Dungeons and Dragons--Oh NO! By Karen Wendelboe

Seeking to explore the stranger crevices of the Internet, I plunged into the virtual reality of a Multi-User-Domain, known as Crimson II. The home of this MUD is in Eneschede, the Netherlands. It is entirely text-based and is referred to as a Dukemud, a.k.a. a place where to kill big bad monsters in cyberspace. My reason for choosing this particular mud was simply that it has a web page at http://rocler.qc.ca/sthiel/top.htm . This provides easy access if your browser is set up for tele-netting.

In Crimson II I discovered a foreign world complete with a specially developed dialect designed for quick communication. I entered a name and a password. Next I choose my personae from a list that included orcs, drow elves, magicians, humans and much more. Gender was optional. Finally I decided upon a class. Each class has specific powers, weapons and other attributes. You may also enter a description of your character that will be revealed to other interested players. As a so called newbie I entered the reception area from where I was directed to the dressing room. After examining various items and signs I confidently headed out toward the Grunt Bar where I encountered a fellow Mudder who informed me that I was not wearing anything. I responded with a virtual blush communicated by "emote blush" and hurriedly returned to the dressing room to find the appropriate clothes. Realizing there was more to this than just wandering around waiting for something to happen I enlisted the help of my son and managed to access a newbie handbook which provided the key to the appropriate acronyms and expected behavior.

Having mastered a few commands, and remembering to dress, I was ready to meet the fantastical personas of the Mud. However, these virtual identities reflected the same diversity found in reality. There was Osmid who invited my son's personae of Ishmor to join his hunting group and helped him acquire both treasures and a higher level. Lilly lurked in the hotel entrance and was described as enjoying kissing. Ishmor's encounters with this personae were under my strict parental guidance. Thorer had a nasty habit of misleading the inexperienced Ishmor into various pitfalls. Then there was Chris, apparently from New York whose unpretentious character seemed somewhat out of place in virtual reality.

Although the objective of the mud is to seek out and kill monsters, it is also a social community, where friendships, real or virtual, are made. When a player announced that he was accepted at Boston University, a series of "congratulations" flashed across the screen in different languages. Another player entered the MUD and was greeted by fellow mudders. Asked how he was doing, he replied that nothing had changed. Immediately he was given hugs, kisses and supportive statements. The only flaming I observed, outside the heat of a virtual battle, was a debate over the merits of ABBA, the Eagles and ZZ Top. References to these older groups made me question the real age of the players, whom I had initially assumed to be in their late teens to early twenties.

Communication can take place privately or be limited to those in the same virtual room. Messages may also be sent globally across all channels of the MUD. Each variation has its own key phrase. A map is available to assist in the navigation through the various stores, guilds, bars and other locations that have been created. Treasures can be found by wandering around and collecting what other players have discarded or by killing a dragon or other monster. Unfortunately, the kill commands always eluded me and I ended most of my sessions by dying.

This is a small MUD with only 16-38 online players at any one time. Despite this, words scrolled down my screen so quickly I felt disorientated. Mudding is obviously a unique mode of communication and one that I have not become proficient at. Although my mudding time was mildly entertaining, it wasted hours of precious time while providing neither knowledge or personal satisfaction, yet it is estimated that over 10% of bandwidth is used by Mudding. Perhaps I've just invested so many years in establishing my real time character that the art of creating a virtual personae is lost to me.

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