Virtual Communities aren't supposed to be physically real

This one thing that i came across very interesting ...read it enjoy it...

Virtual Communities aren't supposed to be physically real

Throughout this unit I have noticed a common theme, in that people seem to be linking the concept of "community" with a need for physical reality. There is no such need. Thousands of communities existed even before the Internet where there was no actual physical meeting place for the participants - they simply shared a common interest.

Sure, in Counter-Strike you aren't fighting in a real army and in World of Warcraft you aren't in a real place - We are all well aware of this, that doesn't lessen the groups that make up these online games as a community as long as they conform to a dictionary definition. The group of people who share the common interest of playing paintball aren't in a real army either, but that doesn't make their shared experience and community any less real - just different.

An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.

or

a body of persons of common interests scattered through a larger society (such as the academic community).

This is by no means an exhaustive list of definitions, but they are, I feel, the most important ones when considering this topic.

Can you argue that the population of an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft is not interacting in a common location? Sure, it isn't a physical location but it still is a location. When people ask you "Hey where did you find that information?" you say "On the Internet", you don't say "It came from this fake place that doesn't exist". Despite the lack of physicallity it is still a location.

Secondly, a common interest is obviously shared in online games.

Thirdly, even if the Internet disappeared tomorrow for a week and there was no game servers to log onto there would still be a "World of Warcraft Community": Individuals scattered throughout the wider community who play the game. Even communities from players for individual servers.

I'll finish off with an example from my own gaming experience last night.

I was on the World of Warcraft server I play on in the city of Ironforge. This is the place where most members of the Alliance races go when looking for a group to adventure with since it has the most convenient services all gathered together. It is sort of a hub for all things Alliance.

Anyway, I saw someone advertising that they needed more people for a "raid" on a place called "Stratholme", it is a very dangerous area full of powerful enemies.

I said to them "If you need a hunter I will go with you" and I was quickly invited to join.

Once I was in the party there was some discussion about what other sorts of players we needed. Some said we needed another warrior, some wanted a mage or a warlock for spells. A few names of players interested in coming were put to the group, some of whom one or more of the various members objected to - "No, don't take Apok, he is too low level", "No, Don't take Mythrandir, he is a Ninja looter" (a ninja looter is someone who quickly snatches up loot which is useless for a character of his own class and simply wants to sell it for gold when another group member would have really liked to use it).

Eventually we got a party together that everyone was satisfied with, we all headed off to the area, where we planned our assault, laid down the law for the rules about the distribution of any loot and headed in.

A couple of hours later our raid was over. A few of the other members complimented me on my skill as a Hunter and we exchanged some negative words about 2 or 3 of the 10 members of the group who hadn't proven very good team-players and would likely find themselves excluded from future ventures.

.....

Now, yes I know none of that is physically real, but can anyone argue that a group of people are having experiences and interacting? Can anyone argue against the idea that there is a common interest?

You don't have to believe that Stratholme, Ironforge, or Night-Elf Hunters really exist in the physical world to accept that a group of people are interacting here.

It is the interaction that is important, not the physical existence of the meeting place.

I would have thought that since this unit is called "virtual communities" that is the whole point.

source http://teamscarlet.blogspot.com/