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actions, which included describing sexual acts that characters performed on each other and forcing the characters to perform acts upon themselves, went far beyond the community norms to that point and continued for several hours. They were interpreted as sexual violation of the avatars who were made to act sexually, and incited outrage among the LambdaMOO users, raising questions about the boundaries between
210:, about the emotional trauma caused by his actions. One user whose avatar was a victim, called his voodoo doll activities "a breach of civility" while, in real life, "post-traumatic tears were streaming down her face". However, despite the passionate emotions including anger voiced by many users on LambdaMOO, none were willing to punish the user behind Mr. Bungle through real-life means.
177:, which itself was further divided into subcultures, a phenomenon he inadvertently encountered through his girlfriend. One day, when he was having difficulty contacting her by phone, he searched for her in LambdaMOO because he knew she was a visitor. When he found her, she had been in a meeting regarding how to resolve the issue of a player named Mr. Bungle.
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released a document known as the "New
Direction" which stated that the "wizards" were to serve the purpose of technicians and were not to make decisions which affect the social life of the MOO and to only implement decisions made by the community as a whole. This forced the LambdaMOO community to
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Three days after the event, the users of LambdaMOO arranged an online meeting, which
Dibbell attended under his screenname (Dr. Bombay), to discuss what should be done about Mr. Bungle. The meeting lasted approximately two hours and forty-five minutes, but no conclusive decisions were made. After
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about his experiences, incorporating the article. He remains somewhat astonished at the impact it has had, saying in 1998, "No piece I had done before had managed to convey as vividly to readers the fact that there was something wild and different going on online, something that might profoundly
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Dibbell's "A Rape in
Cyberspace" and other publications that he has made about the Bungle incident have been seen by many scholars and professionals as a key foundation in the topic of virtual rape. The article has been used to take a look at the moral nature of actions within the virtual world.
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Dibbell's "A Rape in
Cyberspace" brought issues of online abuse to light that had not been heard much of during its time. It led to some debate about ethical and legal issues, free speech, how to continue to build the Internet, how to regulate it, and how to potentially prosecute crimes that had
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The "cyberrape" itself was performed by Mr. Bungle, who leveraged a "voodoo doll" subprogram that allowed him to make actions that were falsely attributed to other characters in the virtual community. The "voodoo doll" subprogram was eventually rendered useless by a character named Zippy. These
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In the aftermath of the event, members of the LambdaMOO community came together to discuss how to handle what happened. The community attained a political self-consciousness about itself when deciding how to punish Mr. Bungle for his actions. Prior to the event, LambdaMOO's creator
277:"A Rape in Cyberspace" demonstrates how the virtual world and the real world tend to mix together since the virtual world could not exist without reality, and how Dibbell's experiences in the online community affected his real-world thought process.
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attending the meeting, one of the master-programmers of LambdaMOO (with screenname JoeFeedback), decided on his own to terminate Mr. Bungle's user account. Additionally, upon his return from his business trip, LambdaMOO's main creator,
191:. The avatars are user-programmable and may interact automatically with each other and with objects and locations in the community. Users interacted through script, as there were no graphics or images on the MUD at the time.
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Over two decades later, these events remain one of the primary advertisements for LambdaMOO. Research students still regularly visit the MOO (often sent there by their professors) and start asking users about these events.
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The article also demonstrates the emotional effect which the events that happened within LambdaMoo had on the players. Even though it happened in virtual reality, it was a symbolic form of violation in both realities.
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has said that his chance reading of
Dibbell's article was a key influence on his interest in the field. Sociologist David Trend called it "one of the most frequently cited essays about cloaked identity in cyberspace".
293:
Since the Mr. Bungle case, LambdaMoo set up an arbitration system so that people can file suit against one another and this system has been put into use with the matter of a virtual death.
304:, otherwise known as the mind-body split. The event described in the article illustrates the intellectual self from the physical self through the typing of words on a screen.
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where anyone could put to popular vote anything requiring administrative powers for its implementation. Through this system, LambdaMOO users put into place a
169:'s journalism career began in the music industry, though his writings eventually came to focus mainly the Internet, including various subcultures such as
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never existed before. Since the article was written, interaction with online media has become ubiquitous, making it harder to avoid negative actions of
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and harassers. This sparked the debate of whether these events have real-world repercussions, as the psychological damage the users feel is real.
180:"A Rape in Cyberspace" describes a "cyberrape" that took place on a Monday night in March 1993 and discusses the repercussions of this act on the
680:"The 'rape in cyber space' from 25 years ago posed problems we still haven't solved today: Free speech vs. virtual 'action' on the early web"
237:, but also a group of NYU students on a dorm floor which encouraged his actions by calling out suggestions during the evening of the rape.
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A Rape in
Cyberspace, or How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into a Society
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invent their own self-governance from scratch; in the case of Mr. Bungle, it was decided that his character would be deleted.
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command, which temporarily disconnects disruptive guest users from the server, as well as a number of other new features.
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How an evil clown, a
Haitian trickster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of dozens turned a database into a society.
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where review of computer games are meshed with social observation and consideration of surrounding issues.
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Center for the
Internet and Society. The article is also considered one of the earliest examples of
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It was later discovered that Mr. Bungle's identity consisted not only of a young man attending
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Dibbell continued to participate in LambdaMOO, up to 30 hours a week, and eventually wrote
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Sander, Melissa (2009). "Questions about accountability and illegality of virtual rape".
745:"The Original Internet Abuse Story: Julian Dibbell 20 Years After 'A Rape in Cyberspace'"
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An image of a MUD (Multi-User
Dungeon) similar to the one where the cyber-rape occurred
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The article raised awareness in the legal implications of online activity, including
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Huff, C.; Johnson, D.; Miller, K. (2003). "Virtual Harms and Real
Responsibility".
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Following Mr. Bungle's actions, several users posted on the in-MOO mailing list,
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alter the way they related to words and communication and culture in general."
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High Wired: On the Design, Use, and Theory of Educational MOOs
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This article draws attention to a more modern version of the
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in 1993. The article was later included in Dibbell's book
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations
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and subsequent changes to the design of the MUD program.
588:"Before Roblox: An Online Rape When Cyberspace Was New"
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218:(screenname Archwizard Haakon), set up a system of
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701:My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World
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698:Dibbell, Julian (1998a). "A Rape in Cyberspace".
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125:" is an article written by freelance journalist
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981:CreateSpace & Amazon. 14 October 2012.
874:MacKinnon, Richard (1997). "Virtual Rape".
334:reprinted the article following a reported
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187:LambdaMOO allows players to interact using
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876:Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
969:Dibbell, Julian. "A Rape in Cyberspace."
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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1049:. Women in Gaming Archive, 4 June 1999.
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1064:. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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861:from the original on 9 November 2006
851:"Lawrence Lessig's Supreme Showdown"
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
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1008:The Inevitably-Named "Rape in RPGs"
678:Buck, Stephanie (30 October 2017).
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840:Johnson, Laurie (1 January 2008).
763:Gelman, Lauren (2 December 2002).
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1034:"Pursuing the Libido's Dark Side"
1016:Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
887:Mahadevan, Divya (2 March 2015).
704:. New York: Owl. pp. 11–30.
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789:. University of Michigan Press.
743:Eisinger, Dale (13 April 2017).
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1207:Bartle taxonomy of player types
1010:, Gamegrene.com. 22 March 2005.
889:"A Rape in Cyberspace, starred"
813:Technology and Society Magazine
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503:Huff, Johnson & Miller 2003
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1062:The Psychology of The Internet
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658:Anonymous (27 January 1999).
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765:"CIS Fellow Jullian Dibbell"
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246:Legal and ethical debate
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129:and first published in
660:"Mind game in the MUD"
640:"A Rape in Cyberspace"
620:"A Rape in Cyberspace"
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58:"A Rape in Cyberspace"
1060:Wallace, Patricia M.
1018:. Basic Books, 2000.
933:Trend, David (2001).
849:Levy, Steven (2002).
769:cyberlaw.stanford.edu
724:"Covering Cyberspace"
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1408:Mythic Entertainment
1352:A Rape in Cyberspace
1287:Player versus player
1262:Non-player character
1147:codebases, libraries
1057:. Principia Malefex.
842:"Rape and the Memex"
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325:New Games Journalism
43:improve this article
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973:. 21 December 1993.
321:Stanford Law School
1480:Multi-user dungeon
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638:Anonymous (1995).
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1055:Rape in RPGs
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1053:Whetton, A.
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819:(2): 12–19.
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99:October 2021
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41:Please help
36:verification
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1418:Simutronics
1190:terminology
952:16 December
924:16 December
898:27 November
865:16 December
802:27 November
774:24 November
754:30 November
734:16 December
689:22 November
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649:24 November
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618:Anonymous.
575:Gelman 2002
551:Schulz 1999
515:Sander 2009
1459:Categories
1369:Companies,
1359:Terra Nova
1328:Zone, Area
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376:Trend 2001
346:References
273:Psychology
69:newspapers
1188:Concepts,
1038:Wired.com
440:Anonymous
428:Buck 2017
364:Levy 2002
351:Citations
336:gang rape
220:petitions
197:real-life
171:LambdaMOO
141:LambdaMOO
1445:Category
1308:Twinking
1298:Spawning
1242:Immortal
1227:Grinding
1212:Cybersex
1179:TinyMUCK
859:Archived
833:17693543
330:In 2018
259:Politics
253:"trolls"
241:Analysis
1393:Lysator
1222:Griefer
1159:GodWars
1126:DikuMUD
1121:AberMUD
920:. Wired
911:: 1–95.
224:ballots
189:avatars
154:History
139:on his
83:scholar
1398:Kesmai
1323:Wizard
1237:Healer
1202:Avatar
1174:Talker
1108:(MUDs)
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1378:Areae
1293:Quest
1131:LPMud
855:Wired
829:S2CID
228:@boot
90:JSTOR
76:books
1435:List
1303:Tank
1252:Loot
1169:MUSH
1066:ISBN
1020:ISBN
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954:2006
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900:2019
882:(4).
867:2006
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600:2022
222:and
199:and
173:, a
62:news
1217:God
1164:MOO
1154:DGD
1136:MU*
821:doi
338:in
235:NYU
175:MUD
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