Gaining insight from playing MUDs (Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article)

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

Matt Mihaly <the_logos at achaea.com> writes:

> Just as a man playing a female character doesn't give you more
> than trivial insight into the experience of -actually- being
> female, skinning your avatar with a black skin isn't going to tell
> you much about what it is to actually be black.

"Trivial insight", I don't know. That would assume that women are
very different from men or that women have some kind of universal
experience. In some of my more deep-roleplay experiences I've
certainly had personal experiences that were quite "scary" even at
the emotional level. It does take an effort and lots of time and
will quickly move towards the edge of unethical (besides it is
emotionally stressful to see other people fall in love with you for
real, even if you tell them that it is all roleplay). Still, under
the assumption that men and women are not all that different, then I
am convinced that I did gain more than trivial insight. Now you
don't gain this insight by playing a female character, but by
immersing yourself into female values, culture, suppressing your
masculine side yielding room for your feminine side. If you succeed
in this, it can be a bit "scary", as you get into a small identity
crisis. Of course, I would have to play all day all week to reach
this level of immersion in which I started to question my own
identity. (No, I don't fall in love with men in RL. Which is a bit
sad as it is much easier to find men willing to engage in an
interesting argument. ;)

Gaining insight into how it is to be black is not all that easy, but
blacks can gain insight in how it is not to be judged by your
colour. Handicapped people can gain insight in how it is not to be
judged by your handicap and starting on the same level as everybody
else. Insecure people can set some of their insecurities aside and
sense how people respond to what they say and do, rather than the
shy fashion in which they usually present themselves etc.

--
Ola - http://folk.uio.no/olag/

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