MUDers

“Welcome to the wild side of cyberspace culture, where magic is real and identity is a fluid.” Chapter Five of Howard Rheingold’s The Virtual Community discusses the world of cyber cultures and its relations to human activity. In my opinion, these virtual gaming worlds present a huge social danger, especially for the college aged participant. It is an activity that is dangerously addicting. Rheingold argues that most of these MUDers “spend most of their walking lives in their alternative world.” MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) were the main example throughout the article of an online social community. Within this world, users are able to create an identity as specific as your gender, social characteristics and physical appearance.

Most MUD users are males and usually college aged. I attribute this to the social shift that happens when you enter collegiate life. When coming to school here at Saint Mary’s, starting a new social routine was difficult. Where as in high school your day was pretty structured and filled with school and extracurriculars, college is a new experience that is open to many opportunities. For about the first month of school, I had no idea how to manage my time. I knew the priority was to go to class, but to find outside activity in a new, unfamiliar environment was difficult. Going from a very busy, high demanding lifestyle in high school to having complete freedom in college left me with enormous amounts of time to fill. This is where I see many student discovering online communities like Second Life or MUD. Because so much of a college student’s life is spent on the computer (writing papers, reading emails and so forth…) it is easy for them to create an alternative identity online which could occupy empty time that would have otherwise been spent in front of the television.

Although I did not join an online community, I did join Facebook within the first two weeks of college and I was hooked. I would just keep the web page up on my screen and refresh the browser every time I entered the room. In an article found on the Daily Vindette, the author discusses the addiction of Facebook (http://media.www.dailyvidette.com/media/storage/paper420/news/2006/08/31/Features/College.Students.At.High.Risk.Of.Internet.Addiction-2252399.shtml) Laura Braun exclaims, "Alcoholics have booze, drug addicts have cocaine and college students have Facebook. Just when students found a carefree activity to occupy themselves for those 45 minutes between classes a new addiction has surfaced. Internet addiction is on the rise and college aged students are highly at risk." Just like facebook, MUDers also have been criticised for being a high risk population for addiction. In Rheigold's article, he first and foremost examines the fascination behind the program. Why are people using this medium so obssesively? It challenges your real identity and allows you to develop a new person, if not multiple, to live the 'online life' the way you choose. You could be a 30 year old stripper or a 65 year old investment banker. In the MUD life, you can be a wizard, inheriting magical powers that in the real world, would never exist.

Even though Rheingold's chapter was interesting, I simply cannot imagine myself joining such a website. magic carpets and magic swords were never my thing. I will happily stick to my Facebook identity and real life Nicole. I like my authentic self and in no way would enjoy trying to juggle a duplicated version via the Internet. Although I appreciate this can be some college student's way to socialize and create an alternative identity, I feel it is better to continually develop the real life you that cannot just be closed with the click of the cursor.