First off, my personal definition of a "virtual" community is a group of like-minded individuals that share at least one common interest and gather from various locations in cyberspace together to chat and share ideas and media/multimedia. The group has a very "flat" or no hierarchial structure. No one member of the community has control or very much control over the others. They are there to socialize, share ideas and other media, have discussions, and share in common goals and interests. This "technological mediation", as Willson states in her article, "Community in the Abstract", lets individuals "choose the level or degree of interaction". Some of the community members, as in a "real" community, stand at the forefront, and others stand to listen in on the community without input. As in a real community, the persons at the forefront need to encourage those in the background to speak up and be more active in the virtual community.
There are at least 4 virtual communities in which I take a regular part in. They are Facebook, MySpace, GSN (Game Show Network community online), and PWSForums (all Pro Wrestling entertainment community). Everyone knows Facebook and MySpace. They are mostly friendly and active social networking communities. I sign in to each of them at least 3 times a week to check my inbox, chat with friends, play games, change my profile design, and other activities. GSN.com is an online group of a large number of members that follow GSN on television, play games for oodles, win prizes, play games against others, chat, buy GSN merchandise, or just shoot the breeze. My wife and I are each members of this large games community. We log in at least 5 times a week for various activities. Finally, PWSForums is a huge and popular community for Pro Wrestling fans from all over the world. Members share videos, pictures, thoughts, and opinions of the many wrestlers in WWE, TNA, and elsewhere.
I log in to PWSForums at least once a week to chat and read the latest happenings in pro wrestling entertainment.
In all 4 of the mentioned virtual communities, I chat at one time or another with people from all over the United States and the world. With Facebook and MySpace, some of my friends are "virtual friends" since I have never met them, but some remain concrete or "real" space friends. It's about 60% "real" space friends and 40% the other. On Facebook and Myspace, my interaction with the people is more confident and personal, because I have known them longer and know them better. I consider GSN a complete "virtual" community as members don't ever meet in person (or rarely do) and there was not an original "real" space GSN group of people that started meeting on the web. I really don't know who I am going to run into in the chat rooms they have. I am a little more secretive yet still very open. PWSForums is another community I find completely "virtual" for the same reasons as the GSN community. I chat in the manner I do on GSN; to the point, but not very personal as I do my friends. I found, that on Facebook and MySpace, that I am more open, joking, and fun with those friends on my friends lists that I know in "real" life. I can open up more and be less secretive and shy when I know I have met them in physical form. I still do, however, have my "virtual" community friends, those of whom I have known for a little or long time, but have never met. They are the secondary group that I open up to the most. I also have those on my MS and FB that are acquaintances (mainly from the store I work in). I don't tend to chat with them nearly as much but I do email them every so often. It can be said that my "real life" friends that I have also in my virtual communities are the ones that I chat with and email the most. I am not letting the virtual community involvement take me too much out of the "real" world. There is, however, a part of me that withdraws "from the active political sphere of real space" when I am active in these virtual communities.
I find myself to be more personal to friends and people in the "real" community and space.
I am myself no matter what community I am in. I never change my persona, character (OK, so maybe I act a little tougher text-wise in the wrestling community chat lol), attitude, or anything really whether I am in a virtual community or outside in the "real" community. I am always a nice guy at heart and I respect people wherever I am.
I have found that I can experience ideas and conversations in some of these virtual communities that I hardly or never see in embodied experiences. For example, none of my "real life" friends want to chat about game shows. GSN is a place I can go to, even if I don't personally know anyone in the chat rooms, where we chat about game shows and playing games online. Likewise, most of my friends hate wrestling (yes, I know it's FAKE, but it's entertaining to me), so I know I can go to PWSForums to talk anything about wrestling to many who really want to listen and give feedback or opinions about it. If there is something uncomfortable I cannot discuss with friends I have in physical form here, I can always get online and chat with friends from far away that I have known for some time, but have never met. This is especially important if the subject matter is such that gossip might start or someone might get hurt here in town if I spoke to one of my "real life" friends about the matter outside the virtual community.
There are certain barriers to membership in each of these virtual communities I take part in.
Facebook and MySpace require members to be at least 13 years old, have a computer and internet connection of some sort, sign up for a membership, know how to set up their profile in a rule-prescribed manner, and follow a set of rules in how they interact (no profanity, racism, etc.), what they say, and what they post (pictures, text, etc.). There are no ethnic, location, monetary, sex, education, or gender barriers as discussed in the digital divide. All they need is a computer, connection, some computer and internet savy, and a halfway-decent way of being. If you don't have a computer or way to connect to the web, you're probably not on Facebook or any other virtual community. The GSN community has the same barriers and requirements, except that you must be 18 years of age or older and you must like or love playing online games. You should know how to play the various games as well. Finally, if you choose to play certain online games for prizes, you must pay to play them. This can be a financial barrier to many. There are similar rules to behavior and activities in this community as there are with FB and MySpace. This is especially true in the chat room. PWSForums has the same barriers and a very similar set of rules as the other communities. You only have to be 13 years old and be a wrestling fan. Also, you must somewhat regularly post wrestling-related pictures and videos to remain a member of the PWSForums community. They are not very tolerant of "background" community members. Everyone must be a willing participant in sharing and posting only wrestling-related multimedia. The ignorance of each community's rules will get a member banned or suspended for some time or permanently. This is especially true of PWSForums and GSN.
I have found in my lifetime that "real" space communities have their limits that some virtual communities can help overcome for many. Virtual communities can be a "way out" for some with problems that they cannot relate to a "real" community. However, too many people are becoming dependent on virtual communities and completely or mostly escaping the real communities we live in. I don't believe this to be healthy. As Willson states in the Conclusion section of her article, there is a " 'thinning' of the complexities of human engagement to the level of one-dimensional transactions and a detaching of the user from the political and social responsibilities of the 'real space' environment." People can still be "together" with others and have fun in virtual communities, but they need to detach themselves more from the "virtual" and not the "real". If the forementioned trend continues, our real communities will suffer great loss. We need more involvement in the "real space".
~Mike Payne~
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What's interesting is that you mentioned that there are age barriers to certain online communities. However, I'd like to argue that these aren't really barriers at all because anyone who knows their way around a keyboard and mouse and has the intestinal fortitude to sign up, may do so by simply clicking the "yes, i'm old enough prompt".
ReplyDeleteThis caused me a lot of problems with my eldest teenage daughter, who took it upon herself to engage in all types of communities (inappropriate for children) and all types of people (pedophiles) with reckless abandon. If she didn't have a computer at home to do it on (often taken away by me), she would do it at school... Simply put, there's no incentive for online communities to confirm their age.
Another thing that I've seen is with teenagers in particular using IM technologies is their willingness to engage in conversations with people vi IM that they would NEVER say in person. It's like they feel they can be someone else, or hiding behind a cell phone gives them some sense of other being. Not sure, but I bet there have been studies done. If not, sounds like fodder for a great book.
The forums you described -- definitely virtual communities. The case of FB and MySpace gets tricky, as the levels of interactivity w/ community members, as well as the makeup of the members themselves (are they people known in the physical world, whom you see often, etc) is part of what goes into determining if a community is a virtual community or a physical-world community enacted sometimes in a virtual space.
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