We met out on a wooden deck behind Lambda house. He looked me over. "Why do you wear only black?"
"Just like it I guess... and I look pretty good in black."
"I just found it curious that you like black," he whispered to me. "Since my leathers are all black, it is my color of choice also...."
He goes by the name Elric-Kinslayer. He looks like a king who has lost his kingdom. An albino, his skin is creamy white, hair like drifts of snow. His eyes are red like the hottest of fires and they bore deep within the soul. There is a sword that hangs at his side, blacker than the blackest night.
That's not what he looks like in real life (RL). It doesn't make any difference, though, because he lives in Southern California, and I live in Boston. I'll almost certainly never meet him.
Elric sat on a chair, chatting with others on the deck. I sat on the floor next to him, looked up into the sky and smiled at the sun. Someone pointed out that it was night time. In Japan, I pointed out, it was already mid-afternoon. Elric leaned over to me, and we decided to go somewhere to talk privately. We teleported to his room.
This meeting did not take place in a dream, or some kind of drug-induced fantasy. As net-surfers must have guessed, I met him in cyberspace, in a virtual world called LambdaMOO.
*********
I started MOOing because I tend to work computer hackers' hours... rise at noon, sleep at 5 am. Sometimes, between 2 and 4 am, my mind fills up with worries that only seem to inhabit that time of night, and I get restless. I can't call anyone. So, instead, I rely on the kindness of strangers.
Lambda house exists inside a computer at Xerox Park in silicon valley. People from all over the world come to socialize. I have a "character" there - a persona I created - called Roxy. I set my characters' gender, description and, if I want, can build a room of my own: but the system conceals my real-life identity. Through internet computer links, I "log in" to my character, who emerges in some room in Lambda House. I walk from room to room by specifying a direction, "SE" for South-East for instance, and each time I move, I look around my new location.
For instance, the description of "The Deck" where I met Elric read:
"This is a wooden deck behind the main house, facing southward across the pool to the lush gardens beyond. To the west is the door into the living room and to the north is a sliding glass door into the master bedroom, with a door to a half bath in the western side of the north wall. At the east end of the deck is a large hot tub.
How Californian...
The area is lit by the lights from the living room windows. You see a Rube Goldberg contraption and a comfy sofa here.
Forever_ Guest,Elric-Kinslayer,Amazin, Eclipse (Martha Splatterhead), Holgate (clueless and blue), Sidey, Cyan_Guest, Michael, and Elbereth are here."
Elric took a long time to get his act together before we left the deck. I listened to the conversation going on around me, and wondered whether, perhaps, he was interested in one of the other women there. It seemed to be a very flirtatious group, women called Amazin, Eclipse and a newcomer called Morsal got a lot of attention. I eyed the competition. Amazin described herself as:
"a 5'4" buxom blonde with grey-blue eyes and a soft pageboy haircut. Silver earrings drop delicately from her earlobes and tinkle when she walks, and the faint scent of orchid perfume trails behind her. Don't be fooled by her appearance though. She can be alternately overbearingly esoteric or downright bawdy, depending on her mood. She carries Michel Foucault's 'History of Sexuality, Part 1' tucked under her arm and she takes to reading it when she is bored. Amazin is wearing a mood ring with a lovely fresh colored stone (signifying self-professed geek). She is wearing an elegant red dress which barely hides the black orchid tattoo on her left shoulder blade. Sheer black stockings cover her shapely legs, and she is wearing elegant low-heeled black pumps on her petite feet."
Jimmy, a character I met in another virtual society, got to know his current real-life girlfriend through the MOO. She was able to relocate, in part, because so many of her friends were portable. All she needed was her computer. In Cambridge, recently, they explained that many people who logged in were only interested in sex. Male characters sought women with vivid or sexual descriptions. It seemed Amazin also knew this and, perhaps thanks to her bio, two men pursued her.
Amazin smiles at Ayresome.
Amazin hugs Davith warmly.
Ayresome [to Amazin]: Shall we dance?
Amazin [to Davith]: Hiya, sweets
Davith waves to Amazin.
Amazin [to Ayresome]: Please...
Davith [to Amazin]: Heya... how's life? better than mine, I'll bet.
Ayresome [to Amazin]: Are your feet insured?
Amazin [to Davith]: I dunno
Amazin giggles at Ayresome.
Amazin [to Ayresome]: This is virtual... I am sure you float on air in our imagination.
Another couple decided to get together at the same time, the two conversations intermingling on the screen.
Timmy holds ArielSpryte close in a warm and tight embrace. ArielSpryte slides aside the glass door in the north wall and enters the master bedroom. Timmy waves his arms and mutters weird syllables. Timmy's eyes glaze over, and he begins to gibber. He is new to the MOO and can't figure out how follow ArielSpryte. Amazin teleports Timmy out. (Presumably acting in the cause of true love).
Though cursed with dull sentence structure and syntax, life on the MOO can be engrossing. Occasionally I look up from my computer and am genuinely surprised to find myself sitting in my office at home.
When we finally got to his room, Elric-Kinslayer's "Melnibone", the quiet was a relief. On the deck, only every tenth line of dialogue related to us. Now we could really chat. First the usual preliminaries: how he found out about LambdaMOO (friends), what kind of music he likes (everything I hate: country and "phantom of the opera" -type music), and what he wants to do for a living (travel around and spend his grandmother's money until he goes to college to become a programmer). I ask him whether he has had any "experiences" on the MOO. For "experiences" read "virtual sexual experiences".
I admit it, I was curious.
Elric-Kinslayer said, "Well, a couple of girls have taken me to their rooms and we "talked" for a while."
I said, "How was it?"
"Interesting is the word that comes to mind."
"How about trying to use more than one word?"
"Something that seems capable of much enjoyment with the right person."
"Yeah?" Roxy (my character) looked curious.
"Sure, I mean, it's really boring when you do all the typing and the other person sits there and types "More" "Yes" "I love you." With someone with a semi-vocabulary and some experience, it might be better."
"Ah, I see..." "Real life experience I mean"
"Were you nervous the first time?"
Elric-Kinslayer says, "Yeah, but I still did all the typing. I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing in real life."
We digressed into a long conversation about a woman that he is in love with in RL. His best friend's girl. Thinking about her depressed him and we changed the subject to relationships in general... and then the inevitable. Crunch time arrived.
I said, "It's 2am here... I'm going to have to go to bed soon."
Elric-Kinslayer creates a warm and inviting bed, big enough for five.
"You can lie down if you want."
He smiles.
I wondered how I would react to my first cyberspace come-on.
"I'm not sure that I'm quite ready for that.... maybe we could think of this as a first date?"
"Sure, I really enjoyed talking
with ya."
"Me too... catch you next time?"
"Yeah, but I come on kinda seldom, so don't expect me... Are you leaving already?"
"I should... I've been on here for hours now!"
Elric-Kinslayer exclaimed, "Ok, well, I'll talk to you later then!"
I kissed Elric on the cheek. Elric-Kinslaye bowed grace-fully to me.
"Goodbye!"
@quit
*** Disconnected ***
Somewhere in Riverside, California, a 21-year-old man looked through a computer screen into a virtual world.
I got up to brush my teeth.
(You can experience it for yourself, telnet to LAMBDA.PARC.XEROX.COM 8888
CONNECTGUEST)