Barry decides to woo Julia, attempting to talk her into entering his virtual appartment, presumably with no good in mind. Barry and Julia are conversing in a multiple-user domain, or MUD . To create a MUD, a programmer writes a basic script describing some environment - perhaps a spaceship, enchanted island, or old mansion. MUD players then sign on through the Internet, adopting any identity and characteristics they choose, building virtual rooms or spaces described in words on the screen. The screen identity of a player may have little or no relation to his or her real self.
Players often change gender, age, appearance, level of wealth, etc.
In fact, as Barry eventually learns, a MUD character may have no real self at all. The bewitching Miss Julia continues to resist his advances for several days until, at last, Barry learns that he has not been wooing a real person at all. Julia is a 'bot', a computer program written to respond reasonably in conversations. She began her existence in the mind of some programmer, but today she independently roams the halls of her MUD, virtually captivating young men. She has been exploring such matters for 20 years, most recently as a professor of sociology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she teaches about the relations between humans and computers.