[MUD-Dev] UO rants

[Tess Lowe]

Brad Wyble wrote:
> There are very real differences between face to face and "virtual
> communities".  People behave very differently in the two circumstances and
> I think it is a mistake to ignore that difference through nomenclature.
>
> I think the word "virtual" is a bad choice though, indicating an
> artificial community of some kind.  Would you be happy with "online
> communities"?

It's always going to be more complex than we imagine, whatever labels we
apply. There are always multiple layers of communities layered on top of one
another. Just thinking about my own experiences: Totally IC online community
within a mud; online (but OOC) community focussed around a game or single
issue; online community focussed on friendship; offline community
equivalents to the previous two.

There are no doubt many more. What ties them all together is that the
emotional impact I feel in my life by participating is very real in every
case, and the way the communities change me as a person is very real too.

regards,
Tess Lowe




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