Selections From
My Tiny Life

Table of Contents

Palo Alto, October 1994
In which the Author sees for the first time a machine he has long believed to be the site of his second home, the virtual world of LambdaMOO, and finds that he has been somewhat deluded in this belief. (An RL -- or "real life" -- interlude, rendered as it might appear on the screen of a computer logged in to LambdaMOO.) (900 words)

Chapter One: A Rape in Cyberspace
(Or TINYSOCIETY, and How to Make One)
How an evil clown, a Brazilian trickster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of thousands turned a database into a society. The classic tale, updated with shocking revelations about the true identity of Mr. Bungle. (9500 words)

A Genealogy of Virtual Worlds
From Chapter Two: The Scarlet Balloon
(Or TINYGEOGRAPHY, a Long View and an Overview)
The history and meaning of tiny, simulated worlds, traced from the earliest maps and board games through the invention of computers and, at last, of LambdaMOO. Warning: Contains explicit philosophizing. (5500 words)

I Feel Pretty
From Chapter Four: Samantha, Among Others
(Or TINYGENDER, a Love Story)
The Author takes a walk wearing the virtual skin of a sitcom mom, and learns that he is not as invulnerable to the cultural fictions of gender as he thought. (1500 words)

New York City, August 1994
RL again. The Author and his beloved in a public disquisition upon the emotional and ontological status of nonmonogamous netsex, particularly as regarding the state of their own relations. It ain't pretty. (550 words)