Meaning Making in Online Communities

In this excerpt from Celia Pearce's book, "Communities of Play," the author tells the story of an in-game community from the game The Gathering of Uru. More specifically, Uru spawned a community of thousands of gamers who found a home within the game world and were absolutely torn upon the shutdown of the game's servers in early 2006. Some of the players had found so much meaning within the virtual world of Uru that they experienced collective trauma, "shock and catharsis... and symptoms of posttraumatic stress" along with an overwhelming feeling that they had all lost a home (Pearce, p. 89). Although many of these players continued to communicate through other means including forums and chat servers, they yearned to have a "home" again, one in which they could see their avatars and interact with those of others.

While the chapter goes on to more clearly illustrate the events that ultimately lead to the revival of Uru, this was not until after the members of this community had explored other virtual worlds such as There.com and Second Life in search of a new home. Moreover, as these players sought to recreate Uru within other game environments, these game worlds began to assimilate the ways of the TGU players into their game culture and vice versa, comparable to the melding of immigrant identities in America (referred to as transculteration). I found this to be especially important in reaffirming the idea that players, such as those of TGU, commonly find meanings within digital games. More specifically, as digital games have become such a large part of today's culture, it is important to understand how they may affect their audience.

Digital games as a communication medium have lead to the emergence of player cultures in which players can find themselves deeply invested. As such, it comes as no surprise to me that the players of TGU found themselves feeling lost and like a community of refugees. Despite the author's overzealous attempt to excite readers with a story of exile, immigration, and assimilation, I found it to all be a little too over-the-top and exaggerated. Do you agree that virtual worlds such as TGU have the potential to engage players in a sense of identity and community comparable to that of real life?