Author: John Masterson
Director: Wes Shellen
MUDs, or multi-user dimensions, are virtual spaces on the Internet that support a spatial metaphor which restricts the synchronous communication that takes place among users. Having been developed in their most rudimentary form nearly two decades ago, MUDs have become the sites of complex human cultures. The goal of this study was to determine how it is that nonverbal communication is expressed in these text-based environments, and whether or not the existing categories of nonverbal communication could be applied to the phenomena therein.
Communication was observed on three MUDs for a period just short of three years. Notes, transcripts, and logs of interviews with informants were compiled, and compared to the traditional categories of nonverbal forms and functions. Consistent with an ethnographic framework, no efforts were made to force data into preexisting categories. Rather, the categories of form and function were subjected to as careful scrutiny as the data themselves.
Due to the nature of the environment, the application of the categories of nonverbal forms met with limited success when applied to MUD phenomena.
The nonverbal functions were generally discernable, and the author hypothesized that regardless of the environment in which humans find themselves, they will find it necessary to communicate through those functions, even though the forms available to them may be different or restricted.
Graphical MUDs are rapidly gaining popularity. As various technological barriers topple, they may become the norm for online chat, opening up a wealth of opportunities for further nonverbal research.