People's Obsession With MUDs

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People's Obsession With MUDs

Patik licks Mary. Mary giggles and kicks him in the shin. Krista pirouettes and falls down laughing. Cislynx seduces Missworld. Ralphie shouts, "who wants to tango"?! I am not having a nightmare, and I do not live in a mental institution. I am simply witnessing the typical behavior of a Multi User Dungeon (MUD). MUDs have become all the rage in the rapidly increasing world of computer technology. MUDs put you in a virtual space where you can create an identity and "chat" with other people. In this virtual world, you are represented by a self-composed textual description: if youre fat, you can be thin; if you're beautiful, you can be plain; and if you're nerdy, you can be sophisticated. This anonymity allows you to express unexplored aspects of yourself, to play with your real world identity by trying out new ones (Turkle 12).

In addition to creating an identity, your virtual character can converse with others, exchange gestures, express emotions and rise and fall in popularity. You can even die in a MUD (Turkle 183). Essentially, you can be who or whatever you want, and you can say anything because your character exists only in cyberspace, as does everyone else who you encounter.

You might ask yourself why do people bother to spend hours, days and weeks interacting with virtual beings? Why don't these people get out more and try living in the real world? The answer is simple. On-line communication in a MUD is a unique form of interaction because it is the only place in the world where you can leave your "real" life, assume the identity of your dreams and behave as you like without leaving any negative impact on your non-virtual existence. People are obsessed with MUDding because it is an escape mechanism which allows you to ignore reality and live out fantasy.

This desire to escape reality is an understandable response to an overemphasis on who you are or to the problems of your real-world identity. As a society, we have created an immense pressure upon ourselves to have a "perfect" self-image. This "perfection" can range from wanting flawless skin and pouty lips to desiring a successful career and a happy family. The demands of creating and sustaining this perfect modern identity are becoming increasingly burdensome, and as your life centers more on maintaining this certain image the desire to escape from the image grows greater (Baumeister 2).

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