in…
January 21, 2023
Geocity and the City | 2302
This episode is about what happens when the metaphors we use change. But mostly…
January 14, 2023
Unstoppable, Infinitely Moddable | Weeknotes
Unstoppable, Infinitely Moddable, Autonomous Worlds are coming.
December 12, 2022
Goncharov’s New Dabloons | 2242
It’s not the truth of a cultural object that matters. But the collective truth…
November 26, 2022
Metaverse: As Good a Word as Any | 2239
In the twilight age of Web 2, Metaverse is as good a word as…
November 5, 2022
Mickey in the Metaverse | 2235
As a symbol of the copyright regime of the 20thC. A permissive Mickey in…
October 1, 2022
In the Other Room | Weeknotes
After a few minutes of careful listening I said ‘It sounds like a man…
September 4, 2022
Metaverse & Monsters | Thoughts on One D&D
For nearly 50 years D&D has been container for managing how people should interact…
August 27, 2022
How The World Alive, Swings
How Swing, Jazz, Ritual, Folktales, Pop Songs, DAOs and Virtual Worlds, Weed and the…
August 4, 2022
Pinball Wizard | 2228
Pinball Wizard is the name for a 1970’s cyborg. People who first entered a…
July 16, 2022
Evenly Distributed | 2226
In 1974 on the PLATO mainframe system there was a 32-player 3D networked first…
July 2, 2022
Navigation Styles | 2225
A world has to allow players to change their play style as they learn…
June 25, 2022
‘Making Moves’ In DALL·E mini | Weeknotes
Learning to make moves with DALL·E mini is about writing prompts that get the…
June 19, 2022
Win Condition | 2224
The ultimate victory condition in the most popular online worlds right now is to…
June 18, 2022
Lost Zone. Hiking the Dawn of Metaverse
I just received my contributors copy of Lost Zone. Hiking the Dawn of Metaverse.…
June 14, 2022
Brainworms | 2222
‘Someone has brainworms’, is a recognition that an individual is behaving in a way…
June 5, 2022
Metaverse as Medium | 2220
Why I think the metaverse is important, MUDs, the web as 30 year long…
May 21, 2022
Marriage in the Metaverse | 2218
8th May 1996, 26 years ago tomorrow. Tomas Landhaus and Janka Stanhope were married…
May 7, 2022
Wind-up Worlds
Wind-up Worlds, Web3, World Running and the urgent collective pivot we need to make…
May 6, 2022
Web Surfin’ UXA | 2216
After you reduce your social media intake. You need to re-learn how to use…
April 23, 2022
Nomic Kennings | Weeknotes
I’ve thinking about ‘Nomic’ this week. A game system created in 1982 by philosopher…
March 27, 2022
Talking Mechanics and Worlding With Paul Czege | World Running
I spoke with Games Designer Paul Czege abut the emerging concept of World Running.…
September 14, 2021
Power Fandoms | 2134
With Web3 enabled Permissive IP frameworks, Power Fandoms will own, produce and share the…
September 11, 2021
A Napster Moment For Collective Storytelling | 2133
Experienced Future shock this week with the launch of three NFT projects: LOOT, The…
September 4, 2021
Talking Improv and Trust With Dr Alex Fradera | World Running
I spoke to Alex Fradera about World Running. We talk: Improv Theatre, Clowning, Rule…
August 3, 2021
The Hybrid / Hyper Reality of Worlds | 2126
A conversation with Paul Czege, RPGs, Worlding worlds, and the experiences and memories that…
July 3, 2021
Rooms As UX Metaphor | 2045
The Interactive Fiction metaphor of ‘rooms’ as applied to chat room UX.
November 13, 2020
Abstract Objects | 2040
Coding python, pythagorean cult visualisation exercises, code loops, empirically felt variations in experience, and…
October 9, 2020
Animal Crossing Is The Place For Taste | 2019
Grammars of Virtual Worlds and the demonstration of taste within the constraints of the…
May 16, 2020
Craving Canon
Canon, fandom, solarpunk, narrative, cultural fracking and other problems with story worlds in 2020
April 10, 2020
Role For A Thought Leadership Check | 2008
How DnD, Stats and Simulation may have fucked up modernity.
February 28, 2020
Landscapes Like Mixtapes | 2003
I want to say to a friend halfway around the world who’s with me…
January 24, 2020