Dibbell

O MY A LINK - HERE

Julian Dibbell introduced us to quite a topic with her reading for class on Wednesday, A Rape in Cyberspace. We have talked about LambdaMOO before when it comes to textual based MUDs and have also looked at it first hand through and example during class. Never did I think that all of this discussion of MUDs would I think it would lead to the discussion of rape. The basis of this article is about an avatar that called himself, Mr. Bungle. Mr. Bungle entered into LambdaMOO one day and stepped into the living room where he found two other avatars, Starsinger and Legba. Now the description that Mr. Bungle brought with him is something in itself; “he was at the time a fat, oleaginous, Bisquick-faced clown dressed in com-stained harlequin garb and girdles with a mistletoe-and hemlock belt whose buckle bore the quaint inscription “KISS ME UDER THIS, BITCH!” He had written a program that would make different avatars “say” that they were doing different acts. He was having them sexually service him and eventually turned his attacks to Legba and Starsinger in particular. He proceeded to make Legba eat his/her own pubic hair and Starsinger to violate herself with a piece of kitchen cutlery, all while laughing in the background. This obviously came at an outrage from the other people located in LambdaMOO and eventually the Wizard, Zippy, came to put Mr. Bungle into a cage.

What followed from this incident was outrage from the people that were involved with the incident and many days of discussing the event and what to do. While Mr. Bungle eventually got out of his cage he was then “toaded” after coming back as another avatar to sit back and watch as those who he had violated talked about him. This raises the question that we talked about so much in class, is this type of textual harassment to be considered rape? I definitely think that this is not a question that just one person can answer. I do know that in real life rape there is not only the emotional damage, but also physical damage so if anything I believe what has happened online in this “text” based world is no more than sexual harassment. Obviously there are many ways to approach this situation and to look at it, but in terms of this reader it is viewed as sexual harassment and not rape. The same type of argument is had about whether virtual cheating is like cheating in real life. WE have also discussed this “rape” in terms of a text based MUD, but what about a MUD similar to Second Life.

The article I have found that related to the Dibbell article is about rape in Second Life. The article is entitled, “Can ‘virtual rape’ in Second Life be a crime?” The article is talking about how the Belgian police are investigating an allegation of a rape in Second Life. They are trying to answer the question if a “pixilated” online game where you can exit at anytime if an activity such as this can be considered rape. They discuss how rape in real life is where the victim does not want it to happen and cannot stop it from happening and there is physical force involved. But in a MUD such as Second Life the victim is able to stop it from happening at anytime by simply signing off or unplugging or disconnecting. In this case the victim has power of the perpetrator. What needs to be understood is that the victim can stop it at any time. They discuss how that if the victim does not shut down what is happening, and then maybe they wanted it to happen to begin with??? The use of a MUD allows the user to experience something they might not otherwise be able to “experience” in real life. The Net allows for us all to do this. They leave you with the question…if you can unplug then, is it rape??? The question is out there for you to answer yourself…