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Because “hypertext is a mental process, as well as a digital tool,”[1] one of the larger cultural implications arising from this change in the meaning of text concerns the role of the reader. Text in print implies and, to a certain degree, constructs a passive reader, one who is often a "receptacle" of information. hypertext is shaping an appropriative reader who is interacting with the text, and is involved in knowledge construction.

Great works continue to draw new specialists into the field and serve to bring the history of a language, its people, and their culture to life. Literary works serve as examples of the power and beauty of language at its best. Helping to make such texts more accessible to learners, the Web can make use of hypertext and multimedia to provide context that is so often lacking for those without the general background knowledge that a good reader is assumed to possess.

MUDs (multi-user dungeons or dimensions)(note) have most of the following characteristics: several people can play at once; the game is partioned into virtual spaces ("rooms") such that people and objects in one room cannot directly interact with people and objects in another room; all interaction takes place in text, not pictures or sounds; communications are handled with TCP sockets; most of the code is written and maintained by university students and is available in the public domain; combinations of objects, rooms and exits allow simple puzzles, while some MUDs with their own programming languages allow for much more complicated puzzles and toys; even MUDs created for serious purposes retain some of the original Adventure or role-playing game atmosphere; and since identities aren't constrained by reality, the characters on muds include close facsimiles of the people who play them, furry animals, science fiction heros, and all ranges of cute, profane, obnoxious, witty, or just plain weird.(note)