Difference between revisions of "LambdaMOO"

Revision as of 02:39, 5 December 2011

LamdaMOO is a text-based online community that began in 1990. Developed by Pavel Curtis at Xerox PARC, at the height of its use LambdaMOO had nearly 10,000 active users. Seen as a type of social experiment by Curtis, the community was largely ungoverned after 1992 until the infamous virtual rape case of 1993, which was publicly described in Julian Dibbell's article, "A Rape in Cyberspace" (published in the Village Voice). After the incident, LamdaMOO's community (with help from the Wizards, or administrators) attempted to restore order through arbitrations and petitions but as the community grew more and more

History

LambdaMOO began as a project to see if MUD software could be used for recreational purposes^[1]. The software allows users to chat with one another and to add features to the setting of the community. The layout of the community is based off of Curtis's California home^[2]. Users enter the community through the "Coat Closet", which is a silent room that allows for guests to become oriented to the different commands and general "feel" of LambdaMOO. The coat room takes users into Living Room #17, which is a common gathering place for many users.

Commands

Here are a list of common commands in LambdaMOO.

Action You Type What You Get

1)Logging in-CONNECT GUEST (hit enter)-You log in as a guest.

2)Looking-L, L(Character)-Type 'L' for a room description. Type 'L(Character)to see a character's description.

3)Walking-N(for North), NW(for Northwest)-To enter and leave rooms.

4)Talking-"HELLO THERE-All players in the room see: Guest says, "Hello there".

5)Emoting-:SMILES-All players in the room see: Guest smiles.

6)Transporting-@go(room number)-Will transport you directly into a room.

7)Paging-PAGE(character)HI THERE-Specified character will see: GUEST PAGES YOU, HI THERE

8)HELP-HELP(anything)-Help on any command.

9)Find popular rooms-@parties-Will show you rooms with a large amount of people.

10)Apply for a character-@request-This is done before logging in as a guest.

Notable Incidents

The Bungle Affair

In 1993, the occurrences which have become known as the Bungle Affair in the magical, online, text-based world of LambdaMOO took place in Living Room #17. This was a high-traffic "room" in LambdMOO and many witnessed a character known as Mr. Bungle used a subprogram he referred to as his "voo-doo doll" which gave the appearance that other users were performing sexual and brutal acts on themselves and other characters present. This incident is described in great detail in Julian Dibbell's article "A Rape in Cyberspace". The two main characters which Mr. Bungle's subprogram embodied were attached to female users. These two users, as well as others in the room, were extremely affected by Mr. Bungle's actions in LambdaMOO. They felt that not only were their characters violated, but they themselves were violated. One of the characters, legba, suggested that Mr. Bungle be "toaded", or that his character be banned from LambdaMOO and destroyed. The system administrators, or "wizards," at first rejected the idea as they did not want much power in the community. At first they reinforced that they were only there for technical reasons. However, after a meeting of many community members in which the Bungle Affair and its consequences were discussed, a wizard decided to eliminate Mr. Bungle from LambdaMOO. These proceedings eventually lead to a new system where feedback and wishes could be submitted to the wizards and put up to a community vote.

Some argue that Mr. Bungle's actions on LambdaMOO are trivial and unimportant because they occurred in the virtual world. Proponents of this argument state that we, as humans, can make choices and should separate ourselves from the online world. However, others, including a seeming majority of LambdaMOO residents, felt that they were also affected in real life by this incident and that Mr. Bungle's actions should have some sort of consequence. This brings into question the line between real and virtual worlds and whether or not actions in online environments can have an impact in the real world.

References

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LambdaMOO#cite_note-netgames-10
2. ↑ http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/cs181/projects/controlling-the-virtual-world/history/mud.html