Since the focus of this column is the MUSH community, it seems sensible to start out discussing the concept of the medium as a community. I use the term loosely, knowing full well there are people who cringe at the dreaded C-word. I can't blame them. The word 'community' conjures images of smiling faces, pats on the back, and a happy place where everyone likes and supports everyone else. This is MUSH, though, not a Walgreen's commercial. I'm going to talk about the MUSH community as it really is and yes, it is a community. The word means a group of people living in the same area, or a common sharing. In a sense, we live in the same virtual space, our own little corner of the internet. MUSH is definitely the sharing of a common interest, though what sparks that interest varies from person to person.

Overall, MUSHers form a nice little community. We're interested in a form of entertainment that most outsiders simply don't comprehend. We understand words, acronyms, and concepts that, if spoken outside the group, would earn us a blank stare. A MUSHer knows what I mean when I say I @chowned something or page-locked someone. Likewise, most of my fellow MUSHers understand what IC, OOC, ICA=ICC, and TS mean and who else but a MUSHer would immediately know that an unfindable flag has nothing to do with a misplaced banner?

I don't need to explain the idea of community in terms of our similarities, though. To call us a community implies togetherness, or at least a sense of common interest. There is something to be said for solidarity, the friendships we develop, and a plethora of inside jokes to bind us together, but before anyone has a diabetic episode from the images of gamboling fawns and scampering bunnies around a group of MUSHers dancing in a circle, let's consider that no community is without flaws. Any gathering of people, for whatever purpose, draws its share of hypocrites, bullies, idiots, and snobs. Though we share a common interest, we rarely seem to share common goals, and this diversity of character makes for an interesting experience.

Everyone logs in for their own reasons, and there are approximately as many reasons as there are MUSHers. Rather than saying that these differences are what keep MUSHers from being a community, I think they are what characterize the community. I say this because MUSH is a medium that relies almost solely upon the personalities of the people involved in order to create the atmosphere in which we play. Unlike MUDs, most MUSHes don't have coded encounters; there aren't automated monsters for players to kill for loot and experience. Our characters interact with each other, and without that interaction, there isn't much to do on a MUSH. The personality of a player affects the character he or she plays. Our various quirks and motivations define how we create the medium in which we play; they are what we bring to the group, for better or worse.

A Multitude of Individuals

There are a few reasons for MUSHing that stand out to me because they seem to be recurring themes among a few players that I've had the pleasure (and displeasure) of interacting with over the years. I mention them because our community wouldn't be complete without a fringe element. Granted, these are extremes used to emphasize that the idea of a flawless community is inherently flawed. They certainly don't represent the community as a whole.

Some people seem to come to MUSHes to escape tedious reality and enter into a virtual world where they're beautiful, witty, charming, successful, heroic, or powerful. They come to act out their fantasies. We all do that to an extent, but for some it occurs to such a degree that if anything threatens the fantasy, the player doesn't take it well. If the beautiful character's perfect relationship falls apart, or the strong character loses a fight, it can be devastating to the player who has emotionally invested in the idealized vision of his or her character. These players bring the creativity of their fantasies into the medium, but they also bring the expectation that their role-play will glorify their characters. When that doesn't happen, an IC (in character) conflict can degrade into an OOC (out of character) conflict rather quickly.

Then there are the players who come for validation. There is something missing in real life, and these players come to fill the void online. They live vicariously through their characters, enjoying their victories and despairing at their defeats on a deep and personal level. This can be particularly hazardous because if something truly bad happens to the character, the player might feel as though he or she personally has been traumatized. These players can bring a sense of intensity and realism to a game, but on the flip side of the coin, when things take a bad turn IC, a lot of OOC baggage gets dragged out, and everyone's fun takes a nosedive.

There are players who log in specifically to be cruel and petty. Their goal is to cause as much disruption as possible. It's another kind of validation-seeking — a cry for attention. These players will often do something intentionally to upset the masses, and when people get angry, the rabble-rousers are quick to point the finger of blame at the disgruntled party for being too sensitive. All the while, they're laughing. Obviously, what these people bring to MUSHes are headaches and immaturity, but they also bring conflict. Sure, it's OOC conflict, but as much as we pretend to rise above such things, how many of us are chomping at the bit to hear about a game's latest disaster? These people and their antics can be amusing when we aren't their target.

Another group are the people who insist that MUSH is just a game. They scoff at those who attribute any artistic quality to the medium, claiming that it is entertainment pure and simple, and that anyone who gets too involved is in sore need of a reality check. These people bring a dose of perspective to the medium, but they also tend to trivialize the fact that, no matter what the hobby, people tend to take their entertainment seriously. Just ask any hardcore sports fan whose team just lost the big game.

The counterpoint to the 'just a game' quarter are the people who regard MUSH as a text-based expression of creativity. MUSH is their art, and they are its performers. While these players, if they're skilled in their art, can bring style and quality to the medium, the idea of entertainment is missed entirely if they take themselves too seriously.

Let's not forget the jaded gamers who have seen so much ridiculous behavior, power-mongering, staff corruption, vapid attempts at dialog, horrible punctuation and spelling, and enough blatant breaches of sanity and etiquette that they just throw up their hands and say, "Enough!" Only it isn't enough, because they continue to log in. These players have a wealth of experience, and there are often pearls of wisdom in their grumbling and nay-saying, if anyone can put up with the vitriolic ranting long enough to find them.

Forming a Community

By this point, one might wonder why anyone in his or her right mind would ever venture into this hobby. It would seem that our community is populated by neurotic, mean-spirited, opinionated, and bitter people and it is, in part. However, few players fit neatly in to any one of these admittedly severely generalized profiles. There might be a few shared traits here and there, but all in all, most players are somewhere in the happy middle. They're into the game, but they know when to step back and log off. They come to act out their fantasies, but they understand the nature of compromise and cooperation: the economy of give and take that is the backbone of the medium. Not all MUSHers are staggeringly great role-players, but most of them are at least functionally sane.

This still seems like a pretty grim assessment, but it is with utmost fondness that I speak about this unique community of which I'm proudly a part. I highlight the less than positive elements, but they hardly paint the whole picture of the MUSH community. The point is that no community is without flaws, but those flaws don't negate its existence. Sure, there are clashes of ideals and intentions. There are rivalries and bad blood. There are those who take as much entertainment from the flame wars as the role-play. I admit I'm somewhat of a rubber-necker, but that isn't why I'm here. What keeps me coming back, and what keeps me so interested in this community, are the displays of creativity, vivid storylines, and incredible role-play I enjoy.

There are intensely brilliant minds and wonderfully intriguing personalities in this group, and despite the various frustrations and conflicts, when MUSH is good, it's dazzling. There is nothing else like it. MUSH is an environment where the action falls almost entirely within the hands of the players. For all the problems this unique medium creates, it opens doors to role-play of a caliber not to be found anywhere else. To be a part of that is what unites us, what makes us a community. It's why we take the bad with the good. One might say it's all part of the game the common interest that we all share.

Recent Discussions on The Medium: