The Subway Experience As Multi-User Dungeon

Perhaps the “multi-user dungeon” part might hold some people back:

Being poked on the subway is annoying. On Facebook it’s a compliment. A new application on the site hopes to bridge that divide.

Subway Status allows riders to post updates, meet their neighbors and read service announcements pulled from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Web site. Users can check for delays, complain about local transit issues — such as the campaign for an F train express — and keep track of weekend changes, all without leaving their social network.

“The interesting thing about the subway experience is that everyone has it, but no one shares it,” said Amos Bloomberg (no relation to the Mayor), who designed the application. “There’s currently no forum for this discussion, and it certainly doesn’t happen on the train itself. I’m trying to explore that issue.”

. . .

“I see it like those ‘multi-user dungeons’ from the early days of computers,” he said. “The idea is that you are exploring a system with lots of rooms and different people. There are tribes of people on each train, and I want them to organize themselves into little pockets.”