MUDS - Rheingold

Howard Rheingold introduced us to Multi-User Dungeons also called MUDS which he explained to be, “Imaginary worlds in computer databases where people use worlds and programming languages to improvise melodramas, build worlds and all the objects in them, solve puzzles, invent amusements and tools, compete for prestige power, gain wisdom, seek revenge, indulge greed and lust and violent impulses.” The main component of a MUD is that it forms a community. It lets people interact with each other using alternate, multiple, false, and exploratory identities. The most vital identity is the identity to be “perfect.” People often form identities making them someone that they always wanted to be or just try to live in someone else's shoes. MUDS let people live an alternate life and sometimes spend more time in their online community then actual reality which can effect their social interactions and school performance.

There are times when I am sick of reality and resort to other activities to get my mind of certain things however, not going to the extreme by making a new identity and becoming someone else. I personally feel like people who use alternate identities aren’t comfortable with themselves in reality. I for one am comfortable with myself and don’t see the need to be apart of a community acting as someone else and meeting random people. I understand how one can be addicted to MUDS and spend hours on it a week. I use networks like Facebook and with that I can understand how people can waste hours and become addicted to something so quickly however, I would never make a false/altered identity. I have only one identity and would never be someone else nor reveal false or too much true information. I see MUDS as being very interesting of how thousands of people interact at once and connect with each other yet, I don't think I would ever resort to one. I don’t see the point of interacting with strangers whom you know your never going to meet (lets say they are from a different county) and whom you don’t even really know. Online I have addictions certain websites and AIM however, these never distort my perception from reality, MUDS I believe do. i think it is unhealthy for people to spend so much time using MUDS because it can affect them socially. I think people get to involved in imaginary worlds on computers and they lose touch with reality and the real things that matter in life.