To explore the decision of whether or not Bungle committed rape, we have to first briefly explore the phenomenon of word and deed melting together, rape being a crime against the mind and/or body, and what the virtual body represent in MOO. In a virtual reality world, the characters on screen that are controlled by real people become a sort of embodiment of the mind and personality of the human. When they type a command or direct the character in some way with words, their virtual character follows suit. So the virtual character is intrinsically linked to and involved in the psyche of the person directing it. Even considering Laura Miller’s claim that rape is impossible on line because no one has bodies, I would still argue that the persona representing the body on line can be injured more (potentially) than a physical body. Miller found an observation from a scholar stating ” participants [on line] are washed clean of the stigma of their ‘real selves’ and are free to invent ones to their tastes.” In this way, a rape on line or in MOO is an invasion and a crime against our innermost reflection of ourselves.
Perusing over numerous definitions of “rape” online, ignoring specific and categorical definitions like “the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse,” I am using the definition saying rape is “any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.” Already having established that the virtual representations count as a person and emulate feelings and actions of a person, and considering that the actions transcribed by Bungle in the living room were forced sexual actions, I would say definitely that Bungle committed rape.
Update: a perfect support for my argument is the Myspace suicides where adolescents committed suicide after emotional trauma online (in a virtual social world.)
