Untitled+Misfits+Research+Project

=The Untitled Project=

= = = = =Escape:=

What happens to community when we leave 'real life' behind?
//I thought that we'd start over But I guess I was wrong// - The Talking Heads

Second Life is a virtual world created by Linden Labs allowing broadband internet users to interface and meet in a three-dimensional environment. It is not a game, but a completely open ended grid of interactive places and objects. The 'people' of Second Life are avatars controlled by real-life users who move around the grid meeting and communicating. Within this digital 'brave new world' these individuals form new types of communities, bringing the values and issues relevant in real life onto the grid where they are distorted by the altered modalities of constraint within Second Life. Perhaps as Second Life grows and changes, some of these distorted values will find their way back into real life.

Some people enter Second Life within groups already present in real life. Dr. Freenote's PS 545 class, for example, is a close-knit group of students who are familiar with people allowing for more streamlined and intimate communication when on the grid. However, most users enter Second Life alone and are faces with obstacles to community formation.

The first obstacle faced by new Second Life users is the individual act of creating one's avatar (for more, see Avatar)//.//This activity immediately personalizes their interface with the Second Life environment. However, the impermanence of avatar appearance thanks to the use of skins (for more, see skins) also creates a profound disconnect between avatar -image and the user's self-image. Nevertheless, each user also imprints their own conception of self image upon their avatar.

After creating an avatar the first environment new users typically enter is that of Second Life commerce (for more, see Commerce)//.// The elements of Second Life commerce tend to be isolating constraints in-and-of themselves, for example, the practice of camping, sitting in an area inactively to make a 'minimum-wage' type payment of LindenDollars. Whereas in real life, our commercial areas were once public communal areas where trade and interaction between individual actors took place, the absenteeism of most Second Life commerce fails to initiate any sort of interaction between avatars. Furthermore, when playing non-roleplaying games such as Zyngo, Second Lifers are often playing a more sophisticated version of solitaire.

Visitors to Second Life commercial areas are sure to notice the prevalence of sex in Second Life (for more, see Sex)//.// While generally real-life sex is an intimate activity and an expression between individuals of love and affection, it is devoid of these emotions on the grid. This is partially due to the automation of Second Life sexual activity through pose balls.(for more, see pose balls). Pose balls take spontaneity and improvisation out of the sex act - furthermore, the disconnect between the participants in Second Life sex make it more of a solitary, masturbatory act than a consensual, participatory act.

Second Life commerce also revolves around the purchase and accumulation of property (for more, see Property).The first and most important form of property in Second Life is land, closely followed by buildings. Avatars and their users may furnish, modify, or improve their property by buying or building landscapes and objects upon it. This property and its buildings, furnishings, and landscape do not require maintenance. This alienates Second Life property owners from a key element of property ownership and responsibility in real life - upkeep.

Therefore, property on Second Life is closely tied into the concept of image (for more, see Image). Though it seems that not all Second Life users identify their avatar with themselves, almost all of them import their real-life concerns over self-image onto the grid. Most individuals who currently enter Second Life do not enter and interact in social groups and communities on the grid, for the number of active accounts has not increased appreciably over recent months - a fact which insinuates many newcomers are failing to integrate into Second Life communities and are therefore abandoning the grid.

Now that the constraints within Second Life which encourage individuality, isolation, and loneliness have been thoroughly discussed, some examples of social groups and communities which have attained varying levels of success should be examined. With the sheer volume of information and material on the grid, it is difficult to portray these communities comprehensively, however, the following three case studies should provide a good cross section.

Our first case study is focused on the barrier between the communities in Second Life and real lif//e//, specifically on how fragile these barriers can sometimes be. For this part of the study, this relationship is examined in the context of behavioral patterns, specifically community seeking vs. solitude seeking. While it may seem that the need for solitude in what is at its core a video game is simple anti-social, //anti-communal// behavior, this is not what our research revealed. Instead, it is a stark antithesis to the feeling of community that Second Life can provide. Those who choose to be alone in-game show us that not everyone logs on to experience something otherworldly. The barrier of needs between Second Life and real life is extremely motile and can very easily vanish when acting on the needs of a specific individual. To read the full research, click here.

Our second case study focused on the translation of real-life communities, specifically activist and awareness communities within Second Life. Some of these communities sought simply to raise awareness of a specific cause, much like a typical website may do, while also added a more personal and experiential touch than many other mediums could achieve. Other communities focused on spirituality and religion, possibly foreshadowing a change in the way many think of religion in the future. Finally, there were supportive communities which provided individuals a group of people with whom they could truly be themselves and find others who would accept them for who they are, both in real life and Second Life.To view the full case study on this subject, please click here.

Our third case study took a look at how the business community in SL has developed. Within the business community, we took a look at three separate types of relationships and compared these with what we can observe in real life. The categories we examined were the relationship between business owners, the relationship between business owners and consumers, and the relationship between consumers. Each of these categories showed stark differences in the nature of the community when compared with that of real life, and many of these differences appear to be the result of a dramatic change in what modalities of constraint are and are not in play in SL. Our final observations in this case study showed us that much the business community in SL is very isolated, yet at the same time feels much less individualistic and competitive than real life. This apparent contradiction in development seems to be a result of the removal of two key features: The constant worry of the bottom line and the forced interaction between individuals that creates a pseudo-relationship between the two. SL removes both of these problems in the business world, and what appears to be left is a thriving community dependent on very little substantial relational development. To view the full case study, please click here.

Through a defined study of these three different sects of communities within Second Life (vacation communities, social activist communities and business communities) we have been able to acquire a broader sense of not only what the communities are, but how they work. This leaves us with one major question: how do the rules change/stay the same between communities and what sorts of ramifications arise in real life because of it? Drawing much on Lessig’s notion of the four modalities of constraint, we shall now study the vast opportunities as well as the restrictions that are user created within the various communities of Second Life.

In //Free Culture// Lessig believes that within society (communities) there exist four modalities of constraint. These constraints differ according to circumstance and provide different restrictions as well as opportunities. The first modality of constraint is law. Law refers to the penalties (rules) protecting and/or restricting creative and innovative behavior within a community. The second modality is the concept of architecture. This refers to how a system of society is structured in the goal of preventing undesirable effects. The law is the rule for what is wrong; the architecture is the actual social set-up of a society. Lessig next points to the market, or the economic portion of a community as being a significant piece of the framework. All communities must have some sort of economic system be it through capital, currency or bartering. No society has ever existed without some sort of system for the exchange of goods. This can either provide great room for innovation and creativity, or it can restrict who participates and in what capacity. Finally, the modality of norms (also referred to as the community itself) provides the source of enforcement for what are unacceptable behaviors as well as acceptable behaviors. The norms of a society entirely determine what actions are allowed and the force of the community behind it aid in supporting whatever customs a society sustains.

For further explanation of the modalities of constraint follow this link. This section ties the previous three case studies together to give a broader idea of how communities are developed in SL.

By introducing the vocabulary and basic concepts associated with Second Life, studying three specific types of communities within the program (vacation communities, social activist communities and business communities) and observing the specific modalities of constraint apparent in each, we have formulated a more clear image of how real world communities and boundaries resonate in a virtual world. Moving from a physical to a virtual world allows for alterations and even removal of constraints and regulations that greatly affect the development of social rules and roles within a community. Although the creation of the community is inevitable, what it looks like and how it operates is dependent on the underlying framework that constrains how and why people interact.

To see our list of work attributions in this project, please click here.

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