Every day on the Net, we are confronted with an ever-widening variety of online social environments - graphic MUDs, voice-enabled avatar chat, video conferencing, fast-action gaming networks - each of which is building community in a particular way. Though diverse, these environments share a common theme - the tone and style of interaction is heavily influenced by the "social engineering" of the environment. This includes the depth of participation and personality of the host, the rules and requirements of membership, the style and mood of the visual design, and the structure and mutability of the environment itself.

As designers and builders of online communities, we can learn powerful lessons by studying the social rituals that have succesfully shaped real-world communities, and applying these lessons to our own work. In this talk, I will examine a variety of "community-building organizations" in both the online and offline worlds, and describe how each of these organizations is using time-tested social rituals to build and maintain community.

I will also present a demo of "ambient.com", a graphic MUD-like environment that demonstrates how ancient customs can be translated into specific design tactics for building online communities.