GENDERBENDING ON THE MUSH by John Oughton For the first time, I adopted the appearance of an attractive woman. My name was Mariana, my demeanour subtly seductive. So it wasn't long before Badger and other males in the park started to cosy up to me, asking if they hadn't met before somewhere, or wouldn't I like to have my back rubbed? I felt ambivalent about their attention -- it was nice to be noticed, but I didn't want to be just an object of sexual desire. Relax, dear reader, I haven't embarked on a career as a transvestite. My "genderbending" experiment as Mariana took place entirely in the virtual world of text scrolling across the computer screens of all those involved in the same exercise: a role-playing game open to anyone with Internet access, known variously as a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension), MUSH (Multi-User Shared or Simulated Hallucination) or MOO, a MUSH with Object Orientation (a particular type of programming used in the game). Every night, thousands across North America meet in these environments. The program was originally developed to allow Dungeon and Dragon fans to pursue their time-honored pastimes of defeating dragons and monsters and winning treasure and powers. But some users got tired of such adolescent activity, and opened the programs up so users could do many different things, ranging from simply meeting for an on-line chat, to discussing an agenda of topics of academic interest, or collaboratively "building" new places within an environment. MUDS et al are basically for fun and games (in fact, you can find out a great deal about them by using the "Fun and Games" option on Gopher), but they are also finding uses for those who want to develop panel discussions and academic papers, explore simulation programming, or even give a writing class an entertaining environment to visit. Let's get concrete. What happens when you actually visit one of these? First of all, you have to connect to one via your home computer or a terminal on a system connected to the Internet. You can connect directly through Gopher, but most users use the Telnet command to make a direct connection between their computer and the host computer running the environment. One can Telnet via either a numerical or verbal code; WriteMUSH, for example, a small environment where creative writers often meet, has the code palmer.sacc.colostate.edu 6250. After the Telnet prompt, I'm usually connected within seconds. From then on, the host computer responds to my commands as if I had a terminal hard-wired to it. Once I've connected, I can either visit the environment, with limited privileges, by typing "connect guest;" connect with a character I've already created (who can have any name, gender, or description I wish) by typing "connect [charactername];" or I can create a new character and give him/her/it a description (including a body, costume, sound, smell, and even taste). Once I have an identity, I can explore the environment by reading descriptions of spaces (town halls, hotels, cafes, streets, woods, etc.), and by moving between spaces using simple commands like "out," "North", "up" and so on. I can find out what other characters are playing and page them; I can meet them by going to the same room or space, and then we can chat, on-line. I can also do actions (hug someone, throw up, applaud) by typing a colon and then the action. Depending on the environment and other characters, interactions can be friendly, surreal, challenging or flirtatious; of course, you seldom know whether the other characters have the same gender as their creators or not. You can meet "robots" -- objects programmed to ask you questions, extract "money" for favours, get drinks, or play songs; you can create objects and give them to other people. You can create and decorate your own room or house. You can even teleport instantly to any part of the environment, once you know the code for where you want to go to. These environments are maintained by volunteer programmers known as "wizards" because they can fix problems or write complicated programs. Many MUSH's have themes -- for example, built around C.S. Lewis's Narnia world, or Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. As with any Internet application, caution applies: you can waste a lot of time fooling around with MUSHs, and run the risk of making them a substitute for real-life interaction -- or, as the jargon of MUSHing has it, preferring VR to F2F (Virtual Reality for Face to Face). I've attended a wedding on one MUSH, played "Truth or Dare," and visited the hot tub on another. But I've also made real friends, learned a little about programming, and taken part in regular Tuesday night discussions about teaching writing using computers on MediaMOO housed at MIT. By being "Mariana," I learned first hand -- if safely -- what women feel like when men come on to them. When you have the time, explore this fascinating parallel world. You can let your imagination run free, be someone you've always wanted to -- and the only risks you run are wearing out your computer and, possibly, your spouse's patience. c1993 John Oughton Any reproduction of this without author's permission will result in your never winning the Nobel Prize. So there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ftp://ftp.game.org/pub/mud FTP.GAME.ORG http://www.game.org/ftpsite/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This document came from FTP.GAME.ORG, the ultimate source for MUD resources. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------