New cyber toast: ?Here?s MUD in your psyche?

Psychologists are particularly interested in people who frequent virtual worlds.

By Scott Sleek
Monitor staff

Millions of people are playing in the MUD.That?s the acronym for a Multi-User Domain, one of the hottest, most absorbing features on the Internet. MUDs are games that can be text-based or fantasy dialogues. Or they can be highly visual adventure worlds, where people slay beasts and battle evildoers. Unlike other interactive features on the Internet, people who log onto MUDs play a role or character along with other users logged onto the site. Screen graphics or icons represent characters, places and action. Players can create a never-ending story?a simulated life from which they can enter and leave at will, just by logging on or off.

As psychologists increasingly study people?s use of the Internet, they?re taking particular interest in those who spend time on MUDs. And they say they may be discovering an entirely new phenomenon?people who are living a substantial portion of their lives in virtual worlds.

'It?s a matter of finding out what it?s like to have both an in-person life and a cyberlife,' says John Suler, PhD, a Rider University psychology professor who is studying the psychology of online communities. 'How do they compare? How do they interact with each other?'

Creating a new self

Some of the most popular MUDs include LambdaMOO, where participants can create their own room within the game space, such as a lavish apartment or a grandiose office. Another is TrekMUSE, a game designed to represent a world inspired by the television series 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.'

MUDs allow people to recreate themselves, to explore new aspects of their selves by trying out interactions they might be too fearful to attempt in real life, psychologists say. A meek teen-age boy may get to act aggressively by logging onto TrekMUSE and playing the role of a Klingon warrior?without ever having to face anyone in person. MUDs can also allow people to change their entire identity, notes clinical psychologist Sherry Turkle, a professor of the sociology of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

'On MUDs, one?s body is represented by one?s own textual description, so the obese can be slender, the beautiful plain, the ?nerdy? sophisticated,' Turkle writes in her book, 'Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet' (Touchstone, 1997).

Life in a MUD can have varied effects on the individual, both positive and worrisome. In her book, Turkle describes her interviews with various MUD participants. They include:

? A 23-year-old physics graduate student who is logged onto a MUD for 40 hours a week, building a life that is far more expansive than anything he would dare in real life?and thus feeling worse about himself.

? A college freshman who became a MUD administrator?handling such responsibilities as settling conflicts between participants and handling technical problems?and developed strong negotiation and diplomacy skills that boosted his self-confidence.

? A mild-mannered male industrial designer who plays the role of women online because it makes it easier for him to be aggressive and confrontational, like his mother.

Thus, Turkle has found some people seem to be learning and growing by spending time in MUDs, while others use their lives on the screen to act out rather than work through problems.

'This kind of world is hard for any humdrum reality to compete with, says psychologist Patricia Wallace, PhD, who is chief information officer of the University of Maryland University College. 'That?s especially true for people whose lives are troubled by low self-esteem, boredom, lack of social support or unsatisfactory personal relationships.'

Welcome to The Palace

Suler?s study of MUD participants focuses on The Palace (www.thepalace.com), a highly visual chat environment that he?s been exploring for several years. A variety of Palace sites are located on the Internet, varying widely in technical and artistic sophistication, Suler says.

One of the most popular Palace sites is 'The Mansion,' which consists of many rooms, including a bar, bedrooms and a study. Users can move within and between rooms. And they can create icons, also known as 'avatars,' to represent themselves. Participants talk with each other by typing in comments that appear in balloons that pop out from one?s head?much like dialogue is depicted in a comic book. Suler is exploring the psychological and social dynamics of the virtual community. He?s conducting field observations, in part by actively participating in the Mansion. He?s also conducted e-mail interviews with Palace participants, and at times just watched the banter and chatting that occurs in the Palace.

'I don?t know exactly what I expect to find out,' he says. 'I?m just going with the flow to learn how these communities evolve?to learn about online friendships, online romance, online addictions, online life.'

In addition to his research, Suler has become a real-life consultant to the Palace community, helping administrators or 'wizards' deal with people who introduce pornographic avatars, use profane language or engage in other deviant behaviors. That kind of consulting work appears necessary. Cyberspace is anything but free of the oppression, victimization and violence that beset the real world, psychologists note.

Wallace, in her forthcoming book, 'Psychology of the Internet' (Cambridge University Press, 1999), recounts the case of a LambdaMOO character who committed a 'cyber-rape.' By using a programmatic device, the character, named Mr. Bungle, made it appear that one of the other characters was performing a sex act on him.

'Yes, MUDs can be enchanting because of their programmatic flexibility,' she writes. 'But that flexibility combined with anonymity can sometimes lead to very troubling behavior.'Y

Details about Suler?s ongoing study of The Palace can be found on his 'Psychology of Cyberspace' World Wide Web site at www1.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psycyber.html.