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notes where users of PLATO systems could report system bugs online, where at the
time users could only report bugs one users at a time by using a text file where there
are no security what so ever to protect the integrity of the file which is impossible to
know who for sure wrote the note. Worse is when some would delete the whole file.
Paul Tenczar the head of the system software staff had several ideas to fix these
problems. Firstly people would write down the report through a program that would
label the report to the date and a unique ID that users will have. The file in the
system would also have a secure mechanism so data is would not be interfered.
Prototype of this program let up to 63 responses per note where at first only one at a
time. PLATO Notes were released on August 7, 1973 (Woolley, 1994). This
spawned an online community where people start to use note as online message
board. Soon after, tools for online communication sprouts from “Personal Notes”; e-
mail. “Talkomatic”; chat-rooms. “Term-Talk”; instant messaging. “Monitor Mode”;
remote screen sharing and emoticons (Woolley, 1994).
When PLATO system fist design, games were never a priority but as time pass, the
evolution in the system and the online community with the support of PLATO’s
architecture and superb gaming capabilities like great graphical display, system’s key
fast response and standardize terminal (Woolley, 1994). Students start to use PLATO
system to create multiplayer games.
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