Virtual Misconduct:  Rape and Violence in Cyberspace

By Vincent Vigil

“When we write in cyberspace we create...But also creating a space where one’s words really do create reality, where the  only world available is what members have chosen to describe.  The agreement to create a world on the MOO, then, and to create a belief, becomes imbued with the weight...and the question comes to bear  on how participants create, relate to, react to, and interact with this world of “mere” words, mere narrative”

         Cyberspace gives individuals an opportunity to become immersed in technology.  This essay reflects how the power of text-based worlds, MOOs and MUDS, utilize the power of the imagination and language.  It is through this power of imagination and language that individuals participate in virtual misconduct as seen in the acts of violence, cyber rape, and deceit.  In this essay, I am going to show how pseudonyms, acts of the imagination, and the power of language are catalysts for virtual misconduct with in the domain of cyberspace-MOOs and MUDs in particular, especially in LambdaMOO.  Virtual Misconduct is an important issue that must be discussed in order to understand cyberspace as well as the direction we are progressing technologically.  Also in this essay I examine how far individuals" generate experiences, relationships, identities, and living spaces only through the interaction with technology" (Turkle 21) which renders some of the participants as victims, cyber victims.  I am not arguing that cyberspace is entirely detrimental in nature but I want to focus on the malicious acts that occur within cyberspace.

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