Perhaps the most debated question regarding identity formation is how to account for the multitudes of positions and still be able to conceive of a coherent theory and politics of identity. It's a worthwhile task. The world will be very different when our students are middle-aged, but the course of its change will not follow the master narrative of old marxism or the Cold War narrative of democracy victorious in an epic battle against communism. MUDs bring together people with common interests from a wide geographic area, support both synchronous and asynchronous communication, promote casual collaboration and use spatial metaphors to create a context for interaction. The structure of MUD programs destroys the usually all but insurmountable confines of sex.
Gender is self-selected.
This freedom opens up a wealth of possibilities, for gender is one of the more 'sacred' institutions in our society, a quality whose fixity is so assumed that enacted or surgical reassignment has and does involve complex rituals, taboos, procedures and stigmas. This fixity, and the common equation of gender with sex, becomes problematic when gender reassignment can be effected by a few touches at a keyboard. MUDs become the arena for experimentation with gender specific social roles, and debate over the ethics of such experimentation. The flexibility of self-presentation provided by MUDs makes it possible for players to experiment with aspects of behavior and identity that it would not normally be possible to play with. Players are able to create a virtual self outside the normally assumed boundaries of gender, race, class and age.