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