GENDER SWAPPING ON THE INTERNET

Presented at The Internet Society, San Fransisco, CA, August 1993.


        Gender Swapping on the Internet Proc. INET'93   A.S. Bruckman

                                       
                                    EFC-1
                       GENDER SWAPPING ON THE INTERNET
                                       
                             Amy S. Bruckman


On the television show Saturday Night Live, a series of skits concerned a
character named Pat, who has no apparent gender.  The audience is tempted with
the promise of clues.  In one episode, Pat gets his or her hair cut.  A sign
in the salon says that men's haircuts are $7, and women's haircuts are $9.
The audience waits in suspense: when Pat goes to pay, his or her true gender
will be revealed.  The humor of the series lies in the fact that those hopes
are constantly foiled; in this instance, Pat leaves $10 and says to keep the
change.

Gender is so fundamental to human interactions, that the idea of a person
without gender is absurd.  The audience thinks that surely some clue must
reveal Pat's gender, but none ever does.  Many who have never seen Saturday
Night Live know about Pat.(2) The character has become a kind of cultural icon.
Pat's popularity is revealing.

On many MUDs, it is possible to create gender neutral characters.  It is
possible not only to meet Pat, but also to be Pat.  When I(3) first met an
ungendered character, I felt a profound sense of unease.  How should I relate
to this person?  Most unsettling was my unease about my unease: why should
this matter?  I am having a casual conversation with a random stranger; why
should I feel a need to know his or her gender?

The experience highlights two things: the ways in which gender structures
human interactions, and, more importantly, the ways in which MUDs help people
to understand these phenomena by experiencing them.  This paper briefly
introduces the technology called MUDs, and then analyzes a community
discussion about the role of gender in human social interaction which was
inspired by the participants' experiences in MUDs.  Gender swapping is one
example of how the Internet has the potential to change not just work practice
but also culture and values.


II. WHAT ARE MUDS?
A MUD is a text-based multi-user virtual-reality environment.  As of April
16th, 1993, there were 276 publicly announced MUDs based on twenty different
kinds of software on the Internet.  I will use the term "MUD," which
stands for "Multi-User Dungeon," to refer to all the various kinds.(4) The
original MUDs were adventure games; however, the technology has been adapted
to a variety of purposes.

When a person first logs onto a MUD, he or she creates a character.  The
person selects the character's name and gender, and writes a description of
what the character looks like.  It is possible for a character to be male or
female, regardless of the gender of the player.  In many MUDs, a character can
also be neuter or even plural.  A plural character could, for example, be
called swarm_of_bees or Laurel&Hardy.

MUDs are organized around the metaphor of physical space.  You can "talk" to
anyone in the same virtual room.  When you connect to a MUD at the Media Lab
called MediaMOO,(5) you see the description:

 >connect guest
 Okay,... guest is in use.  Logging you in as `Green_Guest'
 *** Connected ***
 The LEGO Closet

 It's dark in here, and there are little crunchy plastic things under your
   feet!  Groping around, you discover what feels like a doorknob on one wall.

 Obvious exits: out to The E&L Garden

MediaMOO is a virtual representation of the MIT Media Lab.  Typing "out" gets
you to the "E&L Garden," a central work area for the lab's Epistemology and
Learning research group:

 >out
 The E&L Garden
 The E&L Garden is a happy jumble of little and big computers, papers, coffee
 cups, and stray pieces of LEGO.
 Obvious exits: hallway to E&L Hallway, closet to The LEGO Closet, and sts to
 STS Centre Lounge

 You see a newspaper, a Warhol print, a Sun SPARCstation IPC, Projects
 Chalkboard, and Research Directory here.  
 Amy is here.

 >say hi
 You say, "hi"
 Amy says, "Hi Green_Guest!  Welcome!"

The earliest MUDs such as "MUD1" and "Scepter of Goth" were based on the
role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, and were written in late 1978 to
1979.(6) They were also based on early single-user text adventure games, such
as the original ADVENT by Crowther and Woods [7].  In adventure-based MUDs,
the object is to kill monsters and obtain treasure in order to gain
"experience points."  As a character gains experience, he/she/it becomes more
powerful.

In 1989, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University named James Aspnes
decided to see what would happen if the monsters and magic swords were
removed.  He created a new type of MUD, called "TinyMUD," which was not an
adventure game.  Instead of spending time killing virtual monsters,
participants work together to help extend the virtual world using a simple
programming language.  Langdon Winner remarks that "social activity is an
ongoing process of world-making" [9].  In MUDs, this is true in a literal
sense.

In most MUDs, characters are anonymous.  People who become friends can
exchange real names and email addresses, but many choose not to.  Conventions
about when it is acceptable to talk about "real life" vary between
communities.  In most MUDs, people begin to talk more about real life when
they get to know someone better.  However, in some communities such as those
based on the Dragonriders of Pern series of books by Anne McCaffrey, talking
about real life is taboo.

MUDs are increasingly being used for more "serious" purposes.  Pavel Curtis of
Xerox PARC has developed a MUD to enhance professional community amongst
astrophysicists called AstroVR [4].  The MediaMOO project, which I began in
fall of 1992, is designed to enhance professional community amongst media
researchers [2].  MediaMOO currently has over 500 participants from fourteen
countries and is growing rapidly.

MUDs also have an intriguing potential as an educational environment.  Since
1990, Barry Kort has been running a MUD for children called MicroMUSE.(7) I am
currently in the process of designing a MUD language and interface to make the
technology more usable by children as part of my dissertation research.  I
hope to use this technology to encourage ten to twelve year-old girls to be
more interested in computers.


III. A PUBLIC DEBATE ABOUT GENDER
Gender pervades human interactions in such basic ways that its impact is often
difficult to observe.  Phenomena that are subtle in real life become obvious
in MUDs, and are a frequent topic of discussion on USENET newsgroups about
MUDs.  For example, men are often surprised at how they are treated when they
log on as a female character.  Andrew writes on the newsgroup
rec.games.mud:(8)

 "Back when I had time for MUD, I, too, played female characters.  I found it
 extraordinarily interesting.  It gave me a slightly more concrete
 understanding of why some women say, "Men suck."  It was both amusing and
 disturbing."

Female characters are often besieged with attention.  By typing using the who
command, it is possible to get a list of all characters logged on.  The page
command allows one to talk to people not in the same room.  Many male players
will get a list of all present, and then page characters with female names.
Unwanted attention and sexual advances create an uncomfortable atmosphere for
women in MUDs, just as they do in real life.

Many people, both male and female, enjoy the attention paid to female
characters.  Male players will often log on as female characters and behave
suggestively, further encouraging sexual advances.  Pavel Curtis has noted
that the most promiscuous and sexually aggressive women are usually played by
men.  If you meet a character named "FabulousHotBabe," she is almost certainly
a he in real life [3].

Perhaps more damaging than unwanted sexual advances are unrequested offers of
assistance.  Carol, an experienced programmer who runs a MUD in Britain,
writes on rec.games.mud:

 "What I *do* think is funny is this misconception that women can't play muds,
 can't work out puzzles, can't even type "kill monster" without help.  (Okay, I
 admit we have it on this side of the Atlantic too...) Thanks, guys....  I log
 on, they work out I am female, and then the fun begins. Oh joy! After all, I
 don't log on to see whether people have found bugs with my little area, or to
 dispense arbitrary justice ("Please, Miss, he stole my sword!") or to find a
 friend. I call Aber-o-rama(9) (for this is the place) expressly to meet little
 spods who think (I assume) that because I am female I need help.  People
 offering me help to solve puzzles *I* wrote are not going to get very far.

 Do you think all women in real life too are the same? We don't squeak and look
 helpless *all* the time (in my case, only when I am tired and can't be
 bothered to wire the plug, change a fuse or remove the centipede from the bath
 (I really should move house...))."

The constant assumption that women need help can be damaging to a woman's
sense of self esteem and competence.  If people treat you like an incompetent,
you may begin to believe it.  Carol here is honest and astute enough to admit
that women as well as men help create this problem- sometimes she acts
helpless when she's simply "tired and can't be bothered" to complete an
uninteresting or unpleasant task.

In the same netnews discussion, Dennis concurs with Carol:

 "I played a couple of muds as a female, one making up to wizard level.  And
 the first thing I noticed was that the above was true.  Other players start
 showering you with money to help you get started, and I had never once gotten
 a handout when playing a male player.  And then they feel they should be
 allowed to tag along forever, and feel hurt when you leave them to go off and
 explore by yourself.  Then when you give them the knee after they grope you,
 they wonder what your problem is, reciting that famous saying "What's your
 problem?  It's only a game".  Lest you get the wrong idea, there was nothing
 suggesting about my character, merely a female name and the appropriate
 pronouns in the bland description.  Did I mention the friendly wizard who
 turned cold when he discovered I was male in real life?  I guess some people
 are jerks in real life too."

Male characters often expect sexual favors in return for technical assistance.
A male character once requested a kiss from me after answering a question.  A
gift always incurs an obligation.  Offering technical help, like picking up
the check at dinner, can be used to try to purchase rather than win a woman's
favor.  While this can be subtle and sometimes overlooked in real life, in
MUDs it is blatant, directly experienced by most, and openly discussed in
public forums such as this USENET discussion.

Ellen provides an interesting counter point:

 "This is very odd.  I played LPmud(10) once, just to find out what it was
 like.  Since most LP's do something hideous with my preferred capitalization
 of my preferred name, I chose a different name, and thought, what the heck,
 I'd try genderbending and find out if it was true that people would be nasty
 and kill me on sight and other stuff I'd heard about on r.g.m(11).  But, no,
 everyone was helpful (I was truly clueless and needed the assistance); someone
 gave me enough money to buy a weapon and armor and someone else showed me
 where the easy-to-kill newbie(12) monsters were.  They definitely went out of
 their way to be nice to a male-presenting newbie...  (These were all
 male-presenting players, btw.(13))

 One theory is that my male character (Argyle, description "A short squat
 fellow who is looking for his socks") was pretty innocuous.  Maybe people are
 only nasty if you are "A broad-shouldered perfect specimen of a man" or
 something of that nature, which can be taken as vaguely attacking.  People are
 nice if they don't view you as a threat."

Ellen's point is intriguing, and takes the discussion to a new level of
sophistication.  In "Group Psychology and Analysis of the Ego," Sigmund Freud
suggests that "love relationships... constitute the essence of the group mind"
[5].  Issues of sexual power structure interpersonal interactions, and are
more complex than "boy chases girl."  Argyle's description invites a phallic
interpretation- he is short and squat, and the reference to socks carries a
connotation of limpness.  Since Argyle is clearly not a sexual threat, he
receives kinder treatment.

One cannot fail to be impressed by the quality of the netnews discussion.  For
the participants, MUDding throws issues of the impact of gender on human
relations into high relief.  Fundamental to its impact is the fact that it
allows people to experience rather than merely observe what it feels like to
be the opposite gender or have no gender at all.

Without makeup, special clothing, or risk of social stigma, gender becomes
malleable in MUDs.  When gender becomes a property that can be reset with a
line of code, one bit in a data structure, it becomes an "object to think
with," to use Seymour Papert's terminology [6].  In public forums like
rec.games.mud, people reflect the values that our society attaches to gender.
In private experiences, people can explore the impact of gender on their lives
and their constructions of themselves.


V. CONCLUSION
Gender is just one example of an aspect of personal identity that people
explore on MUDs.  Examples abound.  Jack is a British student studying in
America.  He logs onto MUDs in the morning when it is afternoon in Britain and
many British players are on.  He enjoys confusing them- he tells them he is in
America, but displays a detailed knowledge of Britain.  On further
questioning, Jack tells me he is trying to decide whether to return to Britain
or continue his studies in America.  What does it mean to be British or
American?  Jack is exploring his sense of national identity in virtual
reality.  MUDs are an identity workshop.

Gender swapping is an extreme example of a fundamental fact: the network is in
the process of changing not just how we work, but how we think of ourselves-
and ultimately, who we are.


VI. REFERENCES

[1]     A. Bruckman.  "Identity Workshop: Emergent Social and Psychological
Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Reality."  Unpublished manuscript, 1992.
Available via anonymous ftp from media.mit.edu in pub/asb/papers/
identity-workshop.{ps.Z, rtf.Z}

[2]     A. Bruckman and M. Resnick.  "Virtual Professional Community: Results
from the MediaMOO Project."  Presented at the Third International Conference
on Cyberspace in Austin, Texas on May 15th, 1993.  Available via anonymous ftp
from media.mit.edu in pub/asb/papers/MediaMOO-3cyberconf.{ps.Z,rtf.Z,txt}

[3]     P. Curtis.  "MUDding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual
Realities."  Proceedings of DIAC Ô92.  Available via anonymous ftp from
parcftp.xerox.com, pub/MOO/papers/DIAC92.{ps, txt}.

[4]     P. Curtis and D. Nichols.  "MUDs Grow Up: Social Virtual Reality in
the Real World."  Presented at the Third International Conference on
Cyberspace in Austin, Texas on May 15th, 1993.  Available via anonymous ftp
from parcftp.xerox.com in pub/MOO/papers/MUDsGrowUp. {ps,txt}

[5]     S. Freud.  Group Psychology and Analysis of the Ego.  New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 1989.

[6]     S. Papert.  Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas.  New
York: Basic Books, 1980.

[7]     E. Raymond.  The New Hackers Dictionary.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
1991.

[8 ]    S. Turkle.  The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit.  New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

[9]     L. Winner.  The Whale and the Reactor.  Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1986.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I'd like to thank MIT Professors Sherry Turkle, Mitchel Resnick, and Glorianna
Davenport for their support of this research.  Warren Sack and Lenny Foner
read drafts of this paper.  Most importantly, I'd like to thank the MUDders
who have shared their experiences with me.


AUTHOR INFORMATION
Amy Bruckman is a doctoral candidate in the Epistemology and Learning Group at
the Media Lab at MIT.  She received her BA in physics from Harvard University
in 1987.  She received her MS from the Media Lab in the Interactive Cinema
Group in 1991.  Her master's thesis project is a system called "The Electronic
Scrapbook" designed to help users to edit their home videos.  She is founder
and ArchJanitor of MediaMOO, a MUD designed to enhance professional community
amongst media researchers.  In her current research she is exploring the
potential of MUDs as a learning environment for children.  In particular, she
is interested in using MUDs to encourage girls to be more interested in
computers.  


NOTES
(1)Amy Bruckman is with the MIT Media Laboratory.  She may be reached at
asb@media-lab.media.mit.edu

(2)In fact, I retell this story second hand; the details may not exactly
reflect the television show.

(3)I have chosen to write in the first person, because many of the ideas in
this paper are based on my experiences as a participant-observer, and because
notions of identity are part of my topic.

(4)On March 6th, 1992 there were 143 MUDs based on 13 kinds of software.  This
is an increase of 93% in number of MUDs and 54% in number of types of software
over slightly more than a year.  MUDs are constantly being created and
destroyed.  A current list is regularly posted to the USENET news group
rec.games.mud.announce.

(5) To connect to MediaMOO, type "telnet purple-crayon.media.mit.edu 8888"
from a UNIX system on the Internet.  Send electronic mail to
mediamoo-registration@media.mit.edu for more information.

(6)The earliest multi-player games existed on stand-alone time-sharing
systems.  In 1977, Jim Guyton adapted a game called "mazewar" to run on the
ARPAnet.  Participants in mazewar could duck around corners of a maze and
shoot at one another, but could not communicate in any other fashion [email
conversation with Jim Guyton, March 1992].  Numerous multi-user games based on
the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game appeared in 1978-1979 including
Scepter of Goth by Alan Klietz and MUD1 by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle
[email conversation with Alan Klietz, March 1992].

(7)MicroMUSE is at chezmoto.ai.mit.edu 4201.

(8)This is an excerpt from a USENET discussion on about MUDs.  Communications
technologies have complex interactions.  Since most MUDders have read USENET
groups about MUDding for at least some period of time, the culture of USENET
and of MUDs are in some ways linked.  Social conventions evolve in the context
of the complete set of technologies in use, including email, netnews, surface
mail, telephones, answering machines, voice mail, television, radio,
newspapers, magazines, books, and the like.  Email, netnews, and MUDs have
especially complex interactions.

(9)The name of the MUD has been changed.

(10)LPMUDs are a type of adventure-game-style MUD.  

(11)The abbreviation "r.g.m" stands for "rec.games.mud," the USENET newsgroup
on which this discussion is taking place.

(12)A newbie is a new player with little experience.  According to Raymond
[7], the term comes from British slang for "new boy," and first became popular
on the net in the group talk.bizarre.  A newbie monster is a monster that a
low-level player could defeat.

(13)This is an abbreviation for "by the way."