Many popular articles focus on the problem of whether cyberspace create valid community. (Dibbell, 1993; Barlow, 1995; Kadi, 1995; Saige, 1995; Sanders, 1995; Stuart, 1995; Nader, 1995). In this vein, the best known work is the book The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier by journalist Howard Rheingold (Rheingold, 1993), in which "community" is measured in terms of "real life" such as face-to-face meetings, long-term commitments, and the helping of friends in crisis.
Like Rheingold, some write about the "reach-out-and-touch" potential of meeting new and different people, interacting on equal terms, transcending boundaries of geography and cultural difference. (Rheingold, 1993, 185-187; Brand, 1995) Others have delivered scathing criticism to this potential, the most successful being M.Kadi who pointed out that the cost of becoming equipped and connected is prohibitive for anyone other than the upper middle-class, and that the sheer volume of special-interest newsgroups and mailing lists encourages users to restrict their interactions to special-interest groups. Kadi concludes, "Ultimately, J. Individual does not engage in topics that do not interest J. Individual. So who is J. meeting? Why, people who are just like J." (Kadi, 1995)
Some MOOs have been established as social experiments, with reflective evaluations by their scholar-creators touching on themes of self presentation and creation and of professional applications for MOOs. Pavel Curtis is the creator of MOO software for Xerox Corporation in Palo Alto, and serves as "Arch-Wizard" of LambdaMOO, the largest and oldest MOO. Amy Bruckman is a graduate student at MIT's Media Lab, and built MediaMOO as a networking tool for scholars in media research (loosely defined). While much of the interaction at MediaMOO is recreational, it does support exchange and debate of ideas and theories about media and society. (Bruckman and Resnick, 1993; Curtis, 1992; Curtis and Nichols, 1993; Evard, 1994)
Both scholars and popular press writers are fascinated by sexual and romantic exchanges in text-based synchronous media. In 1993, Trudeau's comic character "Doonesbury", in disguise as "tinman" had a flirtatious Internet encounter with a mysterious character named "dancer"; stories of real-life romances begun on the Internet are told in the popular press (Smolowe, 1995). The perceived liberation from physical appearances and everyday identity become, for Van der Leun, the major attraction of "CyberSex" (Van der Leun, 1995). Scholars investigated the phenomenon of "virtual body" and textual strategies for its creation in synchronous media. As a result, Branwyn contradicted Van der Leun when she concluded, "Sexual interaction in current text-based compu-sex almost exclusively mirrors (at least as it was reported to this author) real world intercourse." (Branwyn, 1993) Wiley defined this mirroring of real life as a playful appropriation of reality (Wiley, 1995) This rebellious subversion of real life constructs a parallel universe, "shifting and suspending meaning in a reconstitution and reconfiguration of language and experience."
There are two memorable efforts in the popular press to examine how language is used by participants of Internet groups. On one hand, Sanderson's dictionary of smileys is touted as a resource for do-it-yourself Internet users wanting to put more expression into electronic messages but stands as a catalogue of creative exploitation of a very narrow channel for communication (Sanderson, 1993). On the other hand, Elmer-Dewitt condemns the prose of the Internet as "sloppy, meandering, puerile, ungrammatical, poorly spelled, badly structured and at times virtually content free." (Elmer-Dewitt, 1994) He also praises some gems, particularly the group netwriting made, "in a kind of collaborative heat, knocking ideas against one another until they spark." Ultimately, he acknowledges both the good and the bad as emerging from the environment of the Internet, a place where "written speech" is the norm, and polished prose seems stilted or pompous.
In the discipline of communication studies, much progress has been made towards understanding why and how computer-mediated-communications can be both impersonal and interpersonal, often leading to really getting to know individuals apart from socially proscribed assumptions or expectations. Walther concludes, after an extensive literature survey, that because paralingual clues during interactions are selectively presented, the self can be performed in a positive way, more completely managed than in face-to-face interactions (Walther, 1994).
The most extensive study of MOO language and culture is Lynn Cherny's dissertation-in-progress which uses a sociolinguistic approach and extensive fieldwork and documentation in the form of logs to examine daily interactions such as "back channels" to signal comprehension and involvement, representation of the body, and textual gestures. Her work is based exclusively on participants at JaysHouseMOO, which is atypical of other MOOs in that many of the participants know each other "in real life" (IRL). This unusual circumstance gives Cherny the fortunate advantage of observing gender differences in communication strategies, thus providing sociolinguistic gender studies with valuable data. (Cherny, 1994a, 1994b, 1995)
Finally, only a few scholarly works from a wide range of disciplines address the issues of Internet culture and Internet language as one and the same. Scholars in Israel have released a helpful study of playful exchanges on IRC which provides important insight into the nature of interaction in synchronous media, the potential for artistic textual expression, and the conventions of interpretation and appreciation for performance among participants. (Ruedenberg, et al., 1995; Danet, et al., in press). Mark Dery explored text and language of electronic bulletin boards and characterized smileys as the paralanguage of the Internet as participants "co-create" the place of "cyberspace", each member serving simultaneously as reader, writer, and critic (Dery, 1993). Elizabeth Reid's masters thesis examined the social power structures of several MOOs from an anthropological perspective, paying particular attention to how non-verbal cues found in face-to-face contact are "textualized" into a new system of significance. (Reid, 1994) Charles Stivale uses a comparative literature approach to examine incidents of "spam" in MOOs, and concludes that MOO participants construct community standards but lack clear means of enforcing these standards. (Stivale, 1994)
Only two dynamics of these interactions are not recorded by logs. First, the temporal dynamics of real-time interactions such as typing time and lag time are not documented. Secondly, the varied experiences of the participants at their own keyboards, in rooms scattered across the globe, the paralanguage of the Internet as participants "co-create" are both missing from the logs. However, logs taken directly from my computer screen are recordings of everything the participants intended to be perceived (and occasionally, things not intended and the responses to such unintentional spurt) -- they are complete recordings of the "performance" of MUD participants. However, such a situation is also a challenge to the researcher's sense of ethics of research in that it denies the participants the right to choose whether to be involved.
MOO was developed by Pavel Curtis, a software developer at Xerox's think tank, Palo Alto Research Campus (PARC). Curtis took Aspnes' expandable MUD concept and added a programming language, making it accessible to the participants for creating new subprograms and dimensions to the environment. This program language was of a type known as "object-oriented" (somewhat similar to Apple's HyperCard programming), and thus was called, "Mud, Object-Oriented", or MOO. The first and largest MOO is "LambdaMOO", built and maintained by Curtis, and based at Xerox. LambdaMOO went on-line in 1990, and currently has over 5,000 registered players. Most evenings it supports more than 150 players -- not without technical and social difficulties.
The name Lambda is not explained in any official communications within the environment, but it is generally assumed to be a reference to an algorithm used by software programmers. However, the word "lambda" is also a familiar symbol for gay and lesbian organizations. Perhaps drawn in by this familiar word, there has come to be a lively "queer" community at LambdaMOO, which co-exists with homophobic, curious, and/or indifferent heterosexuals. The balance of gender for participants can only be guessed based on what players claim as gender, however it appears that substantially more participants are male than female. The racial diversity of LambdaMOO is unknown. The only common factor of LambdaMOO participants which can be said with confidence is that all are comfortable with and have access to computers and the Internet, and that most are fast typists and enjoy reading.
(lines in CAPS here indicate typed commands)
LOOK HERE
The Living Room
It is very bright, open, and airy here, with large
plate-glass windows looking southward over the
pool to the gardens beyond. On the north wall,
there is a rough stonework fireplace. The east
and west walls are almost completely covered
with large, well-stocked bookcases. An exit in
the northwest corner leads to the kitchen and, in
a more northerly direction, to the entrance hall.
The door into the coat closet is at the north end
of the east wall, and at the south end is a sliding
glass door leading out onto a wooden deck. There
are two sets of couches, one clustered around the
fireplace and one with a view out the windows.
You see README for New MOOers, Welcome Poster, a fireplace,
Cockatoo, lag meter, The Birthday Machine, a map of
LambdaHouse, and Cigarette_Butt here.
Killerbee, Ochra_Guest, Kumala, and Okapi are here.
LOOK ME/LMARVIN
A researcher in folklore, currently watching culture
of MUDs and MOOs.
E is awake and looks alert.
lmarvin waves a virtual camera around....
You say, "hello, folks...I'm working on a paper, and
wanted to include some descriptions of players...Are
any of you willing to have your descriptions published?"
lmarvin [to Kumala]: would you be willing to let me put
your description in my paper?
Kumala says, "knock yourself out."
lmarvin [to Kumala]: yeah? It's okay?
LOOK KUMALA
You look over to see a guy standing 6'3 tall, weighing
250lbs. He appears to be in his late 20's, and has
short (spiked) hair, and green eyes. He is wearing
a loose fitting rugby shirt and blue jeans, as well
as dock shoes without socks. You can tell by his
large athletic frame that he played football somewere.
He is wearing a large button that reads---MISSING
Sherry from St.louise she has strawberry blond hair,
and stands about 5'10 tall. She is very cute, and
well endowed. She was last seen hitch highkin toward
horriable haniable. Have you seen her?
He see's you lookin at him and nods.
He is awake and looks alert.
Carrying:
kumala quarters The weapon
The equalizer Rush Foundation
Kumala says to you, "sure...."
lmarvin [to Kumala]: thanks....
lmarvin takes a virtual picture of Kumala.
Kumala tips his hat.
Kumala grins and slaps Killerbee some skin in a high five.
Okapi holds up a BIG sign: Hi everyone
lmarvin [to Okapi]: i'm writing a paper...and wanted to
include some actual names and descriptions of
characters....would you be willing to let me use
yours?
LOOK OKAPI
An idiot savant - 5'3, blonde hair, wearing jamey's short
white lace dress with a banner that says Social Misfit
and red patent leather platform shoes.
She is awake and looks alert.
Carrying:
Official Husserl Pal badge for Okapi a gift
Book of Food Stamps Rotary Wankel Engine
Thing to remind Okapi that H. will get her REALLY BAD!!!
Okapi pretends that lmarvin is admiring her
You hear the loud beating of tribel drums, you quickly
turn to find the source, when you turn back Kumala is gone.
Okapi [marvin]: sure!
lmarvin [to Okapi]: thanks!
Okapi . o O ( naked...? )
Ochre_Guest [=]:
lmarvin grins. "Okay..thanks, everybody."
lmarvin waves.
GO NORTHWEST
The Kitchen
The kitchen is of a modern design, very large and well-lit,
yet still homey and comfortable. The walls are covered in
beautiful natural-wood cabinets and the stove is set into
a large 'island' counter in the center of the room. Over
the sink, along the south wall, there are windows looking
out onto the pool and gardens. There are doors in the north
wall leading into the dining room, a sliding glass door to
the south, and a doorway in the northeast corner leading
out into the entrance hall.
You see cookbook, the kitchen sink, Scraps of Paper, vent,
Microwave, a refrigerator, dishwasher, cuisinart,
plate of cookies, and a piece of Saran Wrap(tm) here.
GO SOUTH
The Kitchen Patio
This patio is ringed with rosebeds. To the southeast you
can see the swimming pool, north is a sliding glass door
to the kitchen, and a path leads west through the roses.
A magnificent oak tree to the south towers over the patio.
The area is lit by lights from the kitchen.
You see Mazer's cricket ball, tennis ball, and Ball-buddy here.
To log into a MOO:
telnet (address) (port)
connect guest
To communicate to anyone in the same virtual 'room'
say (whatever) or "(whatever)
emote (whatever) or :(whatever)
To find other players logged in
@who @where (player)
To speak to players logged in, but not in the same room
page (player) (message of any length)
To see a description of a room, person, or object
look (here, me, thing, player)
examine (here, me, thing, player)
To manipulate an object
get (thing) hand (thing) to (player)
drop (thing)
To move into another room
go (direction) @join (player) @go (number)
To log out of the MOO:
@quit
The term "MOOrape" is very controversial within the MOO communities. MOOrape is a textual attack by one participant on another, distinguished from "spam" (explained in detail later in this paper) by its sexual content or explicit description of a rape act. Some participants object to the expression MOOrape on the grounds that it belittles the experience of actual rape. In my observation, MOO participants are careful to mark MOOrape as such, rarely using the word "rape" for MOOrape except in a non-ambiguous context.
MOO can refer to an aesthetic sense, a proper way to do things in concordance with the technology and culture. This is expressed with, "That's good MOO, that program. It is a very MOOish thing to do." Finally, "MOO" is used as a verb, to describe the act of participating in the virtual reality, as in "I was MOOing this afternoon."
While the one expression "MOO" has many uses and meanings, there are many expressions for "participant" in the MOO lexicon. "Participant", as used here to indicate a person involved with MOO as well as his or her represented character, is never used by MOOers themselves. MOOwords for participant include: MOOer, player, character, morph and typist. "Player" refers to a single object, with a unique number, programmed to be used as a "character" with its associated "morphs" under the control of a "typist" "Player" is a technical term, part of the core of the programming language, and frequently used in official documents such as the "help manners" text. "Character" means the developed form of the player object, with its gender, description and name. "Morphs" are alternate characters, all attached to the same player. The "typist" is the actual human being, the person at the keyboard who controls the player, designs its character and morphs, and selects its gender setting. Access to a player is treated like a bank account or email account, with a password. See the glossary for further vocabulary.
Another misperception of MOOs is that they are "chat" channels, equivalent to Internet-Relay-Chat (IRC). Like IRC, the MUDs are synchronous and both forms share many of the same conventions of virtual conversation. However, chat channels and IRC lack the hypertextual environment of MUDs and MOOs. The textually represented rooms, objects, and personae exist independently of the participants. An IRC channel without participants doesn't exit -- it must be made a new each time conversation stops (Danet, et al., in press)
a Cockatoo squawks, "I think they removed the Spoof FO."
b spoon nods in greeting...
c Fork says, "Ack.. Now I just found a server that offers
real-time traffic reports of certain highways in San
Diego, Los angeles, and "Orange country""
*
d Spoof FO.. what Spoof FO..?
*
e lmarvin blinks..."hey, who spoofed?!"
f A thundering voice rumbles through the room and says:
"God did!"
g lmarvin looks up.
h ya.. god..
*
i spoon smacks himself hard and often.
j lmarvin looks at spoon.
k spoon . o O ( what the hell am i doing up .. this is
sunday... or is it? )
l spoon lurks...
m Cockatoo squawks, "Neuro is spoofing, I think."
n lmarvin says, "not only spoofing..but lurking too, spoon?"
o Spoofing?
p spoon lurks innocently...
q Plate teleports in.
r Guest comes out of the closet (so to speak...).
s lmarvin says, "actually...i am right at this moment,
doing a study on 'spoofing' in the moo..."
t lmarvin asks, "how come spoofing is illegal?"
u Guest says, "whats spoofing?""
*
v Plate says, "this is spoofing""
w A can of Spam tromps into the room.
x The can of Spam locates it's target.
y The can begins making noises like it's gonna hack up a
spitwad.
*
a2 The can of Spam suddenly spews a stream of unwanted text
at Guest, tattoos a knockwurst on its forehead, then
floors it out of the room as fast as it can go.
b2 Plate [to Guest]: Thats spoofing :)
c2 Guest gasps
d2 A blast of noise and light rips through the fabric of
time and space, leaving a wake of damage in its path.
Knife is crawling from the wreckage.
e2 lmarvin says, "its kinda bad cause you can get people
into trouble by impersonating them...
f2 Haakon appears in a puff of magic.
g2 Knife is on the scene.
h2 Haakon say, "Ok, who is spoofing?"
i2 A roll of toilet paper flies through the room and says:
"This is spoofing, some silly thing and you don't know
who is doing it..."
j2 Plate [to lmarvin]: Oh that spoofing I can't even
begin to do that...
*
k2 Fork says, "Haakon says, "Someone better answer up! And
quick!""
*
l2 Knife [to spoon]: We gotta a spoofer around here?
m2 Fork grins.
*
n2 Plate raises his hand and shouts "ME! Me! ME! ME!"
o2 Fork sighs loudly.
p2 lmarvin asks, "hey...does anybody object if i save
these last lines about spoofing...for my paper?"
q2 spoon [to Knife]: a couple.. none dangerous...
r2 Plate says, "Nope"
s2 Guest is totally lost
t2 Knife whips out his spoofer-detecter
Access to "spoofing" programs is shared between players with an aura of the illicit, like trading contraband. Warnings about appropriate use are included whenever newer participants discover such programs. For example, darkrider of LambdaMOO built a warning message into his feature:
dr's IMpolite spoofer...I feel that judicious use of a spoofer that does not attribute the text to a person can be amusing and artfully done. HANDLE with CARE!Some time after the feature was created, darkrider amended it to be unusable in certain high public rooms:
In response to a bitch from Gilmore, I made it so that the sp*oof verb on #62821, my most-used feature, would not work in #17, he said that it was being used too often to confuse newer people, etc, who often hang there. If anyone wants it disabled in other places, or for other specific lame people, give me a page or better yet, some MOOmail and I'm on it.
==== DON'T ABUSE OTHER PLAYERS =====
The MOO is a fun place to socialize, program, and play
as long as people are polite to each other. Rudeness
and harassment make LambdaMOO less pleasant for
everyone. Do not harass or abuse other players, using
any tactic including:
* Spamming (filling their screen with unwanted text)
* Teleporting them or their objects without consent
* Emoted violence or obscenities
* Shouting (sending a message to all connected players):
Don't shout unless you have something everyone needs to
hear. This basically means emergency system messages
from wizards.
* Spoofing (causing messages to appear that are not
attributed to your character): Spoofs can be funny and
expressive when used with forethought. If you spoof,
use a polite version than announces itself as a spoof
promptly, and use it sparingly. See `help spoofing' for
more information.
* Spying: Don't create or use spying devices. If you
reset your teleport message, make sure it is set to
something, so that you don't teleport silently. Besides
having a disorienting effect on people, silent
teleportation is a form of spying.
* Sexual harassment (particularly involving unsolicited
acts which simulate rape against unwilling
participants): Such behavior is not tolerated by the
LambdaMOO community. A single incidence of such an act
may, as a consequence of due process, result in
permanent expulsion from LambdaMOO.
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