Living With Virtual Worlds

Online worlds at one point in time were known as an escape from reality for the introverted and tech savvy youths that lowed for a connection. As we come to the end of 2013, it is evident that this is clearly no longer the case as popular virtual worlds such as Second Life and WoW have cultivated millions of members. What happened? How could this be?

With increasing amounts of technology being brought into our culture, a new generation has evolved. Divided attention between split screens has become somewhat of a norm and it seems as though people are more isolated than ever before. These are important societal trends to pay attention to because with all this over consumption of technology has created a competitive business place for marketers and strategic businesses looking to find ways in profiting from never-ending online behavior. In “Three Dimensions of iCulture”, Mark Andrejevic discusses interactive marketing as a strategic business function in efforts to keep track of consumer behavior. He discussed that whether your purchasing a shoe from Nike.com or engaging in some other online activity where there is a commerce system involved, there are marketers are observing and examining these behaviors. “Interactive marketing is, as one retail consultant put it, “a great way to insert the consumer into the process of product development.” (Andrejevic, p.25) So as there has been a substantial growth in both online worlds and communities, there has been a strong correlation with an increase in consumer spending online. Second life in particular has stapled its name as the largest virtual world that offers a place of trading and other sorts of transactions. Second life has offered its community a way to interact enabling users to be creative and engaging with one another. “The promise of interactivity is that viewers can be cultural producers as well as consumer—that, furthermore, their participatory consumption can be creative and fulfilling.” Thanks to the Internet and numerous cheap easy-to-use do-it-yourself computer programs becoming increasingly widespread (Andrejevic, p.27).

Personally, what I have found to be the most captivating about virtual worlds is the authenticity of each location. For example, when I visited the Titanic I was amazed to see that all of the avatars were following a formal dress code, and the boat was extremely large (like the real ship). Primarily it was the atmosphere itself, fancy attired avatars slow-dancing to romantic songs with beautiful scenery in the background. I felt ash though a part of  a special community. Later I danced at the front of the boat with another avatar and I felt as though I was Leo Dicaprio, or should I say “Jack Dawson” as my avatar slowly swaying side to side. In “The Business & Culture of Online Games”, Edward Castronova states that “Atmosphere is often critical to a worlds’ success; if it is going to make us happier, the world needs to convince us that its system of human and AI mentors and friends provides legitimate partners for our emotional investments. We need to be immersed in a fantasy lore to pull that off” (Castronova, p.4). Jokes aside, I genuinely enjoyed my experience there and with authentic environment such as the Titantic it is easy to understand why millions indulge on Second Life everyday. Overall, it is imperative to recognize the exponential growth that virtual worlds have made in the past few years and that as our culture becomes more engaged with technology, more businesses are going to compete and invest in marketing online.

Romance & Sex Online

 

We once lived in a society where relationships and romances weren’t mediated by technological devices. Sure thirty years ago people ago people had house phones, and the upper tier had cell phones, but the majority of our society weren’t texting, communicating online, and using other applications as ways to initiate a romance or engage in sexual activity. Now, the idea of sexual relationships and romance has completely been altered by popular virtual platforms such as Second Life that offers its users (avatars) the opportunity to link up with others similar to them. Second Life offers so many different ways for people to interact with one another, much like real life, and I believe this has been the primary reason why relationships, specifically romantic ones have grown within these virtual communities.

Romances that form on Second Life may not always be traditional or “by the books” if you will, but the fact is that Second Life offers a haven for these relationships, allowing its users to express themselves and do things that they possibly can’t in real life. From this week’s readings and my personal experience on Second Life, I have witnessed numerous interactions and events between theses sub-cultures. Lesbians, homosexuals and transgendered individuals are commonly found communicating on Second Life. In Gross’s “The Gay Global Village in Cyberspace,” he explains how individuals use online communities as a way to reach out and connect with one another. This can be useful for individuals potentially suffering in real life due to a lack of acceptance or understanding.

“Yet despite the dramatic increase in the public visibility of gay people in nearly all domains of our public culture, most young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people still find themselves isolated and vulnerable. For these teenagers the internet is a godsend, and thousands are using computer networks to declare their homosexuality, meet, and seek support from other gay youths” (Gross, p.262).]

Here we see the impact that Second Life and other virtual platforms have made on youths struggling to find a safe and healthy way to disclose themselves. Gay youths can now communicate with each other in variety of different ways with the sole purpose of finding a helpful connection.

(personal experience): Any time I visit a popular club or venue in Second Life, I see these individuals and through a little ease dropping on their conversations, I was able to grasp an understanding of how these people communicate and find out what is of interest to them. Much of these conversations, primarily ended up consisting of sexual inferences and other forms “dirty talk”…(awkward!)

Regardless of the severity of the sexual nature in users conversations on Second Life, it is important to recognize the prominent point that people have drastically changed the way they engage in romances as well as social functions in today’s time. In Brookey and Cannons, “ Sex Lives in Second Life, they mentioned the notion of Second Life potentially being a harassment-free environment where thousands of different sub-cultures can co-exist, but through personal experience I have learned this cannot be. Realistically, I believe we live in a day and age where intolerance and discrimination have become so second nature that regardless of how much people want or try to change the climate of abusive online activity- it will never go away. Online platforms only offer characters such as griefers etc. the opportunity to abuse others without face-to-face interaction. Furthermore, these people on Second Life are all hidden behind screens, which leads them to feel a certain level of comfort or ambiguity in their mischievous activities.  Sub cultures in Second Life unfortunately have to with this, because with technology will always come people that tamper with it for the wrong reasons.

Online Economics & The World We Live In…

With the rise of technology, thousands of companies have thrived in the virtual environment by using a variety of different business tactics. Whether it be implementing the basic principles of supply and demand or executing some other business approach, companies like IBM have established a forward thinking mentality by using virtual platforms as ways to exchange information as well as commerce.

In the article titled “Life of a Chinese Gold Farmer”, author Jillian Dibbell discussed a study conducted by economist and EverQuest player Edward Castronova. This study documented the rates in which fellow EverQuest players were accumulating virtual goods. Ultimately as we read, his figures showed hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent on these virtual platforms and that overtime millions would accumulate to billions. “Castronova’s results suggest an aggregate gross domestic product for today’s virtual economies of anywhere from $7 billion to $12 billion, a range that puts the economic output of the online gamer population in the company of Bolivia’s, Albania’s and Nepal’s” (Dibbell, p.3). Clearly it has become evident regardless of our current economic climate, the economies that are instilled in these virtual worlds and platforms have established strong business strategies that will keep their practices around for a long time.

Further mentioned in Edward Castronova’s “Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier”, he accounted that “The business success of virtual worlds derives from their ability to attract customers who are willing to pay an ongoing fee to visit the world, and that requires virtual worlds to offer a form of entertainment that is persistently more attractive than the competition” (Castronova, p.8) As it turns out, virtual worlds seem to be able to offer entertainment that is attractive enough to many people that they sacrifice major portions of their time to it.

These readings lead me to do some research on how the economy works in Second Life as well as other virtual worlds. Virtual worlds like Second life, lend themselves to simulation, training, modeling and knowledge acquisition, with substantial projects currently being undertaken in various fields such as medicine, the military, and education. They are effective data-gathering environments, as actions and responses are readily measured by inworld tracking and analytics(metrics). As social spaces, places of transaction and data nets, virtual worlds are tools for new economic theories and rules. A third factor has to do with re-distribution of government and business expenditure. Remote service delivery via virtual worlds may mean considerable savings; IBM reports a saving of USD250,000 dollars in one single internal event by using the virtual world instead of a physical meeting. This economy is a strange one, to say the least.

Exploitation I think is a problem that has become apparent with all these business practices. When one thinks of exploitation they think of someone or some organization looking after their own interests; to accumulate creature comforts, money, or material possessions either through one’s own efforts or at the expense of others; to be completely selfish, totally unconcerned with the well-being of others. This is can be prevalent when you purchase something from any virtual platform.

Virtual Ethnography

The virtual world of Second Life is filled with various communities and social groups that engage its users by creating realistic social environments. In Coming of Age in Second Life, Tom Boellstorr shows how virtual worlds can change ideas about identity and society. He mentions that in some ways humans have always been virtual, and that virtual worlds in all their rich complexity build upon a human capacity for culture that is as old as humanity itself.

We can only learn from his experience in Second Life, having spent two years participating in Second Life, where he reported back as the trained observer. These worlds are so fascinating, and to many of us a mystifying, world. Questions I constantly ask myself any time I use Second Life is, “How do people make actual money in this virtual society?” (because I know they do… and also “How do they make friends with other avatars?”

From my personal experience spending time in a ‘bumping’ nightclub on Second Life, where they blasted a bunch of modern techno remixes of popular and classic tunes, I observed a variety of different things. I found that there is a certain way to communicate and interact with the people of these communities. In order to establish any sort of a reputable identity your best bet is to make your avatar as realistic as possible to the context you’re apart of. Safe to say my Werewolf avatar didn’t exactly “Fit in” with the rest of the avatars in this nightclub. But regardless of my avatar, I insisted to engage/join-in conversations with other avatars. I found the best strategy to communicate with other avatars in this nightclub was to comment on the song playing or ask a general question such as “How good is this song?!” that lead other avatars to comment back to me. With this said, it’s important to remember that it sometimes we run into barriers in communication and building relationships in Second Life (just like we do in real life). The ways these occurrences can happen is if two people don’t speak the same language, or even if there is a general animosity, then there wont be much acceptance or reciprocation. In many ways you could see how this community represented a night club community in real life, people exchanging information, dancing, flirting- these are all common things that you would see in real life.

Online Communities

Online communities have captivated our society and now more than ever people are engaging in various online groups and discussions. It is apparent when your using Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter or any other social networking website. With this said, it is important to recognize that there are also potential negatives in online communities that can create numerous problems. In the “Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame of Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World” article, author Julian Dibbell discusses the idea of different online communities and how all of them have an impact on each other. Specifically he goes on to mention the seriousness & ridiculousness of online activities and how some people take them more serious than others. Dibbell points out that much like real life whether were competing in a virtual game or engaging in some online activity, emotions are involved and people can take things extremely serious. “And yet, if you’ve ever felt your cheeks flush with anger and humiliation when some 14-year-old Night Elf in virtual leather tights kicks your ass, then you know that games are the place where online seriousness and online ridiculousness converge most intensely” (Dibbell, 2008).

The focus is really about what is and isn’t deemed ridiculous when engaging in an online communicative activity, and more so, is this type of behavior ok?

A personal example that I can relate to this article is when I engage in playing the videogame ‘Fifa 14’ online. I have played this game millions of times against all different types of opponents, but there are times when I verse someone and I get so emotionally involved and extremely frustrated if something doesn’t go my way. This type of behavior may seem relatively common for online gamers, but the reality is I get my self over worked and upset for virtually no point. After all, it is a game.

Overall I truly do believe that online communities have a lot of value to them. They help people stay connected all over and give people opportunities to communicate and engage with one another. Collaboration, friendships are a couple of the many positive parts of online communities. At the same time, it is imperative for people who engage in any of these online communities to stay aware of there behavior. Naturally, most people take themselves very serious in regards to any online activity, so it is vital that these people to recognize there behavior and consciously decide what is truly important and doesn’t really matter.

Furthermore, don’t give away personal information to just anyone. Be conscious of how people are communicating with you because people don’t always have honest intentions. The more engulfed our society becomes in these various online communities only makes wonder about how much these communities will continue grow going forward.

Race, Class & Online Cultures

  

Online cultures have progressively become a part of our society because of so many technological advancements that allow users to engage with one another in a variety of ways. Whether you are blogging, tweeting, chatting, or even competing in a game with a stranger, you’re communicating with someone. More so, you are actively engaging in a specific online culture.

In Boyd’s article he discusses the relationship between race and class in regards to how American teenagers have adopted some of the more famous online cultures (MySpace, Facebook) relevant today. Boyd claims that there is inherently a difference in how an African American would perceive and use a website like Facebook as opposed to a white American. I agree with Boyd that there is definitely a difference in how races and people of different social statuses communicate in an online culture. We may not always pick up on these things, but when you analyze the terminology, socio economic statuses, and other types behaviors that have become stereotyped to a specific race or culture it is evident that this truly does exist. The creation of Facebook created a divide in status amongst teenage groups. As Facebook quickly grew it developed an almost pretentious following allowing access only to college students at pristine universities. At the same time, MySpace still kept a large following that as Boyd points out consisted mostly of minorities and people of a lower status. “Two years later, marketing research firm Nielsen Claritas reported that wealthy individuals are 25% more likely to use Facebook while less affluent individuals are 37% more likely to be on MySpace (Boyd, 2011).” My personal experience relates to this because I remember when I was younger and MySpace was the hottest and trendiest online culture to be apart of. Once Facebook became another social network tool for teenagers it seemed like overnight so many people fell in love with the new website. Furthermore, not being in college made me feel as though I was less-than if you will, or better said just jealous of older teenagers such as my brother who went to a good college and had the opportunity to use Facebook.

This weeks reading was very interesting because I never thought about how people of a different race and/or social status adopted online cultures. I believe that although there are multiple factors that play into what race users what technology which culture, The reality is that wee live in a time that adopts new media platforms every single day through apps on our phones or computers. Now more than ever, teenagers of all socio economic status and race have the opportunity to engage in any online culture. I believe that the divide and hierarchies of our online environment have diminished and we live in a world that truly promotes freedom and opportunity to people of all backgrounds.

References:

boyd, danah. (2011). “White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook.” In Race After the Internet (eds. Lisa Nakamura and Peter A. Chow-White). Routledge, pp. 203-222.

Playing and Collaborating Online

Whether I am at the library working on a project with a group of people, or playing a video game online with my friends I am always working. If I am with my group I am working with them to collectively build or complete something. This same notion carries over to when I play video games with my friends. If I am playing a game of Call of Duty with a few friends, I am working collaboratively with a group of people for the sole person to accomplish something. The point in this is to bring attention to the idea of that it is hard to distinguish what we consider work versus what we considered play.

In “Playing the Real Life Man”, Jenkins discusses how with so many forms of communication, the internet along with other forms of mediated technology have been an instrumental part in our information-sharing culture being altered. He mentions that today we live in a more dystopian culture where people seek out information that primarily matters to them and there is no hierarchy of what news or information is more important than the other. “The dynamic, collective, and reciprocal nature of these exchanges undermines traditional forms of expertise and destabilizes attempts to establish a scriptural economy in which some meanings are more valuable, than others n the modern tavern, the meritocracy game has found its digital playground (Jenkins, 2002). All these media outlets and ways of communicating have drastically altered the way people interpret information and what information they find to be important.

Jenkins also focuses on how with all these media outlets communities have continuously grown online. For example, fans of a TV show will gather online and collectively share information, this is called ‘fandom’. “Now, fans may interact daily, if not hourly, online. Geographically isolated fans can feel much more connected to the fan community and home-ridden fans enjoy a new level of acceptance. Yet, fandom’s expanded scope can leave fans feeling alienated from the expanding numbers of strangers entering their community.” (Jenkins, 2002). This is extremely prevalent today and I completely understand the idea of fandom because I myself have engaged in online communities where I will talk with other people (fans) in an online community and converse about sports. Specifically I enjoy going on ESPN and leaving posts or comments on an article that I find interesting.

Furthermore, with all these various communities online, it is important to recognize corporations’ role in all this. In “Playing Real Life”, Phillip Man states that corporations use a technique known as ‘illusion of voluntariness’, which digs into punish- and reward-mechanisms. Corporations offer their customers point earnings and other various benefits that help sustain loyalty between them. Man later mentions the idea of “Gamification”, which is the use of game mechanics to boost interest in non-game applications (Man, 2011).  People are being exposed to games in so many different ways and it affects the way they consume information. I believe that gamification is the new industrial revolution of our culture and it will continue to grow as influential part of our culture.

Virtual Contexts

Virtual worlds allow users to do so many unique and innovative things. Now more than ever it seems that almost any context in real life can be created virtually. Whether you are at park throwing a football or going to a nightclub with a couple friends, these contexts can be replicated into a virtual context. With this said, it is important to note that virtual worlds and each of their contexts have their own limitations. Certain contexts in the virtual world have control in the ability users.

In regards to non-users and media refusers, these people will always be apart of our culture. These non-users and media refusers are primarily older, and they believe in living a life that isn’t as absorbed by technology. Overtime this logic is increasingly become unrealistic, as more technology gets adapted within our culture.

Offline meetings are much different than they are in online contexts. The reason for this is because there is change in the dynamic of how people communicate with each other offline. When people communicate offline, physically conversing with one another, signs cues and feelings are given off that just don’t translate the same in an online context where there is no physical interaction. An example of a personal experience I had when i was communicating with a group of people online and we were trying to get figure out a topic for an upcoming project. Four of us would constantly send intersecting messages stating project topics. This ultimately ended up being extremely hectic because way too many viewpoints were being shared at once causing confusion and frustration.