Abstract:
In this thesis, I examine the design and operation of 3D, graphically
immersive, Internet-based virtual communities. Beginning with a survey of
the many different definitions of the term "community," I maintain that
electronic social networks can support community formation, especially
when they are connected to place-based activities. Following a brief history
of the development of Internet-based social spaces for local communities of
citizens, I use Telecom New Zealand's Xtra web site as an example of how
businesses create global communities of consumers. Using three case
studies: Habbo Hotel, Cybertown, and Active WorIds, I discuss how identity
is constructed, how social structures are formed, and how environments are
built in visually intensive 3D virtual sites. I argue that the use of 3D avatars
and elaborate graphics to create simulated environments focus attention on
the design of the site, rather than on the conversations they are meant to
support. In a discussion of the convergence of3D online communities and
video games, I show that both combine limited social activity and play in
exciting, entertaining, simulated environments that cater to individual
desire. An examination of planned communities in the built environment
reveals that, Iike privately-owned virtual communities, they, too, rely on
visual facades, control access and behavior, and turn their back on the
outside world. I argue that complex sites that exhibit a high degree of
visual simulation encourage participants to become immersed in sealed
environments that have little connection to place-based communities and
their embodied inhabitants. I conclude that, although meaningful
communities can be constructed online, corporate objectives militate
against the possibility. Businesses use the promise of sociability to Iure
individuals to their sites, where they are organized into valuable niche
markets that are then targeted by other companies. The result is an
aggregation of consumers within a simulated community.