1069 lines
61 KiB
Plaintext
1069 lines
61 KiB
Plaintext
|
Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Pavel Curtis
|
|||
|
|
Xerox PARC
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Abstract
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or, sometimes, Multi-User Dimension) is a
|
|||
|
|
network-accessible, multi-participant, user-extensible virtual reality whose
|
|||
|
|
user interface is entirely textual. Participants (usually called players) have
|
|||
|
|
the appearance of being situated in an artificially-constructed place that also
|
|||
|
|
contains those other players who are connected at the same time. Players can
|
|||
|
|
communicate easily with each other in real time. This virtual gathering place
|
|||
|
|
has many of the social attributes of other places, and many of the usual social
|
|||
|
|
mechanisms operate there. Certain attributes of this virtual place, however,
|
|||
|
|
tend to have significant effects on social phenomena, leading to new mechanisms
|
|||
|
|
and modes of behavior not usually seen `IRL' (in real life). In this paper, I
|
|||
|
|
relate my experiences and observations from having created and maintained a MUD
|
|||
|
|
for over a year.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1 A Brief Introduction to Mudding
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Machine did not transmit nuances
|
|||
|
|
of expression. It only gave a general
|
|||
|
|
idea of people-an idea that was good
|
|||
|
|
enough for all practical purposes.
|
|||
|
|
E.M. Forster [1]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A MUD is a software program that accepts `connections' from multiple users
|
|||
|
|
across some kind of network (e.g., telephone lines or the Internet) and
|
|||
|
|
provides to each user access to a shared database of `rooms', `exits', and
|
|||
|
|
other objects. Each user browses and manipulates this database from `inside'
|
|||
|
|
one of those rooms, seeing only those objects that are in the same room and
|
|||
|
|
moving from room to room mostly via the exits that connect them. A MUD,
|
|||
|
|
therefore, is a kind of virtual reality, an electronically-represented
|
|||
|
|
`place' that users can visit.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
MUDs are not, however, like the kinds of virtual realities that one usually
|
|||
|
|
hears about, with fancy graphics and special hardware to sense the position and
|
|||
|
|
orientation of the user's real-world body. A MUD user's interface to the
|
|||
|
|
database is entirely text-based; all commands are typed in by the users and all
|
|||
|
|
feedback is printed as unformatted text on their terminal. The typical MUD user
|
|||
|
|
interface is most reminiscent of old computer games like Adventure and Zork
|
|||
|
|
[5]; a typical interaction is shown in Figure 1.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
>look
|
|||
|
|
Corridor
|
|||
|
|
The corridor from the west continues to the east here,
|
|||
|
|
but the way is blocked by a purple-velvet rope
|
|||
|
|
stretched across the hall. There are doorways leading
|
|||
|
|
to the north and south.
|
|||
|
|
You see a sign hanging from the middle of the rope here.
|
|||
|
|
>read sign
|
|||
|
|
This point marks the end of the currently-occupied
|
|||
|
|
portion of the house. Guests proceed beyond this point
|
|||
|
|
at their own risk.
|
|||
|
|
-- The residents
|
|||
|
|
>go east
|
|||
|
|
You step disdainfully over the velvet rope and enter
|
|||
|
|
the dusty darkness of the unused portion of the house.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Figure 1: A typical MUD database interaction
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
Three major factors distinguish a MUD from an Adventure-style computer game,
|
|||
|
|
though:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o A MUD is not goal-oriented; it has no beginning or end, no `score', and
|
|||
|
|
no notion of `winning' or `success'. In short, even though users of
|
|||
|
|
MUDs are commonly called players, a MUD isn't really a game at all.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o A MUD is extensible from within; a user can add new objects to the
|
|||
|
|
database such as rooms, exits, `things', and notes. Certain MUDs,
|
|||
|
|
including the one I run, even support an embedded programming language
|
|||
|
|
in which a user can describe whole new kinds of behavior for the
|
|||
|
|
objects they create.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o A MUD generally has more than one user connected at a time. All of the
|
|||
|
|
connected users are browsing and manipulating the same database and can
|
|||
|
|
encounter the new objects created by others. The multiple users on a
|
|||
|
|
MUD can communicate with each other in real time.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This last factor has a profound effect on the ways in which users interact with
|
|||
|
|
the system; it transforms the activity from a solitary one into a social one.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Most inter-player communication on MUDs follows rules that fit within the
|
|||
|
|
framework of the virtual reality. If a player `says' something (using the say
|
|||
|
|
command), then every other player in the same room will `hear' them. For
|
|||
|
|
example, suppose that a player named Munchkin typed the command
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
say Can anyone hear me?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Then Munchkin would see the feedback
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You say, "Can anyone hear me?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
and every other player in the same room would see
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Munchkin says, "Can anyone hear me?"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Similarly, the emote command allows players to express various forms of `non-
|
|||
|
|
verbal' communication. If Munchkin types
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
emote smiles.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
then every player in the same room sees
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Munchkin smiles.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Most interplayer communication relies entirely on these two commands.*
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
* In fact, these two commands are so frequently used that single-character
|
|||
|
|
abbreviations are provided for them. The two example commands would usually
|
|||
|
|
be typed as follows:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Can anyone hear me?
|
|||
|
|
:smiles.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There are two circumstances in which the realistic limitations of say and emote
|
|||
|
|
have proved sufficiently annoying that new mechanisms were developed. It
|
|||
|
|
sometimes happens that one player wishes to speak to another player in the same
|
|||
|
|
room, but without anyone else in the room being aware of the communication.
|
|||
|
|
If Munchkin uses the whisper command
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
whisper "I wish he'd just go away..." to Frebble
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
then only Frebble will see
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Munchkin whispers, "I wish he'd just go away..."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The other players in the room see nothing of this at all.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Finally, if one player wishes to say something to another who is connected to
|
|||
|
|
the MUD but currently in a different and perhaps `remote' room, the page com-
|
|||
|
|
mand is appropriate. It is invoked with a syntax very like that of the whisper
|
|||
|
|
command and the recipient sees output like this:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You sense that Munchkin is looking for you in The Hall.
|
|||
|
|
He pages, "Come see this clock, it's tres cool!"
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Aside from conversation, MUD players can most directly express themselves in
|
|||
|
|
three ways: by their choice of player name, by their choice of gender, and by
|
|||
|
|
their self-description.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
When a player first connects to a MUD, they choose a name by which the other
|
|||
|
|
players will know them. This choice, like almost all others in MUDs, is not
|
|||
|
|
cast in stone; any player can rename themself at any time, though not to a name
|
|||
|
|
currently in use by some other player. Typically, MUD names are single words,
|
|||
|
|
in contrast to the longer `full' names used in real life.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Initially, MUD players appear to be neuter; automatically-generated messages
|
|||
|
|
that refer to such a player use the family of pronouns including `it', `its',
|
|||
|
|
etc. Players can choose to appear as a different gender, though, and not only
|
|||
|
|
male or female. On many MUDs, players can also choose to be plural (appearing
|
|||
|
|
to be a kind of `colony' creature: "ChupChups leave the room, closing the door
|
|||
|
|
behind them"), or to use one of several sets of gender-neutral pronouns (e.g.,
|
|||
|
|
`s/he', `him/her' and `his/her', or `e', `em' and `eir').
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Every object in a MUD optionally has a textual description which players can
|
|||
|
|
view with the look command. For example, the description of a room is automat-
|
|||
|
|
ically shown to a player when they enter that room and can be seen again just
|
|||
|
|
by typing `look'. To see another player's description, one might type `look
|
|||
|
|
Bert'. Players can set or change their descriptions at any time. The lengths
|
|||
|
|
of player descriptions typically vary from short one-liners to dozen-line
|
|||
|
|
paragraphs.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Aside from direct communication and responses to player commands, messages
|
|||
|
|
are printed to players when other players enter or leave the same room, when
|
|||
|
|
others connect or disconnect and are already in the same room, and when objects
|
|||
|
|
in the virtual reality have asynchronous behavior (e.g., a cuckoo clock chiming
|
|||
|
|
the hours).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
MUD players typically spend their connected time socializing with each other,
|
|||
|
|
exploring the various rooms and other objects in the database, and adding new
|
|||
|
|
such objects of their own design. They vary widely in the amount of time they
|
|||
|
|
spend connected on each visit, ranging from only a minute to several hours;
|
|||
|
|
some players stay connected (and almost always idle) for days at a time, only
|
|||
|
|
occasionally actively participating.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This very brief description of the technical aspects of mudding suffices for
|
|||
|
|
the purposes of this paper. It has been my experience, however, that it is
|
|||
|
|
quite difficult to properly convey the `sense' of the experience in words.
|
|||
|
|
Readers desiring more detailed information are advised to try mudding
|
|||
|
|
themselves, as described in the final section of this paper.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2 Social Phenomena Observed on One MUD
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Man is the measure.
|
|||
|
|
Ibid.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In October of 1990, I began running an Internet-accessible MUD server on my
|
|||
|
|
personal workstation here at PARC. Since then, it has been running
|
|||
|
|
continuously, with interruptions of only a few hours at most. In January of
|
|||
|
|
1991, the existence of the MUD (called LambdaMOO*) was announced publicly, via
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
* The `MOO' in `LambdaMOO' stands for `MUD, Object-Oriented'. The origin of
|
|||
|
|
the `Lambda' part is more obscure, based on my years of experience with the
|
|||
|
|
Lisp programming language.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.mud. As of this writing, well over 3,500
|
|||
|
|
different players have connected to the server from over a dozen countries
|
|||
|
|
around the world and, at any given time, over 750 players have connected at
|
|||
|
|
least once in the last week. Recent statistics concerning the number of players
|
|||
|
|
connected at a given time of day (Pacific Standard Time) appear in Figure 2.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
4 a.m. ************** 10-1/2
|
|||
|
|
5 a.m. ***************** 12-1/4
|
|||
|
|
6 a.m. ******************* 14
|
|||
|
|
7 a.m. ************************** 18-3/4
|
|||
|
|
8 a.m. ****************************** 21-1/4
|
|||
|
|
9 a.m. *********************************** 25-1/4
|
|||
|
|
10 a.m. *************************************** 28
|
|||
|
|
11 a.m. ********************************************* 32-1/4
|
|||
|
|
noon **************************************************** 37
|
|||
|
|
1 p.m. ********************************************************** 41-1/4
|
|||
|
|
2 p.m. ******************************************************** 39-3/4
|
|||
|
|
3 p.m. ************************************************* 35
|
|||
|
|
4 p.m. ******************************************************** 39-1/2
|
|||
|
|
5 p.m. ********************************************************** 40-3/4
|
|||
|
|
6 p.m. ******************************************************** 39-3/4
|
|||
|
|
7 p.m. ********************************************************* 40-1/2
|
|||
|
|
8 p.m. ************************************************************ 42-1/2
|
|||
|
|
9 p.m. *************************************************************** 44-1/4
|
|||
|
|
10 p.m. ***************************************************** 37-3/4
|
|||
|
|
11 p.m. ******************************************** 31
|
|||
|
|
midnight ************************************** 26-3/4
|
|||
|
|
1 a.m. ***************************** 20-3/4
|
|||
|
|
2 a.m. ******************* 13-3/4
|
|||
|
|
3 a.m. *************** 10-3/4
|
|||
|
|
4 a.m. ************** 10-1/2
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Figure 2: Average number of connected players on LambdaMOO, by time of day
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
LambdaMOO is clearly a reasonably active place, with new and old players coming
|
|||
|
|
and going frequently throughout the day. This popularity has provided me with a
|
|||
|
|
position from which to observe the social patterns of a fairly large and
|
|||
|
|
diverse MUD clientele. I want to point out to the reader, however, that I have
|
|||
|
|
no formal training in sociology, anthropology, or psychology, so I cannot make
|
|||
|
|
any claims about methodology or even my own objectivity. What I relate below is
|
|||
|
|
merely my personal observations made over a year of mudding. In most cases, my
|
|||
|
|
discussions of the motivations and feelings of individual players is based upon
|
|||
|
|
in-MUD conversations with them; I have no means of checking the veracity of
|
|||
|
|
their statements concerning their real-life genders, identities, or (obviously)
|
|||
|
|
feelings. On the other hand, in most cases, I also have no reason to doubt
|
|||
|
|
them.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I have grouped my observations into three categories: phenomena related to the
|
|||
|
|
behavior and motivations of individual players, phenomena related to inter-
|
|||
|
|
actions between small groups of players (especially observations concerning MUD
|
|||
|
|
conversation), and phenomena related to the behavior of a MUD's community as
|
|||
|
|
a whole.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Cutting across all of these categories is a recurring theme to which I would
|
|||
|
|
like to draw the reader's attention in advance. Social behavior on MUDs is in
|
|||
|
|
some ways a direct mirror of behavior in real life, with mechanisms being drawn
|
|||
|
|
nearly unchanged from real-life, and in some ways very new and different,
|
|||
|
|
taking root in the new opportunities that MUDs provide over real life.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2.1 Observations about individuals
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
** The mudding population. The people who have an opportunity to connect to
|
|||
|
|
LambdaMOO are not a representative sample of the world population; they all
|
|||
|
|
read and write English with at least passable proficiency and they have access
|
|||
|
|
to the Internet. Based on the names of their network hosts, I believe that well
|
|||
|
|
over 90% of them are affiliated with colleges and universities, mostly as
|
|||
|
|
students and, to a lesser extent, mostly undergraduates. Because they have
|
|||
|
|
Internet access, it might be supposed that the vast majority of players are
|
|||
|
|
involved in the computing field, but I do not believe that this is the case.
|
|||
|
|
It appears to me that no more than half (and probably less) of them are so
|
|||
|
|
employed; the increasing general availability of computing resources on college
|
|||
|
|
campuses and in industry appears to be having an effect, allowing a broader
|
|||
|
|
community to participate.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In any case, it appears that the educational background of the mudding com-
|
|||
|
|
munity is generally above average and it is likely that the economic background
|
|||
|
|
is similarly above the norm. Based on my conversations with people and on the
|
|||
|
|
names of those who have asked to join a mailing list about programming in
|
|||
|
|
LambdaMOO, I would guess that over 70% of the players are male; it is very
|
|||
|
|
difficult to give any firm justification for this number, however.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
** Player presentation. As described in the introduction to mudding, players
|
|||
|
|
have a number of choices about how to present themselves in the MUD; the first
|
|||
|
|
such decision is the name they will use. Figure 3 shows some of the names used
|
|||
|
|
by players on LambdaMOO.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
Toon Gemba Gary_Severn Ford Frand
|
|||
|
|
li'ir Maya Rincewind yduJ funky
|
|||
|
|
Grump Foodslave Arthur EbbTide Anathae
|
|||
|
|
yrx Satan byte Booga tek
|
|||
|
|
chupchups waffle Miranda Gus Merlin
|
|||
|
|
Moonlight MrNatural Winger Drazz'zt Kendal
|
|||
|
|
RedJack Snooze Shin lostboy foobar
|
|||
|
|
Ted_Logan Xephyr King_Claudius Bruce Puff
|
|||
|
|
Dirque Coyote Vastin Player Cool
|
|||
|
|
Amy Thorgeir Cyberhuman Gandalf blip
|
|||
|
|
Jayhirazan Firefoot JoeFeedback ZZZzzz... Lyssa
|
|||
|
|
Avatar zipo Blackwinter viz Kilik
|
|||
|
|
Maelstorm Love Terryann Chrystal arkanoiv
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Figure 3: A selection of player names from LambdaMOO
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
One can pick out a few common styles for names (e.g., names from or inspired by
|
|||
|
|
myth, fantasy, or other literature, common names from real life, names of
|
|||
|
|
concepts, animals, and everyday objects that have representative
|
|||
|
|
connotations, etc.), but it is clear that no such category includes a majority
|
|||
|
|
of the names. Note that a significant minority of the names are in lower case;
|
|||
|
|
this appears to be a stylistic choice (players with such names describe the
|
|||
|
|
practice as `cool') and not, as might be supposed, an indication of a depressed
|
|||
|
|
ego.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Players can be quite possessive about their names, resenting others who choose
|
|||
|
|
names that are similarly spelt or pronounced or even that are taken from the
|
|||
|
|
same mythology or work of literature. In one case, for example, a player named
|
|||
|
|
`ZigZag' complained to me about other players taking the names `ZigZag!' and
|
|||
|
|
`Zig'.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The choice of a player's gender is, for some, one of great consequence and
|
|||
|
|
forethought; for others (mostly males), it is simple and without any questions.
|
|||
|
|
For all that this choice involves the fewest options for the player (unlike
|
|||
|
|
their name or description, which are limited only by their imagination), it is
|
|||
|
|
also the choice that can generate the greatest concern and interest on the part
|
|||
|
|
of other players.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As I've said before, it appears that the great majority of players are male and
|
|||
|
|
the vast majority of them choose to present themselves as such. Some males,
|
|||
|
|
however, taking advantages of the relative rarity of females in MUDs, present
|
|||
|
|
themselves as female and thus stand out to some degree. Some use this
|
|||
|
|
distinction just for the fun of deceiving others, some of these going so far as
|
|||
|
|
to try to entice male-presenting players into sexually-explicit discussions
|
|||
|
|
and interactions. This is such a widely-noticed phenomenon, in fact, that one
|
|||
|
|
is advised by the common wisdom to assume that any flirtatious
|
|||
|
|
female-presenting players are, in real life, males. Such players are often
|
|||
|
|
subject to ostracism based on this assumption.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Some MUD players have suggested to me that such transvestite flirts are per-
|
|||
|
|
haps acting out their own (latent or otherwise) homosexual urges or fantasies,
|
|||
|
|
taking advantage of the perfect safety of the MUD situation to see how it feels
|
|||
|
|
to approach other men. While I have had no personal experience talking to such
|
|||
|
|
players, let alone the opportunity to delve into their motivations, the idea
|
|||
|
|
strikes me as plausible given the other ways in which MUD anonymity seems to
|
|||
|
|
free people from their inhibitions. (I say more about anonymity later on.)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Other males present themselves as female more out of curiosity than as an
|
|||
|
|
attempt at deception; to some degree, they are interested in seeing `how the
|
|||
|
|
other half lives', what it feels like to be perceived as female in a community.
|
|||
|
|
From what I can tell, they can be quite successful at this.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Female-presenting players report a number of problems. Many of them have told
|
|||
|
|
me that they are frequently subject both to harassment and to special treat-
|
|||
|
|
ment. One reported seeing two newcomers arrive at the same time, one male-pre-
|
|||
|
|
senting and one female-presenting. The other players in the room struck up
|
|||
|
|
conversations with the putative female and offered to show her around but com-
|
|||
|
|
pletely ignored the putative male, who was left to his own devices.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In addition, probably due mostly to the number of female-presenting males one
|
|||
|
|
hears about, many female players report that they are frequently (and some-
|
|||
|
|
times quite aggressively) challenged to `prove' that they are, in fact, female.
|
|||
|
|
To the best of my knowledge, male-presenting players are rarely if ever so
|
|||
|
|
challenged.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Because of these problems, many players who are female in real life choose to
|
|||
|
|
present themselves otherwise, choosing either male, neuter, or gender-neutral
|
|||
|
|
pronouns. As one might expect, the neuter and gender-neutral presenters are
|
|||
|
|
still subject to demands that they divulge their real gender.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Some players apparently find it quite difficult to interact with those whose
|
|||
|
|
true gender has been called into question; since this phenomenon is rarely
|
|||
|
|
manifest in real life, they have grown dependent on `knowing where they
|
|||
|
|
stand', on knowing what gender roles are `appropriate'. Some players (and not
|
|||
|
|
only males) also feel that it is dishonest to present oneself as being a
|
|||
|
|
different gender than in real life; they report feeling `mad' and `used' when
|
|||
|
|
they discover the deception.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
While I can spare no more space for this topic, I enthusiastically encourage
|
|||
|
|
the interested reader to look up Van Gelder's fascinating article [3] for many
|
|||
|
|
more examples and insights, as well as the story of a remarkably successful
|
|||
|
|
deception via "electronic transvestism".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The final part of a player's self-presentation, and the only part involving
|
|||
|
|
prose, is the player's description. This is where players can, and often do,
|
|||
|
|
establish the details of a persona or role they wish to play in the virtual
|
|||
|
|
reality. It is also a significant factor in other players' first impressions,
|
|||
|
|
since new players are commonly looked at soon after entering a common room.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Some players use extremely short descriptions, either intending to be cryptic
|
|||
|
|
(e.g., `the possessor of the infinity gems') or straightforward (e.g., `an
|
|||
|
|
average-sized dark elf with lavender eyes') or, often, just insufficiently
|
|||
|
|
motivated to create a more complex description for themselves. Other players go
|
|||
|
|
to great efforts in writing their descriptions; one moderately long example
|
|||
|
|
appears in Figure 4.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
You see a quiet, unassuming figure, wreathed in an oversized,
|
|||
|
|
dull-green Army jacket which is pulled up to nearly conceal his
|
|||
|
|
face. His long, unkempt blond hair blows back from his face as he
|
|||
|
|
tosses his head to meet your gaze. Small round gold-rimmed glasses,
|
|||
|
|
tinted slightly grey, rest on his nose. On a shoulder strap he
|
|||
|
|
carries an acoustic guitar and he lugs a backpack stuffed to
|
|||
|
|
overflowing with sheet music, sketches, and computer printouts.
|
|||
|
|
Under the coat are faded jeans and a T-Shirt reading `Paranoid
|
|||
|
|
CyberPunks International'. He meets your gaze and smiles faintly,
|
|||
|
|
but does not speak with you. As you surmise him, you notice a glint
|
|||
|
|
of red at the rims of his blue eyes, and realize that his canine
|
|||
|
|
teeth seem to protrude slightly. He recoils from your look of
|
|||
|
|
horror and recedes back into himself.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Figure 4: A moderately long player description
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A large proportion of player descriptions contain a degree of wish fulfillment;
|
|||
|
|
I cannot count the number of `mysterious but unmistakably powerful' figures I
|
|||
|
|
have seen wandering around in LambdaMOO. Many players, it seems, are taking
|
|||
|
|
advantage of the MUD to emulate various attractive characters from fiction.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Given the detail and content of so many player descriptions, one might expect
|
|||
|
|
to find a significant amount of role-playing, players who adopt a coherent
|
|||
|
|
character with features distinct from their real-life personalities. Such is
|
|||
|
|
rarely the case, however. Most players appear to tire of such an effort quickly
|
|||
|
|
and simply interact with the others more-or-less straightforwardly, at least to
|
|||
|
|
the degree one does in normal discourse. One factor might be that the roles
|
|||
|
|
chosen by players are usually taken from a particular creative work and are not
|
|||
|
|
particularly viable as characters outside of the context of that work; in
|
|||
|
|
short, the roles don't make sense in the context of the MUD.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A notable exception to this rule is one particular MUD I've heard of, called
|
|||
|
|
`PernMUSH'. This appears to be a rigidly-maintained simulacrum of the world
|
|||
|
|
described in Ann McCaffrey's celebrated `Dragon' books. All players there have
|
|||
|
|
names that fit the style of the books and all places built there are consistent
|
|||
|
|
with what is shown in the series and in various fan materials devoted to it.
|
|||
|
|
PernMUSH apparently holds frequent `hatchings' and other social events, also
|
|||
|
|
derived in great detail from McCaffrey's works. This exception probably
|
|||
|
|
succeeds only because of its single-mindedness; with every player providing the
|
|||
|
|
correct context for every other, it is easier for everyone to stay more-or-less
|
|||
|
|
`in character'.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
** Player anonymity. It seems to me that the most significant social factor in
|
|||
|
|
MUDs is the perfect anonymity provided to the players. There are no commands
|
|||
|
|
available to the players to discover the real-life identity of each other
|
|||
|
|
and, indeed, technical considerations make such commands either very
|
|||
|
|
difficult or impossible to implement.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is this guarantee of privacy that makes players' self-presentation so impor-
|
|||
|
|
tant and, in a sense, successful. Players can only be known by what they
|
|||
|
|
explicitly project and are not `locked into' any factors beyond their easy
|
|||
|
|
control, such as personal appearance, race, etc. In the words of an old
|
|||
|
|
military recruiting commercial, MUD players can `be all that you can be'.*
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
* Kiesler and her colleagues [2] have investigated the effects of electronic
|
|||
|
|
anonymity on the decision-making and problem-solving processes in
|
|||
|
|
organizations; some of their observations parallel mine given here.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This also contributes to what might be called a `shipboard syndrome', the feel-
|
|||
|
|
ing that since one will likely never meet anyone from the MUD in real life,
|
|||
|
|
there is less social risk involved and inhibitions can safely be lowered.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
For example, many players report that they are much more willing to strike up
|
|||
|
|
conversations with strangers they encounter in the MUD than in real life. One
|
|||
|
|
obvious factor is that MUD visitors are implicitly assumed to be interested in
|
|||
|
|
conversing, unlike in most real world contexts. Another deeper reason,
|
|||
|
|
though, is that players do not feel that very much is at risk. At worst, if
|
|||
|
|
they feel that they've made an utter fool of themself, they can always abandon
|
|||
|
|
the character and create a new one, losing only the name and the effort
|
|||
|
|
invested in socially establishing the old one. In effect, a `new lease on life'
|
|||
|
|
is always a ready option.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Players on most MUDs are also emboldened somewhat by the fact that they are
|
|||
|
|
immune from violence, both physical and virtual. The permissions systems of all
|
|||
|
|
MUDs (excepting those whose whole purpose revolves around adventuring and the
|
|||
|
|
slaying of monsters and other players) generally prevent any player from having
|
|||
|
|
any kind of permanent effect on any other player. Players can certainly annoy
|
|||
|
|
each other, but not in any lasting or even moderately long-lived manner.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This protective anonymity also encourages some players to behave irresponsi-
|
|||
|
|
bly, rudely, or even obnoxiously. We have had instances of severe and repeated
|
|||
|
|
sexual harassment, crudity, and deliberate offensiveness. In general, such
|
|||
|
|
cruelty seems to be supported by two causes: the offenders believe (usually
|
|||
|
|
correctly) that they cannot be held accountable for their actions in the real
|
|||
|
|
world, and the very same anonymity makes it easier for them to treat other
|
|||
|
|
players impersonally, as other than real people.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
** Wizards. Usually, as I understand it, societies cope with offensive behavior
|
|||
|
|
by various group mechanisms, such as ostracism, and I discuss this kind of
|
|||
|
|
effect in detail in Section 2.3. In certain severe cases, however, it is left
|
|||
|
|
to the `authorities' or `police' of a society to take direct action, and MUDs
|
|||
|
|
are no different in this respect.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
On MUDs, it is a special class of players, usually called wizards or (less fre-
|
|||
|
|
quently) gods, who fulfill both the `authority' and `police' roles. A wizard is
|
|||
|
|
a player who has special permissions and commands available, usually for the
|
|||
|
|
purpose of maintaining the MUD, much like a `system administrator' or
|
|||
|
|
`superuser' in real-life computing systems. Players can only be transformed
|
|||
|
|
into wizards by other wizards, with the maintainer of the actual MUD server
|
|||
|
|
computer program acting as the first such.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
On most MUDs, the wizards' first approach to solving serious behavior prob-
|
|||
|
|
lems is, as in the best real-life situations, to attempt a calm dialog with the
|
|||
|
|
offender. When this fails, as it usually does in the worst cases of
|
|||
|
|
irresponsibility, the customary response is to punish the offender with
|
|||
|
|
`toading'. This involves (a) either severely restricting the kinds of actions
|
|||
|
|
the player can take or else preventing them from connecting at all, (b)
|
|||
|
|
changing the name and description of the player to present an unpleasant
|
|||
|
|
appearance (often literally that of a warty toad), and (c) moving the player to
|
|||
|
|
some very public place within the virtual reality. This public humiliation is
|
|||
|
|
often sufficient to discourage repeat visits by the player, even in a different
|
|||
|
|
guise.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
On LambdaMOO, the wizards as a group decided on a more low-key approach to the
|
|||
|
|
problem; we have, in the handful of cases where such a severe course was
|
|||
|
|
dictated, simply `recycled' the offending player, removing them from the
|
|||
|
|
database of the MUD entirely. This is a more permanent solution than toading,
|
|||
|
|
but also lacks the public spectacle of toading, a practice none of us were
|
|||
|
|
comfortable with.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Wizards, in general, have a very different experience of mudding than other
|
|||
|
|
players. Because of their palpable and extensive extra powers over other
|
|||
|
|
players, and because of their special role in MUD society, they are frequently
|
|||
|
|
treated differently by other players.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Most players on LambdaMOO, for example, upon first encountering my wizard
|
|||
|
|
player, treat me with almost exaggerated deference and respect. I am fre-
|
|||
|
|
quently called `sir' and players often apologize for `wasting' my time. A
|
|||
|
|
significant minority, however, appear to go to great lengths to prove that they
|
|||
|
|
are not impressed by my office or power, speaking to me quite bluntly and
|
|||
|
|
making demands that I assist them with their problems using the system,
|
|||
|
|
sometimes to the point of rudeness.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Because of other demands on my time, I am almost always connected to the MUD
|
|||
|
|
but idle, located in a special room I built (my `den') that players require my
|
|||
|
|
permission to enter. This room is useful, for example, as a place in which to
|
|||
|
|
hold sensitive conversations without fear of interruption. This constant
|
|||
|
|
presence and unapproachability, however, has had significant and unanticipated
|
|||
|
|
side-effects. I am told by players who get more circulation than I do that I am
|
|||
|
|
widely perceived as a kind of mythic figure, a mysterious wizard in his magical
|
|||
|
|
tower. Rumor and hearsay have spread word of my supposed opinions on matters of
|
|||
|
|
MUD policy. One effect is that players are often afraid to contact me for fear
|
|||
|
|
of capricious retaliation at their presumption.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
While I find this situation disturbing and wish that I had more time to spend
|
|||
|
|
out walking among the `mortal' members of the LambdaMOO community, I am told
|
|||
|
|
that player fears of wizardly caprice are justified on certain other MUDs. It
|
|||
|
|
is certainly easy to believe the stories I hear of MUD wizards who demand
|
|||
|
|
deference and severely punish those who transgress; there is a certain ego
|
|||
|
|
boost to those who wield even simple administrative power in virtual worlds and
|
|||
|
|
it would be remarkable indeed if no one had ever started a MUD for that reason
|
|||
|
|
alone.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In fact, one player sent me a copy of an article, written by a former MUD wiz-
|
|||
|
|
ard, based on Machiavelli's `The Prince'; it details a wide variety of
|
|||
|
|
more-or-less creative ways for wizards to make ordinary MUD players miserable.
|
|||
|
|
If this wizard actually used these techniques, as he claims, then some
|
|||
|
|
players' desires to avoid wizards are quite understandable.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2.2 Observations about small groups
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
** MUD conversation. The majority of players spend the majority of their active
|
|||
|
|
time on MUDs in conversation with other players. The mechanisms by which those
|
|||
|
|
conversations get started generally mirror those that operate in real life,
|
|||
|
|
though sometimes in interesting ways.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Chance encounters between players exploring the same parts of the database are
|
|||
|
|
common and almost always cause for conversation. As mentioned above, the
|
|||
|
|
anonymity of MUDs tends to lower social barriers and to encourage players to be
|
|||
|
|
more outgoing than in real life. Strangers on MUDs greet each other with the
|
|||
|
|
same kinds of questions as in real life: "Are you new here? I don't think we've
|
|||
|
|
met." The very first greetings, however, are usually gestural rather than
|
|||
|
|
verbal: "Munchkin waves. Lorelei waves back."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The @who (or WHO) command on MUDs allows players to see who else is currently
|
|||
|
|
connected and, on some MUDs, where those people are. An example of the output
|
|||
|
|
of this command appears in Figure 5.
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
Player name Connected Idle time Location
|
|||
|
|
----------- --------- --------- --------
|
|||
|
|
Haakon (#2) 3 days a second Lambda's Den
|
|||
|
|
Lynx (#8910) a minute 2 seconds Lynx' Abode
|
|||
|
|
Garin (#23393) an hour 2 seconds Carnival Grounds
|
|||
|
|
Gilmore (#19194) an hour 10 seconds Heart of Darkness
|
|||
|
|
TamLin (#21864) an hour 21 seconds Heart of Darkness
|
|||
|
|
Quimby (#23279) 3 minutes 2 minutes Quimby's room
|
|||
|
|
koosh (#24639) 50 minutes 5 minutes Corridor
|
|||
|
|
Nosredna (#2487) 7 hours 36 minutes Nosredna's Hideaway
|
|||
|
|
yduJ (#68) 7 hours 47 minutes Hackers' Heaven
|
|||
|
|
Zachary (#4670) an hour an hour Zachary's Workshop
|
|||
|
|
Woodlock (#2520) 2 hours 2 hours Woodlock's Room
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Total: 11 players, 6 of whom have been active recently.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Figure 5: Sample output from LambdaMOO's @who command
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
This is, in a sense, the MUD analog of scanning the room in a real-life
|
|||
|
|
gathering to see who's present.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Players consult the @who list to see if their friends are connected and to see
|
|||
|
|
which areas, if any, seem to have a concentration of players in them. If more
|
|||
|
|
than a couple of players are in the same room, the presumption is that an
|
|||
|
|
interesting conversation may be in progress there; players are thus more
|
|||
|
|
attracted to more populated areas. I call this phenomenon `social gravity'; it
|
|||
|
|
has a real-world analog in the tendency of people to be attracted to
|
|||
|
|
conspicuous crowds, such as two or more people at the door of a colleague's
|
|||
|
|
office.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is sometimes the case on a MUD, as in real life, that one wishes to avoid
|
|||
|
|
getting into a conversation, either because of the particular other player
|
|||
|
|
involved or because of some other activity one does not wish to interrupt. In
|
|||
|
|
the real world, one can refrain from answering the phone, screen calls using an
|
|||
|
|
answering machine, or even, in copresent situations, pretend not to have heard
|
|||
|
|
the other party. In the latter case, with luck, the person will give up rather
|
|||
|
|
than repeat themself more loudly.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The mechanisms are both similar and interestingly different on MUDs. It is
|
|||
|
|
often the case that MUD players are connected but idle, perhaps because they
|
|||
|
|
have stepped away from their terminal for a while. Thus, it often happens that
|
|||
|
|
one receives no response to an utterance in a MUD simply because the other
|
|||
|
|
party wasn't really present to see it. This commonly-understood fact of MUD
|
|||
|
|
life provides for the MUD equivalent of pretending not to hear. I know of
|
|||
|
|
players who take care after such a pretense not to type anything more to the
|
|||
|
|
MUD until the would-be conversant has left, thus preserving the apparent
|
|||
|
|
validity of their excuse.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another mechanism for avoiding conversation is available to MUD players but, as
|
|||
|
|
far as I can see, not to people in real life situations. Most MUDs provide a
|
|||
|
|
mechanism by which each player can designate a set of other players as
|
|||
|
|
`gagged'; the effect is that nothing will be printed to the gagging player if
|
|||
|
|
someone they've gagged speaks, moves, emotes, etc. There is generally no
|
|||
|
|
mechanism by which the gagged player can tell a priori that someone is gagging
|
|||
|
|
them; indeed, unless the gagged player attempts to address the gagging player
|
|||
|
|
directly, the responses from the other players in the room (who may not be
|
|||
|
|
gagging the speaker) may cause the speaker never even to suspect that some are
|
|||
|
|
not hearing them.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We provide a gagging facility on LambdaMOO, but it is fairly rarely used; a
|
|||
|
|
recent check revealed only 45 players out of almost 3,000 who are gagging other
|
|||
|
|
players. The general feeling appears to be that gagging is quite rude and is
|
|||
|
|
only appropriate (if ever) when someone persists in annoying you in spite of
|
|||
|
|
polite requests to the contrary. It is not clear, though, quite how universal
|
|||
|
|
this feeling is. For example, I know of some players who, on being told that
|
|||
|
|
some other players were offended by their speech, suggested that gagging was
|
|||
|
|
the solution: "If they don't want to hear me, let them gag me; I won't be
|
|||
|
|
offended." Also, I am given to understand that gagging is much more commonly
|
|||
|
|
employed on some other MUDs.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The course of a MUD conversation is remarkably like and unlike one in the real
|
|||
|
|
world. Participants in MUD conversations commonly use the emote command to
|
|||
|
|
make gestures, such as nodding to urge someone to continue, waving at player
|
|||
|
|
arrivals and departures, raising eyebrows, hugging to apologize or soothe, etc.
|
|||
|
|
As in electronic mail (though much more frequently), players employ standard
|
|||
|
|
`smiley-face' glyphs (e.g., `:-)', `:-(`, and `:-|') to clarify the `tone' with
|
|||
|
|
which they say things. Utterances are also frequently addressed to specific
|
|||
|
|
participants, as opposed to the room as a whole (e.g., "Munchkin nods to
|
|||
|
|
Frebble. `You tell `em!'").
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The most obvious difference between MUD conversations and those in real life is
|
|||
|
|
that the utterances must be typed rather than simply spoken. This introduces
|
|||
|
|
significant delays into the interaction and, like nature, MUD society abhors a
|
|||
|
|
vacuum.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Even when there are only two participants in a MUD conversation, it is very
|
|||
|
|
rare for there to be only one thread of discussion; during the pause while one
|
|||
|
|
player is typing a response, the other player commonly thinks of something else
|
|||
|
|
to say and does so, introducing at least another level to the conversation, if
|
|||
|
|
not a completely new topic. These multi-topic conversations are a bit
|
|||
|
|
disorienting and bewildering to the uninitiated, but it appears that most
|
|||
|
|
players quickly become accustomed to them and handle the multiple levels
|
|||
|
|
smoothly. Of course, when more than two players are involved, the opportunities
|
|||
|
|
for multiple levels are only increased. It has been pointed out that a suitable
|
|||
|
|
punishment for truly heinous social offenders might be to strand them in a room
|
|||
|
|
with more than a dozen players actively conversing.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This kind of cognitive time-sharing also arises due to the existence of the
|
|||
|
|
page command. Recall from the introduction that this command allows a player to
|
|||
|
|
send a message to another who is not in the same room. It is not uncommon
|
|||
|
|
(especially for wizards, whose advice is frequently sought by `distant'
|
|||
|
|
players) to be involved in one conversation `face-to-face' and one or two more
|
|||
|
|
conducted via page. Again, while this can be overwhelming at first, one can
|
|||
|
|
actually come to appreciate the relief from the tedious long pauses waiting for
|
|||
|
|
a fellow conversant to type.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another effect of the typing delay (and of the low bandwidth of the MUD medium)
|
|||
|
|
is a tendency for players to abbreviate their communications, sometimes past
|
|||
|
|
the point of ambiguity. For example, some players often greet others with
|
|||
|
|
`hugs' but the `meanings' of those hugs vary widely from recipient to recipi-
|
|||
|
|
ent. In one case the hug might be a simple friendly greeting, in another it
|
|||
|
|
might be intended to convey a very special affection. In both cases, the text
|
|||
|
|
typed by the hugger is the same (e.g., "Munchkin hugs Frebble."); it is
|
|||
|
|
considered too much trouble for the hugger to type a description of the act
|
|||
|
|
sufficient to distinguish the `kind' of hug intended. This leads to some MUD
|
|||
|
|
interactions having much more ambiguity than usually encountered in real life,
|
|||
|
|
a fact that some mudders consider useful.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The somewhat disjointed nature of MUD conversations, brought on by the typing
|
|||
|
|
pauses, tends to rob them of much of the coherence that makes real-life
|
|||
|
|
conversants resent interruptions. The addition of a new conversant to a MUD
|
|||
|
|
conversation is much less disruptive; the `flow' being disrupted was never very
|
|||
|
|
strong to begin with. Some players go so far as to say the interruptions are
|
|||
|
|
simply impossible on MUDs; I think that this is a minority impression, however.
|
|||
|
|
Interruptions do exist MUDs; they are simply less significant than in real
|
|||
|
|
life.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
** Other small-group interactions. I would not like to give the impression that
|
|||
|
|
conversation is the only social activity on MUDs. Indeed, MUD society appears
|
|||
|
|
to have most of the same social activities as real life, albeit often in a
|
|||
|
|
modified form.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As mentioned before, PernMUSH holds large-scale, organized social gatherings
|
|||
|
|
such as `hatchings' and they are not alone. Most MUDs have at one time or
|
|||
|
|
another organized more or less elaborate parties, often to celebrate notable
|
|||
|
|
events in the MUD itself, such as an anniversary of its founding. We have so
|
|||
|
|
far had only one or two such parties on LambdaMOO, to celebrate the `opening'
|
|||
|
|
of some new area built by a player; if there were any other major parties, I
|
|||
|
|
certainly wasn't invited!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One of the more impressive examples of MUD social activity is the virtual
|
|||
|
|
wedding. There have been many of these on many different MUDs; we are in the
|
|||
|
|
process of planning our first on LambdaMOO, with me officiating in my role as
|
|||
|
|
archwizard.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I have never been present at such a ceremony, but I have read logs of the con-
|
|||
|
|
versations at them. As I do not know any of the participants in the ceremonies
|
|||
|
|
I've read about, I cannot say much for certain about their emotional content.
|
|||
|
|
As in real life, they are usually very happy and celebratory occasions with an
|
|||
|
|
intriguing undercurrent of serious feelings. I do not know and cannot even
|
|||
|
|
speculate about whether or not the main participants in such ceremonies are
|
|||
|
|
usually serious or not, whether or not the MUD ceremony usually (or even ever)
|
|||
|
|
mirrors another ceremony in the real world, or even whether or not the bride
|
|||
|
|
and groom have ever met outside of virtual reality.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In the specific case of the upcoming LambdaMOO wedding, the participants first
|
|||
|
|
met on LambdaMOO, became quite friendly, and eventually decided to meet in real
|
|||
|
|
life. They have subsequently become romantically involved in the real world and
|
|||
|
|
are using the MUD wedding as a celebration of that fact. This phenomenon of
|
|||
|
|
couples meeting in virtual reality and then pursuing a real-life relation-
|
|||
|
|
ship, is not uncommon; in one notable case, they did this even though one of
|
|||
|
|
them lived in Australia and the other in Pittsburgh!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is interesting to note that the virtual reality wedding is not specific to
|
|||
|
|
the kinds of MUDs I've been discussing; Van Gelder [7] mentions an on-line
|
|||
|
|
reception on CompuServe and weddings are quite common on Habitat [4], a
|
|||
|
|
half-graphical, half-textual virtual reality popular in Japan.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The very idea, however, brings up interesting and potentially important ques-
|
|||
|
|
tions about the legal standing of commitments made only in virtual reality.
|
|||
|
|
Suppose, for example, that two people make a contract in virtual reality. Is
|
|||
|
|
the contract binding? Under which state's (or country's) laws? Is it a written
|
|||
|
|
or verbal contract? What constitutes proof of signature in such a context? I
|
|||
|
|
suspect that our real-world society will have to face and resolve these issues
|
|||
|
|
in the not-too-distant future.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Those who frequent MUDs tend also to be interested in games and puzzles, so it
|
|||
|
|
is no surprise that many real-world examples have been implemented inside MUDs.
|
|||
|
|
What may be surprising, however, is the extent to which this is so.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
On LambdaMOO alone, we have machine-mediated Scrabble, Monopoly, Mastermind,
|
|||
|
|
Backgammon, Ghost, Chess, Go, and Reversi boards. These attract small groups of
|
|||
|
|
players on occasion, with the Go players being the most committed; in fact,
|
|||
|
|
there are a number of Go players who come to LambdaMOO only for that purpose. I
|
|||
|
|
say more about these more specialized uses of social virtual realities later
|
|||
|
|
on. In many ways, though, such games so far have little, if anything, to offer
|
|||
|
|
over their real-world counterparts except perhaps a better chance of finding an
|
|||
|
|
opponent.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Perhaps more interesting are the other kinds of games imported into MUDs from
|
|||
|
|
real life, the ones that might be far less feasible in a non-virtual reality. A
|
|||
|
|
player on LambdaMOO, for example, implemented a facility for holding food
|
|||
|
|
fights. Players throw food items at each other, attempt to duck oncoming items,
|
|||
|
|
and, if unsuccessful, are `splattered' with messes that cannot easily be
|
|||
|
|
removed. After a short interval, a semi-animate `Mr. Clean' arrives and
|
|||
|
|
one-by-one removes the messes from the participants, turning them back into the
|
|||
|
|
food items from which they came, ready for the next fight. Although the game
|
|||
|
|
was rather simple to implement, it has remained enormously popular nearly a
|
|||
|
|
year later.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Another player on LambdaMOO created a trainable Frisbee, which any player could
|
|||
|
|
teach to do tricks when they threw or caught it. Players who used the Frisbee
|
|||
|
|
seemed to take great pleasure in trying to out-do each other's trick descrip-
|
|||
|
|
tions. My catching description, for example, reads "Haakon stops the frisbee
|
|||
|
|
dead in the air in front of himself and then daintily plucks it, like a
|
|||
|
|
flower." I have also heard of MUD versions of paint-ball combat and fantastical
|
|||
|
|
games of Capture the Flag.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2.3 Observations about the MUD community as a whole
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
MUD communities tend to be very large in comparison to the number of players
|
|||
|
|
actually active at any given time. On LambdaMOO, for example, we have between
|
|||
|
|
700 and 800 players connecting in any week but rarely more than 40
|
|||
|
|
simultaneously. A good real-world analog might be a bar with a large number of
|
|||
|
|
`regulars', all of whom are transients without fixed schedules.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The continuity of MUD society is thus somewhat tenuous; many pairs of active
|
|||
|
|
players exist who have never met each other. In spite of this, MUDs do become
|
|||
|
|
true communities after a time. The participants slowly come to consensus about
|
|||
|
|
a common (private) language, about appropriate standards of behavior, and about
|
|||
|
|
the social roles of various public areas (e.g., where big discussions usually
|
|||
|
|
happen, where certain `crowds' can be found, etc.).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Some people appear to thrive on the constant turnover of MUD players throughout
|
|||
|
|
a day, enjoying the novelty of always having someone new to talk to. In some
|
|||
|
|
cases, this enjoyment goes so far as to become a serious kind of addiction,
|
|||
|
|
with some players spending as much as 35 hours out of 48 constantly connected
|
|||
|
|
and conversing on MUDs. I know of many players who have taken more-or-less
|
|||
|
|
drastic steps to curtail their participation on MUDs, feeling that their habits
|
|||
|
|
had gotten significantly out of control.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One college-student player related to me his own particularly dramatic case of
|
|||
|
|
MUD addiction. It seems that he was supposed to go home for the Christmas hol-
|
|||
|
|
idays but missed the train by no less than five hours because he had been
|
|||
|
|
unable to tear himself away from his MUD conversations. After calling his
|
|||
|
|
parents to relieve their worrying by lying about the cause of his delay, he
|
|||
|
|
eventually boarded a train for home. However, on arrival there at 12:30 a.m.
|
|||
|
|
the next morning, he did not go directly to his parents' house but instead
|
|||
|
|
went to an open terminal room in the local university, where he spent another
|
|||
|
|
two and a half hours connected before finally going home. His parents,
|
|||
|
|
meanwhile, had called the police in fear for their son's safety in traveling.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It should not be supposed that this kind of problem is now commonly-under-
|
|||
|
|
stand phenomenon of `computer addiction'; the fact that there is a computer
|
|||
|
|
involved here is more-or-less irrelevant. These people are not addicted to
|
|||
|
|
computers, but to communication; the global scope of Internet MUDs implies
|
|||
|
|
not only a great variety in potential conversants, but also 24-hour access. As
|
|||
|
|
Figure 2 shows, the sun never really sets on LambdaMOO's community.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
While it is at the more macroscopic scale of whole MUD communities that I feel
|
|||
|
|
least qualified to make reliable observations, I do have one striking example
|
|||
|
|
of societal consensus having concrete results on LambdaMOO.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
From time to time, we wizards are asked to arbitrate in disputes among play-
|
|||
|
|
ers concerning what is or is not appropriate behavior. My approach generally
|
|||
|
|
has been to ask a number of other players for their opinions and to present the
|
|||
|
|
defendant in the complaint with a precis of the plaintiff's grievance, always
|
|||
|
|
looking for the common threads in their responses. After many such episodes, I
|
|||
|
|
was approached by a number of players asking that a written statement on
|
|||
|
|
LambdaMOO `manners' be prepared and made available to the community. I wrote up
|
|||
|
|
a list of those rules that seemed implied by the set of arbitrations we had
|
|||
|
|
performed and published them for public comment. Very little comment has ever
|
|||
|
|
been received, but the groups of players I've asked generally agree that the
|
|||
|
|
rules reflect their own understandings of the common will. For the curious, I
|
|||
|
|
have included our list of rules in Figure 6; the actual `help manners' document
|
|||
|
|
goes into a bit more detail about each of these points.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It should be noted that different MUDs are truly different communities and have
|
|||
|
|
different societal agreements concerning appropriate behavior. There even exist
|
|||
|
|
a few MUDs where the only rule in the social contract is that there is no
|
|||
|
|
social contract. Such `anarchy' MUDs have appeared a few times in my experience
|
|||
|
|
and seem to be quite popular for a time before eventually fading away.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
o Be polite. Avoid being rude. The MOO is worth participating in because
|
|||
|
|
it is a pleasant place for people to be. When people are rude or nasty
|
|||
|
|
to one another, it stops being so pleasant.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o `Revenge is ours,' sayeth the wizards. If someone is nasty to you,
|
|||
|
|
please either ignore it or tell a wizard about it. Please don't try to
|
|||
|
|
take revenge on the person; this just escalates the level of rudeness
|
|||
|
|
and makes the MOO a less pleasant place for everyone involved.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Respect other players' sensibilities. The participants on the MOO come
|
|||
|
|
from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds. Your ideas about what
|
|||
|
|
constitutes offensive speech or descriptions are likely to differ from
|
|||
|
|
those of other players. Please keep the text that players can casually
|
|||
|
|
run across as free of potentially-offensive material as you can.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Don't spoof. Spoofing is loosely defined as `causing misleading output
|
|||
|
|
to be printed to other players'. For example, it would be spoofing for
|
|||
|
|
anyone but Munchkin to print out a message like `Munchkin sticks out
|
|||
|
|
his tongue at Potrzebie.' This makes it look like Munchkin is unhappy
|
|||
|
|
with Potrzebie even though that may not be the case at all.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Don't shout. It is easy to write a MOO command that prints a mes-
|
|||
|
|
sage to every connected player. Please don't.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Only teleport your own things. By default, most objects (including
|
|||
|
|
other players) allow themselves to be moved freely from place to place.
|
|||
|
|
This fact makes it easier to build certain useful objects. Unfor-
|
|||
|
|
tunately, it also makes it easy to annoy people by moving them or their
|
|||
|
|
objects around without their permission. Please don't.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Don't teleport silently or obscurely. It is easy to write MOO com-
|
|||
|
|
mands that move you instantly from place to place. Please remember in
|
|||
|
|
such programs to print a clear, understandable message to all players
|
|||
|
|
in both the place you're leaving and the place you're going to.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Don't hog the server. The server is carefully shared among all of the
|
|||
|
|
connected players so that everyone gets a chance to execute their
|
|||
|
|
commands. This sharing is, by necessity, somewhat approximate. Please
|
|||
|
|
don't abuse it with tasks that run for a long time without pausing.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
o Don't waste object numbers. Some people, in a quest to own objects with
|
|||
|
|
`interesting' numbers (e.g., #17000, #18181, etc.) have written MOO
|
|||
|
|
programs that loop forever creating and recycling objects until the
|
|||
|
|
`good' numbers come up. Please don't do this.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Figure 6: The main points of LambdaMOO manners
|
|||
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
3 The Prospects for Mudding in the Future
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The clumsy system of public gatherings had
|
|||
|
|
been long since abandoned; neither Vashti nor her
|
|||
|
|
audience stirred from their rooms. Seated in her
|
|||
|
|
arm-chair, she spoke, while they in their arm-chairs
|
|||
|
|
heard her, fairly well, and saw her, fairly well.
|
|||
|
|
Ibid.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A recent listing of Internet-accessible MUDs showed almost 200 active around
|
|||
|
|
the world, mostly in the United States and Scandinavia. A conservative guess
|
|||
|
|
that these MUDs average 100 active players each gives a total of 20,000 active
|
|||
|
|
mudders in the world today; this is almost certainly a significant undercount
|
|||
|
|
already and the numbers appear to be growing as more and more people gain
|
|||
|
|
Internet access.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In addition, at least one MUD-like area exists on the commercial CompuServe
|
|||
|
|
network in the United States and there are several more commercial MUDs active
|
|||
|
|
in the United Kingdom. Finally, there is Habitat[4], a half-graphical, half
|
|||
|
|
textual virtual reality in Japan, with well over 10,000 users.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I believe that text-based virtual realities and wide-area interactive `chat'
|
|||
|
|
facilities [6] are becoming more and more common and will continue to do so
|
|||
|
|
for the foreseeable future. Like CB radios and telephone party lines before
|
|||
|
|
them, MUDs seem to provide a necessary social outlet.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The MUD model is also being extended in new ways for new audiences. For
|
|||
|
|
example, I am currently involved in adapting the LambdaMOO server for use as an
|
|||
|
|
international teleconferencing and image database system for astronomers. Our
|
|||
|
|
plans include allowing scientists to give on-line presentations to their col-
|
|||
|
|
leagues around the world, complete with `slides' and illustrations
|
|||
|
|
automatically displayed on the participants' workstations. The same approach
|
|||
|
|
could be used to create on-line meeting places for workers in other
|
|||
|
|
disciplines, as well as for other non-scientific communities. I do not believe
|
|||
|
|
that we are the only researchers planning such facilities. In the near future
|
|||
|
|
(a few years at most), I expect such specialized virtual realities to be
|
|||
|
|
commonplace, an accepted part of at least the academic community.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
On another front, I am engaged with some colleagues in the design of a MUD for
|
|||
|
|
general use here at Xerox PARC. The idea here is to use virtual reality to help
|
|||
|
|
break down the geographical barriers of a large building, of people
|
|||
|
|
increasingly working from their homes, and of having a sister research
|
|||
|
|
laboratory in Cambridge, England. In this context, we intend to investigate
|
|||
|
|
the addition of digital voice to MUDs, with the conventions of the virtual
|
|||
|
|
reality providing a simple and intuitive style of connection management: if two
|
|||
|
|
people are in the same virtual room, then their audio channels are connected.
|
|||
|
|
Some virtual rooms may even overlap real-world rooms, such as those in which
|
|||
|
|
talks or other meetings are held.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of course, one can expect a number of important differences in the social phe-
|
|||
|
|
nomena on MUDs in a professional setting. In particular, I would guess that
|
|||
|
|
anonymity might well be frowned upon in such places, though it may have some
|
|||
|
|
interesting special uses, for example in the area of refereeing papers.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Some of my colleagues have suggested that the term `text-based virtual real-
|
|||
|
|
ity' is an oxymoron, that `virtual reality' refers only to the fancy graphical
|
|||
|
|
and motion-sensing environments being worked on in many places. They go on to
|
|||
|
|
predict that these more physically-involving systems will supplant the
|
|||
|
|
text-based variety as soon as the special equipment becomes a bit more widely
|
|||
|
|
and cheaply available. I do not believe that this is the case.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
While I agree that the fancier systems are likely to become very popular for
|
|||
|
|
certain applications and among those who can afford them, I believe that MUDs
|
|||
|
|
have certain enduring advantages that will save them from obsolescence.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The equipment necessary to participate fully in a MUD is significantly cheaper,
|
|||
|
|
more widely available, and more generally useful than that for the fancy
|
|||
|
|
systems; this is likely to remain the case for a long time to come. For
|
|||
|
|
example, it is already possible to purchase palm-sized portable computers with
|
|||
|
|
network connectivity and text displays, making it possible to use MUDs even
|
|||
|
|
while riding the bus, etc. Is similarly-flexible hardware for fancy virtual
|
|||
|
|
realities even on the horizon?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is substantially easier for players to give themselves vivid, detailed, and
|
|||
|
|
interesting descriptions (and to do the same for the descriptions and behavior
|
|||
|
|
of the new objects they create) in a text-based system than in a graphics-based
|
|||
|
|
one. In McLuhan's terminology [3], this is because MUDs are a `cold' medium,
|
|||
|
|
while ore graphically-based media are `hot'; that is, the sensorial parsimony
|
|||
|
|
of plain text tends to entice users into engaging their imaginations to fill in
|
|||
|
|
missing details while, comparatively speaking, the richness of stimuli in fancy
|
|||
|
|
virtual realities has an opposite tendency, pushing users' imaginations into a
|
|||
|
|
more passive role. I also find it difficult to believe that a graphics-based
|
|||
|
|
system will be able to compete with text for average users on the metric of
|
|||
|
|
believable detail per unit of effort expended; this is certainly the case now
|
|||
|
|
and I see little reason to believe it will change in the near future.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Finally, one of the great strengths of MUDs lies in the users' ability to
|
|||
|
|
customize them, to extend them, and to specialize them to the users'
|
|||
|
|
particular needs. The ease with which this can be done in MUDs is directly
|
|||
|
|
related to the fact that they are purely text-based; in a graphics-based
|
|||
|
|
system, the overhead of creating new moderate-quality graphics would put the
|
|||
|
|
task beyond the inclinations of the average user. Whereas, with MUDs, it is
|
|||
|
|
easy to imagine an almost arbitrarily small community investing in the creation
|
|||
|
|
of a virtual reality that was truly customized for that community, it seems
|
|||
|
|
very unlikely that any but the largest communities would invest the
|
|||
|
|
greatly-increased effort required for a fancier system.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
4 Conclusions
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Vashti was seized with the terrors of direct
|
|||
|
|
experience. She shrank back into her
|
|||
|
|
room, and the wall closed up again.
|
|||
|
|
Ibid.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The emergence of MUDs has created a new kind of social sphere, both like and
|
|||
|
|
radically unlike the environments that have existed before. As they become more
|
|||
|
|
and more popular and more widely accessible, it appears likely that an increas-
|
|||
|
|
ingly significant proportion of the population will at least become familiar
|
|||
|
|
with mudding and perhaps become frequent participants in text-based virtual
|
|||
|
|
realities.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It thus behooves us to begin to try to understand these new societies, to make
|
|||
|
|
sense of these electronic places where we'll be spending increasing amounts of
|
|||
|
|
our time, both doing business and seeking pleasure. I would hope that social
|
|||
|
|
scientists will be at least intrigued by my amateur observations and perhaps
|
|||
|
|
inspired to more properly study MUDs and their players. In particular, as MUDs
|
|||
|
|
become more widespread, ever more people are likely to be susceptible to the
|
|||
|
|
kind of addiction I discuss in an earlier section; we must, as a society, begin
|
|||
|
|
to wrestle with the social and ethical issues brought out by such cases.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Those readers interested in trying out MUDs for themselves are encouraged to do
|
|||
|
|
so. The Usenet news group rec.games.mud periodically carries comprehensive
|
|||
|
|
lists of publicly-available, Internet-accessible MUDs, including their detailed
|
|||
|
|
network addresses. My own MUD, LambdaMOO, can be reached via the standard
|
|||
|
|
Internet telnet protocol at the host lambda.parc.xerox.com (the numeric address
|
|||
|
|
is 13.2.116.36), port 8888. On a UNIX machine, for example, the command
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
telnet lambda.parc.xerox.com 8888
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
will suffice to make a connection. Once connected, feel free to page me; I
|
|||
|
|
connect under the names `Haakon' and `Lambda'.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Acknowledgments
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I was originally prodded into writing down my mudding experiences by Eric
|
|||
|
|
Roberts. In trying to get a better handle on an organization for the material,
|
|||
|
|
I was aided immeasurably by my conversations with Francoise Brun-Cottan; she
|
|||
|
|
consistently brought to my attention phenomena that I had become too familiar
|
|||
|
|
with to notice. Susan Irwin and David Nichols have been instrumental in helping
|
|||
|
|
me to understand some of the issues that might arise as MUDs become more
|
|||
|
|
sophisticated and widespread. The reviewers of this paper provided several
|
|||
|
|
pointers to important related work that I might otherwise never have
|
|||
|
|
encountered. Finally, I must also give credit to the LambdaMOO players who
|
|||
|
|
participated in my on-line brainstorming session; their ideas, experiences, and
|
|||
|
|
perceptions provided a necessary perspective to my own understanding.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
References
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[1] Forster, E.M., "The Machine Stops". In Ben Bova, editor, The Science
|
|||
|
|
Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. IIB, Avon, 1973. Originally in E.M. Forster,
|
|||
|
|
The Eternal Moment and Other Stories, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1928.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[2] Kiesler, Sara, et al., "Social Psychological Aspects of Computer-Mediated
|
|||
|
|
Communication", in Charles Dunlop and Robert Kling, editors,
|
|||
|
|
Computerization and Controversy, Academic Press, 1991.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[3] McLuhan, Marshall, Understanding Media, McGraw-Hill, 1964.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[4] Morningstar, Chip, and F. Randall Farmer, "The Lessons of Lucasfilm's
|
|||
|
|
Habitat", in Cyberspace, edited by Michael Benedikt, MIT Press, 1991.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[5] Raymond, Eric S., editor, The New Hacker's Dictionary. MIT Press, 1991.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[6] Reid, Elizabeth M., "Electropolis: Communication and Community on Internet
|
|||
|
|
Relay Chat", Intertek, v. 3.3, Winter, 1992.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[7] Van Gelder, Lindsy, "The Strange Case of the Electronic Lover", in Charles
|
|||
|
|
Dunlop and Robert Kling, editors, Computerization and Controversy,
|
|||
|
|
Academic Press, 1991.
|
|||
|
|
|