A Rape in the MUD Community

A sense was brewing that something needed to be done–done soon and in something like an organized fashion–about Mr. Bungle, in particular, and about MUD rape, in general. Regarding the general problem, evangeline, who identified herself as a survivor of both virtual rape (“many times over”) and real-life sexual assault, floated a cautious proposal for a MOO-wide powwow on the subject of virtual sex offenses and what mechanisms if any might be put in place to deal with their future occurrence. As for the specific problem, the answer no doubt seemed obvious to many. But it wasn’t until the evening of the second day after the incident that legba, finally and rather solemnly, gave it voice: “I am requesting that Mr. Bungle be toaded for raping Starsinger and I. I have never done this before, and have thought about it for days. He hurt us both.”

— Julian Dibbell “A Rape in Cyberspace” (1993)

Julian Dibbell’s A Rape in Cyberspace is an article which recounts Dibbell’s experience in a MUD community on LambdaMOO. A Multi User Discourse (or MUD) is a command-driven adventure and real-time communication which allows for users to interact with one another and explore adventure environments online which date back to the 1980s. Through MUDs, communities are created amongst players as they begin to create friendships and aid each other in their adventures. Dibbell’s narrative explains to the reader the actions that could be committed within MUD communities and how these actions have changed the way online communities function in the modern day.

Dibbell tells the story of Mr Bungle, a cum-stained clown avatar who uses a “voodoo doll” subprogram on LambdaMOO force female players to perform violent sexual acts upon themselves. These acts include the user Starsinger’s avatar putting “a steak knife up her ass, causing immense joy” and user legba “suffered a brand of degradation all-too customarily reserved for the embodied female”. Mr Bungle gained a bounty on his head throughout this online community, as enraged users demanded for him to be “toaded”, an action that would turn his avatar into a toad “wiping the player’s description and attributes and replacing them with those of the slimy amphibian”. Thus, a debate broke out within the online community about the actions that should be taken towards offending parties in online communities and whether it should be taken seriously in the first place. While both Starsinger and legba state the actions of Mr Bungle as “rape” it is difficult to claim this kind of action without physical interaction. Most of all, this event began the discussion of how to deal with psychological violence in online communities.

The main issue that Dibbell’s narrative presents is the divide between the real world and the virtual world. While the action was entirely virtual and posed no physical harm on any user. However, Mr Bungle’s violation did traumatise the users involved as Dibbell notes “she wrote those words posttraumatic tears were streaming down her face–a real-life fact that should suffice to prove that the words’ emotional content was no mere playacting”. While this event did not physically harm any party, it did have an emotional effect on the users and caused a lack of trust in the LambdaMOO community. Part of this psychological harm can come down to the fact that an avatar is used online as an extension of oneself in most cases, and the female users effected see themselves within their creations. Thus, the rape of cyberspace is a violation of a personal part of the user’s selves that they choose to put online. It is also noted in the above passage that the events also effected a user that was a victim of real-life sexual assault and added to the trauma of the situations.

It is interesting to look at this article in the context of the current internet climate. This sort of event could not occur in most online communities and if it were to happen the offending user would surely get banned without question. Through events such as Mr Bungle’s case, we have been able to develop this safe and conflict-free online environment.