Online Communities

From what we learned from last class, the power of on-line communities is immense. We saw that with the Big Fish Community that it first started off as a gaming community where people who enjoyed playing the same type of games came together. Eventually, as time passed and the community evolved, these people (mostly middle aged women) were coming together and becoming involved in one another's lives. They would share personal problems like health issues just as you would with your family or close friends. No matter what hard time one person was going through, they all remained together and bonded through this on-line community. The reading by Celia Pierce explained an on-line gaming community similar to Big Fish in a sense. I say that because the Uru community started small then grew bigger and bigger and people started to take this community into their lives as if it was a second home.

Pierce explains, "The trajectory of the TGU experience in There.com demonstrates the power of play communities to remain together in the face of adversity. The profound and deep connection formed by partners in play suggests that play activity has unique social qualities relevant in forming sustainable long term affiliations."

I agree with this because I believe that on-line communities have the power to connect and bond a random bunch of individuals into a tight knit community just based off of one common interest - their interest of becoming involved with the community. Even when the Uru community was coming to and end, they started their community back up elsewhere (on There.com) and began establishing their living space all over again. That in itself is very powerful because that shows the effects that online communities can have on people. It is the same as becoming involved in a community in your home town in real life. People care to become involved because that is their living space and they want to shape it into a positive living place. That goes the same with online communities, but the biggest difference is that that community is viral.

What does everyone think about on-line communities and the relationships that they form.  Do you think they are only formed because it helps get through the game or do you think it hold a deeper meaning?

Additionally, for our assignment to make a Mii on the Wii, I tried it out and the options to chose were very plain and dry because all of the shapes were very elementary.  This is what mine ended up looking like...

However, there are other sites where you can make avatars where the shapes are not very elementary.  The site called IMUV allows you to make your own avatar with your own living space.  The avatar is more human looking, but the options that I had to choose from were overwhelmingly slutty.  It took me 5 to 10 minutes to find an outfit that was not trashy.  This is what I came up with...

Nonetheless, it is interesting what different kinds of avatars are available to make to most closely resemble a person.  I think it makes game play more interesting because a person can truly feel connected to the game if they look like the person they are using to play with.