MUDs

In Reingold's article he talks of MUDS being the wild side of cyberspace culture where magic is real and identity is fluid. This class has really opened my eyes to the cyberlife that I had no clue of. MUDs, Multi-User Dungeons, is a computer database where "people use worlds and all the objects in them, solve puzzles, invent imusements and tools, compete for prestige and power, gain wisdom, seek revenge, indulge greed and lust violent impulses." MUDs are very powerful; it is just a different world. MUDs allow a person to choose their own identity and role-play in order to come off a certain way. Some positive effects of MUDs would be getting to know yourself better, interacting socially (on the internet), and learning through different people. With the positive effects there are always negative effects. In this case the positive in MUDs actually become the negatives and backfires. MUDs come off as a source of communication and entertainment, but can also pose many threats, where even MUDs have been banned from campuses (said in Reingold's article). Some people may think they are learning more about themselves through these virtual lives, but in the end they could actually be losing themselves and what they believe. With MUDs, allowing one to pose as various and multiple persons, people can make things up and not tell the truth. In reality what one may think they are learning from other people may full-openly be a lie. Another negative effect of MUD's is that people can talk sexually and etc. where things can get serious and lead to emotional hurt. The scary thing is people may not think they could actually let this happen, but they could get so caught up with this virtual life that they fall for these "false" people or possibly meet up and things could get very sketchy and dangerous. Speaking of getting caught up, one of the biggest reasons for MUDs banning from campuses was, because some people were spending 80 hours a week on it leading to a distraction from school. Believe it or not, addiction can occur from these MUDs. I was exploring youtube and i typed multi-user dungeons in. It brought me to a page where 12 videos popped up of how to use these MUDs and what to do. The specific video I clicked on was twenty minutes long! I was so shocked that there were so many videos of MUDs. I feel like I am in a culture-shock! Reingold's article has really allowed me to understand virtual communities and the use of MUD's. I believe MUDs pose dangers and takes people away from the "real world," but it is hard to distinguish what is right in our liberal pop cultural world. In the end one has to stick with their values and their beliefs of whether to pursue in these virtual communities and take on multiple identities!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1TaqB0ANfk