ingold, 1994). Little is known about this new form of addiction, but as mentioned previously a preliminary draft of the DSM-V includes a section delineating some of these types of "Cyber Disorders" (Zenhausen, 1995).The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between an individuals real life persona and the one they create through these role-playing games. I believe that the major appeal of MUDs and other types of rpgs is the ability to become anyone desired. For example, a person who is weak and often bullied may take on a character that is a warrior and develop his strength quota more than any other aspect. Another example is the person who is a social outcast due to appearance or social status. They might create a character that has an amazing amount of charisma and focus their energy developing many friendships and increasing faction points with those around them. The results showed that most of the people I surveyed were teenage females between the ages of 15-18 (see figure 1 and 2). This shows that those I surveyed were the most common rpgers therefore most likely to want to express themselves through their characters. Out of the 50 polled for the reason they played replied saying that they played to escape the problems of their everyday lives. Role-playing offers an environment that is entirely manipulative. In other words, they are able to change any aspect of themselves that they find disturbing. The subjects also most commonly reported that they were similar to their character in personality but different in physical traits (see figures 4 and 5). In general, people are most dissatisfied with their physical appearance than any other aspect of their person, especially in the U.S; where so much emphasis is placed on physicality. Teenage girls are the most likely to want to change their appearance than any other gender and age group and this shows this fact. Girls who play rpgs create characters th...
