MUD stands for Multi-User Domains or Multi-User Dungeons.  MUDs along with MUSE, MOO, and MUSH are all multi user computer games.  These all give people the chance to interact with other people from all over the world.  These games are not the only way people can communicate through computers, however.  People use Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and commercial services such as America Online and CompuServe to communicate with people from all over. Back to MUD Contents      

 
 

It is amazing to learn all the abilities that people have on MUDs.  People get to go into these games and form any identity that they want.  No one in the MUD knows exactly who anyone else in the MUD really is.  Turkle says that, “. . . Computer-mediated communication can serve as a place for the construction and reconstruction of identity.” (p. 342)  One person who plays on MUDs says that, “You are the character and you are not the character, both at the same time.” (p. 340)  Another player says that, “You are who you pretend to be.” (p. 340)  This is a great escape for many people.  Just to be able to be anything in the world is very appealing to almost everyone.  One player created a room in a MUD and he says that, “It’s where I live.  More than I do in my dingy dorm room.  There’s no place like home.” (p. 351)  MUDs can also put players in a new relationship with their true selves.  Dr. Sherry Turkle, the author of the article, ran into a person in a MUD named Dr. Sherry.  The true Sherry learned that the character had many of the same characteristics that she had.  This was strange to her because she had not created this character.  Turkle said, “Dr. Sherry was (she is no longer on the MUD) a derivative of me, but she was not mine.” (p. 344)  With interacting with this character, Turkle learned how she was perceived by others.  Yet another thing that MUDs can do is to change a person physically.  “So the obese can be slender, the beautiful plain, the “nerdy” sophisticated.” (p. 340)  MUDs can also “extend an individual’s physical presence using computer-mediated screen communication for sexual encounters.” (p. 350)   This is more widely known as netsex.  “Many people who engage in netsex say that they are constantly surprised by how emotionally and physically powerful it can be.” (p. 350)  This interaction, however, leads to another ability that was discovered in a MUD.  This is what Turkle calls a virtual rape.  One character found a way to over power another character in the MUD and forced her into sexual relations.  Many people over looked the event, but Turkle does not believe that this can be over looked.  Turkle points this out by saying that in “. . . in text-based virtual realities such as MUDs, words are deeds.” (p. 344)  This is amazing to see that someone can do so much with a  computer, but it is also scary how thing progress through MUDs.

Back to MUD Contents       Multi-tasking can be defined as the ability to do many different things at once.  “Windows have become a powerful metaphor for thinking about the self as a multiple, distributed system.  The self is no longer simply playing different roles in different settings at different times. . . .  The life practice of windows is that of a decentered self that exists in many worlds and plays many roles at the same time.” (p. 342)  Many of the players experience their lives by traveling between the real world and a series of virtual worlds.  Here are three examples of what these players experience as they are multi-tasking:

 

“On this MUD I’m relaxing, shooting the breeze.  On this other MUD I’m in a flame war.  One this last one I’m into heavy sexual things.  I’m traveling between the MUDs and a physics homework assignment due at 10 tomorrow morning.”(p.341)

One is a seductive woman.  One is a macho, cowboy type . . . .  The third is a rabbit of unspecified gender. . . .  Doug’s fourth character is one that he plays only on a MUD in which all the characters are furry animals. . . .” (p. 341)

 

“I split my mind.  I’m getting better at it.  I can see myself as being two or three or more.” (p. 342)

Back to MUD Contents     Anyone with access to the internet can use a MUD. While nearly anyone can be encountered in a MUD, users tend to fall into certain categories. “Most players are middle class.  A large majority are male.  Some players are over thirty, but most are in their early twenties and late teens.” (p. 339)   For obvious reasons, very few comuter illiterate people are found in MUDs; In order for someone to be comfortable in a MUD and enjoy it, he or she must be comfortable with computers.   “Dedicated MUD players are often people who work all day with computers at their regular jobs – as architects, programmers, secretaries, students, and stockbrokers.” (p. 340)   Back to MUD Contents   "This is more real than my real life" "Part of me, a vert important part of me, only exists inside PernMUD" "Some leave special programs running that send them signals when a particular character logs on or when they are 'paged' by a MUD acquaintance" "some experience their lives as a 'cycling through' between the real word, RL, and a series of virtual worlds." For many people, real life and MUDs become one, simply because they like it better online than out in the real world. In this way some people use MUDs like a drug, to escape the trials of world around them. Others use MUDs to explore themselves, and to express parts of themselves which they normally keep hidden. Then there are those who log on simply to do things they could never do in RL, as well as those who are simply looking for a way to vent their feelings. But regardless of their reasons for logging on, they all see it as a form of liberation from the banality of modern life in the real world.   "RL is just one more window," he repeats, "and it's not usually my best one."   This implies that he may use MUDs as an escape from the real world, a place where he makes up the rules and is truely in charge of his own life.   Back to MUD Contents     "You are who you pretend to be."   "MUDs provide worlds for anonymous social interaction in which one can play a role as close to or as far away from one's 'real self' as one chooses."   "A New Yorker cartoon captures the potential for experimenting with one's identity. In it, one dog, paw on a computer keyboard, explains to another, 'On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.'"   The anonymity of the internet gives people the freedom to experiment with themselves at their leisure with relatively little risk. It allows people to risk social blunders without the fear of being stuck with their repercussions for more than a few minutes. However, the anonymity of MUDs and the Internet in general are also its greatest danger, for one never truely knows who he/she is talking to.