While I agree with Bonnie that the Washington Post should be embarrassed by its fact checking failure, I think the article does manage to draw public attention to an interesting tension concerning the significance of actions in virtual worlds. As of Friday morning, when I first read the article (I'm a bit behind on my email...), there were five screens of comments on the article (http://tinyurl.com/365w3y). Although many simply made the same point that Bonnie did, there were also a number of posts concerning the significance of simulated acts of violence. There seem to be two camps. On one hand, there are those who argue that these are only games. For example, some argue that the actions people perform in these environments are "play", with no real consequences, and therefore harmless. Others suggest that players of these games need to respond more rationally to the clearly fictional world. For many, the solution is as simple as walking away. The distinction between "real" and "virtual", which has become increasingly blurred in academic circles, seems quite prominent in many of these arguments. On the other hand, some posters took issue with the assertion that actions taken in virtual worlds don't matter. A common argument here was that people develop habits, norms and expectations through regular interactions wherever they take place. The debate certainly isn't new to academics who study virtual worlds and the like, but seeing it in the Washington Post makes me think about the public response to this debate. What metaphors will be most helpful to a large and diverse audience as they try to grapple with the issues raised by these technologies? I think that finding these metaphors and getting them out into the world is an important contribution well suited to this intellectual community. For example, thinking of virtual worlds (or social network sites or collaboratories, etc) as public spaces, as danah boyd has recently been arguing, suggests a different set of consequences and responses than thinking about them as just games. At the same time, treating actions online and offline as equivalent also seems to be a mistake. Perhaps these are usefully thought of as games played in public. This metaphor seems to work for the first few examples that come to my mind. E.g., if a group of adults were to pretend to be engaging in pedophilia in a secluded part of a public park only inhabited by other adults, how should society respond? What if the adults were acting a lynching? And what metaphors make sense when more real-world transactions take place in these virtual worlds. If these are places where people go to work, to shop, to learn, etc. -- all of which appear to be happening in Second Life -- then how should we characterize the space? Should the rules of behavior be different? To my thinking, the key is not to provide the answer to how to respond to these actions, but to provide people with tools that might help them to think through the relevant issues. If you're still reading, thanks for taking a moment to think about these issues. -Kelly
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Bonnie Nardi Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 1:13 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Shades of "A Rape in Cyberspace"
I have been studying World of Warcraft for eighteen months, and it is not possible to "make off with the virtual belongings" of a character in-game. There are no "lawless regions" of the game. It is possible to hack people's accounts and steal their stuff (which is quickly be transformed into unrecognizable generic items), but not to be accosted in-game as this article says, referring to the perils of "lone travelers."
This kind of journalistic story telling seems to perenially recycle the theme of cybercrime without being informed about the social settings in which it is allegedly taking place. Talk about fantasy -- the assertions about World of Warcraft are just that.
--
Bonnie
On Jun 2, 2007, at 2:02 PM, Holly Kruse wrote:
...but with national law enforcement involved:
"Does Virtual Reality Need a Sheriff? Reach of Law Enforcement Is Tested When Online Fantasy Games Turn Sordid", in today's Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/ AR2007060102 671.html
Holly
-- Holly Kruse Faculty of Communication The University of Tulsa 600 S. College Ave. Tulsa, OK 74104 918-631-3845 holly-kruse@utulsa.edu or holly.kruse@gmail.com http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~holly-kruse
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Bonnie A. Nardi Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3440 (949) 824-6534 www.artifex.org/~bonnie/
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