MUDs, in conjunction with most clients, have a history mechanism. Even though the interaction on a MUD happens in real-time, it can be recorded by a client that is connected. Thus one may read a conversation that happened when one wasn't actively involved. Clients also have the ability to save transcripts to files, allowing for a permanent archive of important communication. To writing teachers, these findings suggest that MUDs have the potential to facilitate collaborative learning, not just within the classroom, but way beyond it.
MUDs obliterate the traditional constraints of time and space that stifle collaborative discussion.
In addition, MUDs capture and preserve collaborative exchanges for later use in writing assignments. We are excited by these pedagogical possibilities, and as newbies, we look to the experiences of other instructors for more information on fulfilling these possibilities, predicting that MUDs will open up communication between our students, give voices to previously silent writers, and redefine the boundaries of authority in writing instruction.