A Rape in Cyberspace
When I first started reading this article I thought it was going to be similar to "The Cross-Dressing Psychiatrist". Although there is some sort of decpetion there is a twist on it. Dibbell discussed a program called Lambdamoo. This program is where internet users log on and can create their own persona. Which is similiar to what Lewin did, becuase you are creating another form of yourself. Perhaps a fantasy of what you really want yourself to be like. The users can also create their own rooms and then roam around and talk to other users, essentially a virtutal reality. Although Lambdamoo was mainly innocent where people would meet and form a knit community, a rape crime disturbed everyone. Mr. Bungle which was the name of one of the personas somehow was able to control other people in the room and raped them. He had one of the characters violate themselves and had the other commit sexual acts. Reading what exactly he had them due was pretty disgusing. Overall, the article has us question what is real? Although there was no violation of any actual "body" there was rape with the characters which is a form of ourselves. When the whole community decided that they wanted to punish him, the actual administrators didn't know how to deal with the subject because nothing like this had happened before. Eventually he was punished, but the community was shaked again when another name appeared that had the same mannerisms as Mr. Bungle, now named Mr. Jest. Even though Mr. Bungle/Mr. Jest was punished, the victims still feel violated as much as they would a real rape. In the end, this article tests the line between reality and virtual reality and has us questioning what exactly qualifies as rape or a criminal crime? And if it should be treated the same if it was in real life rather than online?
posted by Carla at 7:36 PM
9 Comments:
When I first started reading this article I was very grossed out. I could not believe that someone went into a computer site and said and "did" all of those horrible things. When people began to get upset and wanted him thrown out of the site, I completely understand where they were coming from. I understand that they could have blocked out what he was saying, and that he had freedom of speech, but "raping" other users is crossing the line. I think that it was right for him to get thrown out. The problem with him getting thrown out as Mr. Bungles, is that it was no punishment to him because he came back as Dr. Jest. Maybe they need to come up with some better ways of "punishing" the people in the Lambdamoo sites.
I think that it is disturbing to think that people are out there doing this kind of stuff on the internet. I know that it is difficult to punish these people but i feel something more needs to be done then just kicking them off of that website with that name.
The beginning of the article is very disturbing. As to the question of should you punish someone beyond getting "toaded" I do not think so. Although by mine and a lot of others' standards sick, Mr. Bungle is fulfilling a form of a fantasy. And from what I took from the article, everyone else on the site is fulfilling a fantasy also; just a different kind. In what way could you punish someone for a virtual rape? He or she should be subject to whatever standards are set by the webmaster being as it is a privately-run site. How is Mr. Bungle permitted to hold someone in a room against their will anyway? Why wouldn't the person(s) being violated close their browser or shut down their computer? If something like this were happening to me I would not stick around to read it.
This was one of the oddest articles I have read for class. I have heard of these online chat houses, but have never really been exposed to what goes on in one. Dibbel discusses a tight knit community,where the players for the most part get along. They can build new rooms in the house, and even decorate them. All this was fine until a character called Mr. Bungle created voodoo dolls of two of the players and raped them. To read what exactly they were made to do was pretty disturbing, I can understand why the victims were so shaken up about it. They held a big group discussion and decided to 'toad' or remove Mr. Bungle fromt the system. The players think that they are safe until Bungle came back as Dr. Jest. That just shows how easy it is in cyberspace to cause chaos and mayhem. Chat rooms are quite notoriious for this sort of thing.
This article was definately disturbing. It goes back the way the entire class feels about online deception and how easily it can occur. With very little effort Mr. Bungles was able 'rape' two of the characters in Lambdamoo. I can understand that the others wanted him removed, I probably would too, because I'd be creeped out. But because it didn't occur in real life, I'm not sure how you can actually punish a person, for a fantasy they 'acted out.'
So this is probably the most disturbing article we have read. But here's my question, if all of these people were so pissed off, why didn't they just get a life and get off the website themselves?That is what I was thinking about the entire time I was reading it, why are these people doing this? Why don't THEY just leave.
This article was definitely disturbing. I never thought of anything like this being done online before. This article got me thinking about who we are on the internet. Even though these people who were "raped" were not actually directly harmed, they said that they were hurt by this action. This makes me wonder if your mind can be harmed in cyberspace. This is a very interesting concept and it makes sense that our characters online are an extension of our minds and bodies and it is possible to hurt you from miles away.
The virtual rape committed by Mr. Bungles does not surprise me at all. Acts like these have seemed to become very common. I think the big question is how long will it be until u.s. courts bring people like the Mr. Bungles guy to court for possible psychological damage? Since, there was no physical abuse the only current punishment was to kick off his personas. However, I feel that people frequenting these chat sites should expect this kind of behavior.
i would consider the virtual rape experienced by the people in the game to be real. I wouldnt associate it with rl rape, but i think it was still a crime i would say. The draw of the internet is the ability to communicate, and what mr bungles did i would be along the same lines as verbal abuse. Even though the game was set in fantasy, there are some things that cross the line even in games. Its hard to imagine someone doing a thing like Mr. bungles, and to have the people he was doing it to just shrug it off.
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