Cruising the Internet in the MUD?

By Ruli Manurung

JAKARTA (JP): Cyberspace. Cyberporn. Cybersex. Cyberpunk. Cybersports. Cybercop. Here a Cyber, there a Cyber, everywhere a Cyber Cyber. What is the next phenomenon? Try CyberMUDs.

It seems that everywhere you go, someone is talking about the Internet. The media, from teeny-bopper magazines to Gatra is screaming about it. Local providers such as RADnet, IndoInternet, CBNnet and IDOLA are falling over each other to serve the thousands of potential cyber-surfies that are only now beginning to realize the wonders of the Internet. Much of the hype and attention has been devoted to the World Wide Web, the huge network of multimedia databases that can give you everything, from last night's NBA game results to the latest stock prices and Keanu Reeves' latest pin-up poster. Much coverage has also been given to the coolth of e-mail, which enables you to contact people across the world cheaply and quickly.

Throughout this media blitz, some parts of the Internet have remained far from the limelight. Perhaps the most interesting and least known feature of the Internet is MUDs. MUDs, short for "multiple user domains", are places on the Internet where users can get lost in a virtual world full of interesting places to go, wild items to pick up, and other characters to converse with. It's a lot like an adventure role-playing game, but to pass it off as just another game would be to underestimate it.

So, what exactly are they?

MUDs are big databases in which people interact and create things in a text-based environment. But emotionally, MUDs are virtual worlds in which the user can create new identities, meet strange creatures, make new friends, and travel to fantastic places. You can even modify the world or create your own little corner in it. Some existing MUDs are based on the Star Trek television series, some on J.R.R. Tolkien's universe from The Lord of The Rings, and some are based on Mad Max, the popular movie series in which Mel Gibson stars.

How does it work exactly?

It's quite simple, actually. The user just inputs his command at a command prompt, just like you would copy a file or execute a program in DOS. Here's a small on-screen example of what "life" in a MUD might look like:

You walk north, ducking beneath low reaching branches and hanging Spanish moss... The lawn stretches away in all directions, flat green grass dotted with buttercups and evening primroses. Huge oak trees dripping with gray -- green Spanish moss whispers in the cool, wet breeze that blows across the river. Here you can see a birthday cake and a neatly wrapped gift. Alvon, Ahmad, Ismet and Sherly are here.

Ruli waves to everybody!

Alvon smiles, "Happy birthday, Ruli! Glad you could make it!"

Sherly says, "Happy Birthday! Hey, open your present!"

You say, "Oh wow...Thank You!"

Sitting on a silver platter on a white linen cloth is a rich chocolate cake. It is iced creamy white, and on top are letters in red reading, "Happy Birthday!"

You whisper, "Wow. Great looking cake. Thanks again!" to Sherly.

Witness how rich the virtual scenery is. Sprawling Victorian lawns, murky post-apocalyptic wastelands, and even glitzy discotheques can be found on the Internet. This is Virtual Reality, only text-based. It may not have any cutting-edge three dimensional graphics, but with the right imagination, it can transport you to a whole new world. On some MUDs, you can find hundreds of people roaming around. Some people even prefer their virtual worlds to RL (as dedicated MUD users call real life).

"This is more real than my real life!" says a character who joins in regularly on LambdaMOO, a MUD developed by the famed Xerox Palo Alto Research center. Such is the disillusionment that some hardcore MUD users experience, clutching the threshold between the real and the virtual.

At College and Varsity networks across America, MUDs are turning into the latest Internet phenomenon. Hundreds of MUDs, originating from the minds and imaginations of students, are available on the Internet, and each one of them has a unique setting, a unique population, and it's own set of rules. They're all different. MUDs fall into several categories. First, there are Chat MUDs, where users basically wander from room to room in the virtual space, conversing with one another, talking about anything from marriage to politics. Next, there are a growing number of Educational MUDs, which are used by universities to host national academic conferences, to provide virtual meeting places for students after hours, and to encourage creative writing. There are also Combat MUDs, where users take on the role of a warrior and enter virtual dungeons, ready to slay monsters, search for gold, and rescue any damsels that happen to be in distress.

What about here in Indonesia? Well, we have our own homegrown MUDs. Back in 1992, roughly around three years before "the rest of us" got to know about the digital revolution, there were small BBS-es (Bulletin Board Systems) that supplied Chat MUDs, such as Clarissa de Adisasta, where users logged on nightly to gossip about each other and discuss movies. On the campus of the School of Computer Science at the University of Indonesia there is the Fasilkom ChatMUD, located on the Anoman server, just like the ones that can be found on the Internet. Campus students frequently log in to have some fun between courses. Sunan, one of the students who occasionally plays there, says, "It's a lot of fun. You can wrestle, tickle, kiss, even throw cream pies at other guys!" Nogi, yet another user on the local ChatMUD, says, "This is a lot of fun, but it's even better on the Internet because you can meet new characters who actually come from all over the world, not just from your campus."

This last remark brings up a whole new angle on MUDs, one that is quite controversial. The fact that the characters you meet on the Internet MUDs can be anyone, anywhere, poses a dangerous threat. You could be chatting with a lawyer in London, or you could be chatting with a psychopath from New York! You might never know the real identity of the characters you get involved with in the virtual world, characters you might build a strong relationship with. About a year ago, there was a terrifying story in the news about a 12-year-old boy who befriended a hardened paedophile on the Internet who was masquerading as a really nice man. This man finally persuaded the boy to actually meet, and assaulted and molested him.

There are a lot of Internet transvestites too. What's that, I hear you ask? Basically, these are users who play characters on the MUD that are different from their own gender. A man might pretend to be a slender, sexy and beautiful woman in the virtual world, and a woman might masquerade as a mighty, virile young man. There have even been reports of a man in real life playing a woman pretending to be a man on the MUD! These are the kinds of people you will meet on the anarchic Internet. As one dog, its paw on a keyboard, explained to another dog in a New Yorker cartoon: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Don't be too scared of these characters, though. Most MUDs have a code of ethics that players will observe, and if anyone you come across starts harassing you in any way, you can just alert the MUD's system administrator to have the obnoxious character banished from the virtual world!

So what will the future of MUDs bring us? It's clearly a fun, entertaining and educational place to hang around or just pass time on the Internet. On the other hand, the paedophiles and the transvestites continue to roam the virtual worlds, pretending to be other characters. Will you be there too? It's easy. You can find an abundance of information about how to enter MUDs on the World Wide Web. Come join the party!