OK, for anyone who hasn't read "A Rape in Cyberspace" yet, I just want to warn you that it's kind of... unusual. At first I was confused, but after reading it all the way through I think it actually makes a really good point about the fine (and intangible) line between real life and virtual life on an emotional level. This article made me think about how individuals sometimes get so wrapped up in their virtual world, either with MySpace, Second Life, or Sims, that they become emotionally affected by the goings-on of this world to the same degree that they do with real world events. Or on a different scale, more of their time and energy may be focused on their virtual life compared to their real life. For example, this is what I suspect is going on for those leading the SLLA in Second Life, a virtual Army group fighting against the control of Linden Labs by acts of virtual terrorism...
It seems that along with the expansion of social networks and creative expression, there are many individuals who take their online existence to another level and become unnaturally immersed and obsessed with the existence. Even though up until this point we've talked about how it can be a positive contribution to the social connections and personal expressions of youth, for some people there appears to be a fuzzy separation between a persons virtual representation and real representation. I remember when I first arrived at SCU, I didn't know anyone or have any real social group. I definitely resulted to Facebook to feel like I had a social standing and presence, and at times was thinking about my interactions on the web more then the interactions I was having in my classes or dorm. In "A Rape in Cyberspace", the victims of the virtual rape reported actually having some post-traumatic symptoms occur in their real life. Even though Facebook interactions are with real people unlike with the Cyberspace rape, there is still a phony element that surrounds the interactions because you are without facial expressions/reactions, voice tones, and other factors that contribute to real life relations. Although I never got completely obsessed, it was rather unnerving to feel like a majority of my relationships existed through the Internet, and I think it is a relevant issue that should be acknowledged and sidestepped for those who participate in or will soon be entering the online world.
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3 comments:
I totally agree with you. In addition though I think that in real life people also have multiple representations of themselves and they are connected each of these different aspects of themselves in a strong way. So I think that having a virtual representation of oneself is not unlike acting differently around one's peers than one would with their parents. Again the line between the virtual world and reality is very fine.
Deb-great point about the way people act in front of their parents vs. their friends. I agree that the same elements of interaction and identity expression find their place on social networking sites. They're just translated into new terms. People acted differently around different people before these sites came around. Multiple self-representation isn't necessarily a bad, or deceptive, thing. It's actually quite normal and must be brought to an extreme level before it can be considered intentionally deceptive.
I think all three of you have very interesting points, and I agree with them all in a way. I was not surprised at all that the victims of this cyberspace rape felt symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and showed feelings of hurt and anger towards Mr. Bungle. Just because it wasn't physically happening to them, the descriptions and "pretend" (if thats the way you want to think of it) actions of the rape are just as violating and traumatic. Many people in this LambdaMOO house/community obviously feel like their characters and this virtual life is quite real, and so an event like this should be taken seriously. I definitely think that there is a fine line of how to deal with something that happens in the virtual world in real life but I also feel that this cyberspace rape was indeed wrong and disturbing. And I agree with Deb that people have many different sides to their personality in real life and I think that this Mr. Bungle character has a sick side to him that possibly wanted to do this in real life but instead was able to act out those desires through his virtual self, knowing he could not be persecuted for it in real life.
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