The Question of Player Status in World of Warcraft
By Bryan Tu Tran, Claire Hayati, Rebecca Lin, and Hank Whitson
Inside every server of World of Warcraft (WoW) there exists an eclectic community of players from all over the planet who participate in a complex cultural system where co-operative dungeon raids, gladiatorial duels, and constant multi-channeled communication are just part of the daily grind. Yet in a world where such fantastic activities are mediated by an invisible system of intricate calculations, and every character is designated a numerical value, what, aside from the raw math, determines a character’s status? By examining four central aspects of WoW’s game play—race and class configuration, guild membership, participation in player vs. player combat (PvP) and role playing (RP)—our study offers new insights concerning online impression building and the nature of interpersonal status in virtual worlds.
As in real life, a character’s race and class play key roles in determining status on WoW, having dramatic influence on both appearance and abilities. According to the well-known anthropologist Max Weber, there are three factors that may determine one’s social status: Property, Prestige, and Power. We would argue that since property and prestige must be obtained by a player’s actions in-game, his character’s inherent power, based on the criteria of race and class, is of paramount importance.
In order to examine the social influence of a character’s class and race, we conducted research through extensive participant observation and gathered data through semi-structured interviews with participants in person, as well as online through the private chat function. A sum of 120 hours was spent inside of the game. Eight in-depth interviews were obtained from age 15 to age 48. Half of the participants were between the age 18-24 and two were female. These consisted of gamers who just started playing to veterans with at least three years of experience.
In WoW, there are two factions which are called Alliance and Horde. Inside the Alliance faction, there are five races: humans, dwarves, night elves, gnomes, and draenei. Inside the Horde faction, there are also five races: orcs, undead, tauren, trolls, and blood elves. Each race has its own background story as well as a unique appearance. Alongside the physical differences, are the different “racial traits” or special abilities or powers granted to a character based on its race. For example, the blood elf race has a passive magic resistance that reduces the chance you will be hit by spells by 2%. Another example is the racial trait of ‘shadowmeld,’ which allows Night Elves to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect their presence.
The specific race of the character does have an effect on one’s ascribed status, comparable to the status which is fixed for an individual at birth. In this context, the ascribed status is embodied by racial traits which are given to the character upon creation. According to the interviewees with at least one level 80 character (currently the highest level attainable), racial traits play a crucial role in organized battles such as raids or arena matches. Because the special abilities granted by a character’s racial trait may give a desirable advantage, the preferred race is depicted with more social value. For example, the tauren race, which resembles muscular anthropomorphic bulls, are considered to make better warriors than other races because two of their racial traits: 1) “endurance” in which the base health is increased by 5%, and 2) “war stomp” which stuns the enemy for a small time period, are particularly useful in melee combat, where extra health and a few seconds to get in an extra hit can make all the difference.
In regards to the physical appearance of a race, interviewees who have just started the game would rather choose the more attractive looking races. However, they believe it is relatively insignificant when asked if it has any importance in relation to social status. According to the piece, “The Role of Friends’ Appearance and Behavior on Evaluations of Individuals on Facebook: Are We Known by the Company We Keep?”, “Online users can organize the information flow and enhance self-image by strategically selecting how and what to convey to the receiver” (Walther et al.). However, this is not necessarily true when applied to WoW. Players with more experience in the game tend to disregard the physical appearance and focus more on things that enhance power such as class specialization and racial traits. Appearance then only holds importance to newer players.
Among the different races in WoW, there are ten playable classes: death knight, druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock, and warrior. Each class is drastically different from each other in that they all have unique abilities through their spells and skills. For example, the priest class is known for their healing abilities and the rogue class is recognized as the primary melee damage dealer because of their powerful attack abilities. Another crucial difference that distinguishes these classes from one another is their ability to wield different types of weapons and wear different types of armors. For example, the paladins, warriors, and death knights are the only three classes that are capable of wearing plate armor, which has the highest defense value. In addition, each character class utilizes unique resources and play systems to give each class a distinct feel. Rogues, for example, draw from a stamina gauge to perform attacks and accumulate combo points as they successfully land hits on enemies. On the other hand, priests draw from a manna gauge to cast spells that may either damage their enemies or heal their allies.
Given its drastic effect on character abilities, players are all but unanimous that class is the single most important choice to consider when creating a character. There is considerable debate however, about which class is the most powerful or important for group play. Most agree that classes who perform specialized roles, such as healers and tanks—characters designed to absorb damage from enemies to protect the rest of the party—are more important than damage dealing classes, which are plentiful. Priests, warriors and death knights were mentioned in almost every single interview. These classes tend to be more valued by the online community because they have more specific duties to fulfill in raids. Ironically, classes focused on dealing high amounts of damage-per-second, or DPS, tend to be the most widely played even though they are less ‘prestigious’ than tanks and healers. This may be accounted for by the fact that DPS classes tend to be more efficient at solo-play than healers and tanks, who enjoy most of their specialized, role-based prestige late in the game, when party organization is crucial for advancing.
Since multiple classes are able to fulfill different roles, there is considerable debate about which class is the best at its job, and frequent debates concerning the balance of power between classes. Blizzard Entertainment addresses these imbalances by adjusting a class’s abilities through the semi-monthly software patches released to fix bugs, and add new content to the game. When a class (or item, or race, or ability) is made stronger, players say that it has been “buffed,” while any weakening adjustments are referred to as “nerfs.” Another remedy that Blizzard Entertainment came up with is introducing new classes and races in expansion packs, to address shortages of certain character types. For example, the death knights were added in the recent Wrath of the Lich King expansion to address the scarcity of tanking classes. Consequently, the status afforded by class and race are constantly in flux.
It is important to understand that the status afforded to race and class is contingent upon the player’s ability to fulfill the role they shape. On occasion, new players who do not want to deal with the trouble of building a character will purchase high-level, well-equipped characters from other players, despite Blizzard explicitly prohibiting the practice in their terms of service agreement. In most cases, the new player’s inexperience will betray itself through foolish mistakes in group play and net them an extremely negatively reputation, despite the prestige of their experience, and the strengthened attributes of their equipment, or property.
Regardless of how powerful a class is at a given time, a single player cannot hope to tackle WoW’s hardest challenges alone. Guilds are essential for high-end game play, providing the support and connections necessary to take on the game’s greatest challenges. Although it does not affect a player’s external appearance as drastically as race, guild membership is prominently displayed under characters’ names in-game, and it plays a considerable role in establishing their reputation.
Blizzard devised guilds as the mechanism to ensure that a sense of community and social networking was present in WoW. Guilds function as support groups and friend databases in which a member is considered responsible for participating in guild activities, helping fellow members, and following rules set by the guild leaders. Guilds are especially useful for high level players and obtaining “achievements.” They are important to study because they provide insight into how relationships form between characters and how status relationships develop both amongst their members and in contrast to nonmembers. Based on the research on guilds performed by Chen, Sun, and Hsieh, we hypothesize that high-level guilds, also referred to as power-guilds, create a sense of community amongst their members and isolate outsiders. We tested our theory through participant observations and interviews.
Guilds in WoW are constructed by individual players and grow when other players join. Haris and Nardi say that guilds’ main “focus is [to collect] reliable players for advanced play” (Haris and Nardi). Each guild acquires a reputation and unofficial status based on the identity of its members. According to Chen, Sun and Hsieh “the percentage of avatars joining guilds [increases] steadily with avatar level” (Chen, Sun and Hsieh). Low-status guilds are not very selective; they tend to be more accepting of characters of all levels, classes, specializations, and races. Most do not have strict regulations, do not require much play time, and often do not have the same sense of community responsibility as other more powerful guilds. The size of the low status guilds varies between 30-200 people, but most of the smaller guilds are not as stable and tend to be less helpful to their players (Chen, Sun and Hsieh). High-status guilds, on the other hand, are very selective, often requiring many interviews and applications to become a member. They also require large amounts of play time, sometimes forty or more hours a week, and implement strict rules.
Power-guilds collect players with high levels of skill and understanding, and therefore can become very insular, with their members rarely mingling with outside players. The players in such guilds rely on each other for any activity requiring multiple players, including raiding and making items for one another. Within a server the more powerful guilds can become famous and their players respected and well known by players in less powerful guilds. However, the well-known characters tend to keep to themselves and do not need to seek help from others not in their guild. Also these players are extremely hard to access to ask for help from non-guild members. The status of the guilds therefore creates a virtual boundary in which players are separated based on skill and guild association. With all the high-end, skilled players concentrated amongst themselves they are less likely to help less-skilled players to advance in skill or complete hard tasks in the game. This isolation controls which characters someone can play with and hinders access to the more challenging parts of the game. At the same time the skilled players are ever advancing and pushing the boundaries that Blizzard has created.
This separation between guilds and their players is one based on skills and understanding of the game. Within guilds it is not a requirement that in order to be in a high position one has to be more skilled than the others below. Guild hierarchies tend to be more about social relationships than ability. Once in the guild the only way to advance to a more authoritative position is through social connections. “Raider” is the only guild role based on playing skills (interviews). Within a guild there are two levels of authority that are similar to government roles. The top position is guild master, which can be reached only by creating the guild; any player can create a guild. The master has ultimate control over the guild no matter how powerful the other members might be. For example, the master has the right to kick out members, shut the guild down, take all items from the guild bank, and invite anyone into the guild. The next authority level is that of the officers, who have power to add or kick anyone out, have full access to all bank items, and can control who plays in which raid. The only way to become an officer is to be chosen by existing officers or by the guild master. Officers choose raiders to go on raids. Raiders have no authority over other players but do receive automatic preference to receive the best items and a guaranteed spot in raids. Raider status is achieved through merit and the player’s ability to be organized and effective (interviews).
Discrimination between guilds helps to separate people who are not in the same guild and at the same time brings people of the same guild closer together. The hierarchy and different status positions allow the guild to run smoothly, and despite these differences, companionship and friendship is readily available. Guilds create a WoW community that is much smaller than the entire server, thereby providing more opportunity for repeated interactions. Guilds also define and supply a method of approaching the WoW play experience, either technically or with greater social interaction. This, along with boundaries imposed by guild status, pulls together players of similar ability and “can be designed to create somewhat customized play experiences” (Nardi and Harris). By imposing responsibilities on players within the guild, a sense of real-world community develops.
Many of the guild members in power guilds actively play with each other for forty hours a week and constantly use voice and text chat. During these sessions personal information and daily updates are given, bringing the group together to share common interests and experiences that strengthen the relationships between guild members and can create long-lasting friendships. Without the guild structure these groups of strangers and intensive players would not be given the opportunity to come as close to other players and the game would not hold the same sense of reality (Nardi and Harris).
Character abilities and connections have significant influence on forming status in WoW, though few things have more impact on an individual player’s status than their personal skill. But while the dungeon raiding scene is rife with horror stories about reckless players whose mistakes wipe-out entire groups, and “ninja looters” (unscrupulous players who steal valuable items dropped by dungeon bosses without their party’s consent), status gained through Player-versus-Player combat (PvP) is solely focused on competition.
PvP takes a variety of forms in WoW. Certain servers are designated as PvP servers (as opposed to PvE or player versus environment servers), where players are allowed and often expected to attack characters of the opposing faction in zones regarded as contested territory. All servers have access to other types of PvP play, such as arena battles, a more formal system of PvP where players form teams and participate in gladiatorial matches against other teams. Finally, there are Battlegrounds: large scale, mission based skirmishes where one Alliance team and one Horde team compete by accomplishing various objectives.
To research status relating to PvP, we participated in the Warsong Gulch battleground, the first and only type of PvP combat available to low level characters. Our findings suggest that status gained in Battlegrounds is like a sandcastle built near the shoreline, as it is constantly being wiped clean with each new skirmish. In their article, “Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as ‘Third Places’”, Dimitri Williams and Constance Steinkuehler cite “Players [ability] to enter a world in which success is based not on out-of-game status but on in-game talent, wit, diligence, and hard work” as one of the core appeals of MMO’s (Steinkuehler and Williams). Furthermore, they cite ‘a level playing field’ as one of the essential criteria for online games to serve as ‘Third Places’; relaxing social environments outside the work and home. There are many points where WoW wipes a player’s record clean. Character creation allowing players to build their legacies according to their tastes, and forgiving death penalties encourage player’s to take another stab at challenges they fail. Yet Battlegrounds seem to be the best example of this etch-a-sketch-esque cycle, giving players nothing but a blank score and an opportunity to do their best.
To examine the role of status in a PvP battleground match, one must first understand its mechanics. Warsong Gulch is accessible from any major city for all races, wherein the player enters a queue to join the next match. The majority of battleground matches are with pick-up groups, meaning the teams are randomly assembled from those waiting in a queue compiled from several different servers. A player from the Dragonmaw server could find himself with a mix of teammates from the Frostwolf and Blackrock servers. For these reasons it is unlikely a player will join a team with someone he had fought with in the previous match. Consequently, any respect or derision gained in the previous match is wiped clean. Depending on the time of day, queues take anywhere from two to twenty minutes. He has no status among his teammates when the match begins because they have no idea of his skills, save for speculation.
After joining a battleground, the 10-character team has two minutes to lay out basic strategies and buff one another—cast spells to increase damage, strength, health, and general survivability. Once the match begins, the two teams compete to capture the enemy flag and return it to their own camp three times to win. All basic strategies for Warsong Gulch involve three roles: a flag carrier, defense, and offense. The flag carrier, arguably the most important role on a team, enters the enemy camp and is the one who physically—in the game sense—brings the flag back to his team’s home base. Defense characters escort their flag carrier to and from the enemy camp; if the flag carrier is killed, the enemy flag is dropped on the ground and can be recaptured by the enemy. Offense engages the enemy team directly and prevents them from reaching their camp. If their flag is captured, the offense chases down the enemy flag carrier and kills him to restore their flag to its original location inside their camp. Players who fulfill their roles well are respected during the battleground match, and teams who play well gain honor—literally accumulate a PvP currency called honor that they can redeem for special items.
At the conclusion of a match, a chart appears showing the names of each participant, their level, class, damage dealt, health healed, and how many times they captured the enemy flag or recaptured their own flag after it was taken by the opposing team. The player’s status is summarized by the statistics displayed on this chart at the battle’s end. The player who dealt the highest damage or captured the enemy flag the most times is respected, and is thus granted a kind of high status, one that is supported by his apparent gaming skill, an inherent knowledge of the game that fellow players should aspire to. But this status is fleeting; even if the player lingers to look at the end game scoreboard, the battleground automatically closes within minutes and prepares for the next pair of teams to clash.
Given the brevity of each skirmish, players have little opportunity to form lasting impressions on their teammates, leading one to question if appreciable status is created at all. Juniper is a female college student who plays a level 80 character and participates in Battlegrounds almost daily, yet she rejects the notion that status in battleground PvP exists. “There is no status,” she insists. “You almost never have the same teammates again and you’re not going to remember them anyway. It just doesn’t work like that.” Her boyfriend Astrus, with two level 80 characters of his own, agrees: “I don’t think you’re going to find status the way you describe it, probably because they’re all random people, so you don’t feel that kind of connection—that mutual respect for people you do know.”
Etically, one could argue that the post-match scorecard conveys a degree of status on participants, but from an emic point of view, status in battleground PvP is nonexistent, because one’s teammates are randomly selected and it is unlikely that they will be encountered again. Since many players are driven by the desire to compete in as many matches as possible, they leave the Battlegrounds without examining the score. At the same time, there are dedicated teams of players who enter the queue as a group, and conquer other teams with a combination of superior communication and rehearsed tactics. This practice is perfectly legal, but uncommon due to the large of amount of planning necessary, which is comparable to a guild’s preparations for a raid, but yields no experience or equipment. Consequentially, such teams are easily recognized and greatly feared by their competitors.
Another niche activity with considerable impact on player-to player perception is role-playing, (or RP). Throughout our experiences in WoW, we noticed, through conversations and remarks in public chat channels, that the general opinion toward RP and Roleplayer’s is largely hostile or disparaging. This strikes us as both curious and ironic considering WoW’s classification as a Role-playing game (RPG). Our examination produced a fascinating insight concerning the correlation between game design and player behavior.
Before one can examine the effects of role-playing on player status, it is crucial to appreciate the distinction between the class based mechanics that structure role-playing games, and role-playing as a multiplayer activity. As a gaming genre, RPGs use a combination of character-specific categories (in WoW’s case, race and class) and statistics (that gauge attributes like strength and stamina) to determine characters’ abilities and power respectively. As discussed earlier, a character’s race and class have the most impact on a player’s duties during group play in WoW. Therefore, from an etic perspective one might say that people are always playing a role of some sort when they play WoW together. However, the emic definition of RP refers to playing the game in an in-character fashion, where users chat and “act” (through emote commands) as if they are their character, as opposed to their operator.
As with other types of social play in WoW, there are casual and serious role-players. Casual sessions tend to be more improvisational, with participants reacting to in-game events as if it were their reality. Serious role-players generally meet at agreed upon times to act out a storyline in game, and restrict technical discussions of game play to an Out of Character (OOC) chat channel. Serious RP sessions also do not usually take place in dangerous environments; nor are they accommodating of other players who try to jump in uninvited, since unplanned player deaths and arrivals can disrupt the story.
Once again, our research consisted of participant observation and several semi-structured interviews taking place in game and online via an instant messenger program. It is worth noting that Blizzard has taken a decidedly hands-off approach toward facilitating RP in WoW. While there is a matchmaking system and chat channel to help people find groups for PvP and dungeon raiding, the only feature deliberately designed to facilitate role-playing are designated RP preferred servers. Yet this designation does not require players to engage in role play, nor does it give role play any type of priority treatment. This makes sense given the subjective nature of the activity, but one of the first lessons we learned about RP in WoW, is how difficult finding a session to participate in can be, even on a RP preferred server.
Currently, the most used chat channel in WoW is the Trade channel, accessible in each of the game’s capital cities. As its namesake would suggest, the channel is intended for players to conduct business, allowing players to advertise their wares or request goods. Since it is visible to every player in the capital city and moderated only by player complaints, Trade is frequently used for general chat and by role players searching for groups, much to the chagrin of actual traders whose chat logs are crowded with unrelated information.
During research, we witnessed a particularly passionate argument arise when two players started to role-play in Trade chat as if they were bartering in the game world. The traders, frustrated by the extra chat, lambasted the role-players who cited the game’s role-playing status. Without any official statement from Blizzard awarding precedence to the RP status of the server or the functional purposes of the Trade channel, the matter is left up to players to determine. In his article, “Beyond Management: Considering Participatory Design and Governance in player Culture” , T.L. Taylor notes that “Players are not merely consumers of games, but actively contribute to their creation,” and goes on to detail the numerous ways players voice their opinions to game designers, citing one example of an in-game protest about the warrior class that occurred in WoW (Taylor). It is interesting to note that when the protest began to affect game play, Blizzard was quick to respond with a message threatening “actions against user accounts.” In the instance of the great Trade channel debate, those opposed to RP suggested that the issue be settled with a vote and claimed that the server was no longer RP preferred according to the results. Proponents of RP argued that the verdict had no ‘official value’ since it was unsanctioned by Blizzard and that the issue was not up for debate. Other parties argued that RP should only take place at specific locations in game.
The discussion gradually died down, though many comments from both sides of the debate suggested that it was a common topic of discussion, and that it would not be the last. Given Blizzard’s prompt and serious response to the warrior protest, it seems curious why the matter of RP in trade has not been laid to rest. Though having identified character class as a primary component of a player’s power over, and status within the game world, it seems reasonable to assume that it was given much higher priority than issues pertaining to RP, which has a very insignificant influence on game mechanics.
It seems that the functional goal driven mechanics seem to stifle the social aspects of the game crucial to role playing. This observation is consistent with Williams and Steinkuehler’s findings, which concluded “As complex, long-term collaborative activities become increasingly prevalent [in MMOs], the game becomes increasingly more entangling, time-consuming, and work-like, diminishing its status as a relaxing social environment” (Steinkuehler and Williams). Having no place to belong to, we expect role-players to feel frustrated or alienated by the generally hostile tone toward their activity.
Yet during our interviews, most role-players stated that they were indifferent or amused by the debates. “It’s easy enough to ignore people online,” said Silver, a level 78 Paladin, “but I think it’s kind of hilarious that you have these people calling us geeks while they’re here in our world, trying to sell virtual dragon teeth.” Hornz, a high level Night Elf Mage who had role-played in other MMOs explained that he did not play in WoW because most role-players seemed inexperienced. He actually felt that the debates on Trade were good, because they served to help weed out less dedicated players: “The ones who get upset are usually just trying it [RP] on. If they like it, they keep at it. If not, it really isn’t for them anyway. I don’t roleplay on WoW because there are too many of those people here.”
When asked about their primary motivations for engaging in RP, most interviewees cited creative expression, immersion in the game world, or a mixture of both. Surprisingly, none of the subjects cited socializing as a primary motivator. Silver observed that RP could make it harder to socialize with other gamers, due to the fabricated personalities players adopted for their characters. Another player, Sage, suggested that role playing does not necessarily need to be a strictly multiplayer activity, feeling single person activities such as Machinima, which use the game world to create movies, constituted role playing as well.
Overall, one’s status in WoW is primarily focused on a player’s power. Classes and races enjoy prestige based on their abilities to help parties achieve specific goals. Power guilds serve as an extension of such practices, fine tuning their ranks to take on the greatest challenges the game has to offer. By contrast, status gained through participation in RP and PvP is largely unrecognized, since the personal satisfaction afforded by such pursuits cannot be precisely quantified by the game’s system. Ironically, even though the interactions of online games occur in virtual worlds which we navigate alone from our computers, there is a strong emphasis on tangibly increasing one’s power, and working with others to achieve great things.
Works Cited
Bonnie Nardi and Justin Harris, Strangers and Friends: Collaborative Play in World of Warcraft, 2006.
Chien-Hsun Chen, Chuen-Tsai Sun, and Jilung Hsieh. Player Guild Dynamics and Evolution in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Cyber Psychology & Behavior. 11(3), 2008.
Constance Steinkuehler and Dimitri Williams, Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as “Third Places.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11(4), article 1, 2006.
Interviews conducted. February 20th- March 5th of 2009.
Joseph B. Walther, Brandon Van Der Heide, Sang-Yeon Kim, David Westerman, & Stephanie Tom Tong, The Role of Friends’ Appearance and Behavior on Evaluations of Individuals on Facebook: Are We Known by the Company We Keep? Human Communication Research 34(1):28-49, 2008.
T. L. Taylor, Beyond Management: Considering Participatory Design and Governance in Player Culture. First Monday, Special Issue #7, 2006.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Age and Gender in Online Dating Websites: An Analysis of User Profiles on Mingles.com
Age and Gender in Online Dating Websites: An Analysis of User Profiles on Mingles.com
Ed Chow
D Coulombe
Valerie Garcia
Donna Vuu
Jen Wade
Introduction:
Cyberspace has a great effect on how we communicate, interact, and form relationships online/offline, and affects how we see ourselves both in the realm of virtual space and real/actual space. Online dating sites are spaces where the actual and virtual self are intended to be as identical as possible. Within the domain of online dating, the self is presented through constructs of gender, age, and social interaction. Online dating arenas represent an opportunity to record changing cultural norms regarding technology-mediated relationship development and gain insights into important aspects of online behavior, such as gender identity construction and self-presentation strategies. Understanding the ways people create online identities based on their “offline” selves gives insight into the interplay between virtual and actual worlds, i.e. how our real world culture affects the culture we create online and vice versa. Relationships wherein people first meet online and then move offline, known as mixed mode, challenge established theories focusing exclusively on online relationships and provide opportunities for new theory development (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006).
The study of online dating profiles provides interesting dimensions to research of identity, gender, and relationships in cyberspace. This research project was developed to analyze the gender identities of users, e.g. how they present themselves in their profiles and the kind of relationships they are looking for or expect to find using online dating sites. In addition, we examined the differences and similarities between men and women, using age as a variable. Using data gathered from personal profiles on Mingles.com we were able to compare the ways these sites mediated users’ identities through online interactions with the prospect of developing an offline relationship.
Mediated matchmaking is not a new phenomenon: Newspaper personal advertisements have existed since the mid-19th century and video dating was popular in the 1980s. Tom Standage (1998) gives a fascinating account of online dating in his book The Victorian Internet, which documents the history of the telegraph, the first invention that truly had the potential to facilitate romance through virtual space. Standage gives reports of telegraph operators who fell in love while chatting online during slow work hours. Like the modern computer monitor, the tickers functioned as the interface where information was sent and received by telegraph operators. Although different than modern computer-mediated communication, the telegraph and the relationships it facilitated are similar in kind, and this research, along with other research conducted on virtual spaces, aims to shed light on the dynamics of online dating.
Literature Review
A large body of research exists on virtual spaces, the ways in which individuals interact within them, as well as the myriad of ways in which people construct their own identities and perceive those of others. Research on online dating sites in particular have focused on how the online dating platform inhibits and permits impression management and the ways in which romantic relationships develop.
As mentioned above, “love over the wires” is not a new phenomenon. Not only was the telegraph utilized as a way to transmit love messages from one person to another, but telegraph operators actually utilized the device for their own ends, forging romantic relationships between one another through the wires, having never actually seen each other and no visual cues to base impressions: “Despite the apparently impersonal nature of communicating by wire, it was in fact an extremely subtle and intimate means of communication” (Standage 1998:130). Even through female telegraph operators were physically separated from their male counterparts, and often overseen by a matron, men and women were enabled to make romantic connections across the wires (Standage 1998:134). Anecdotes of online love affairs illustrate the inevitability of romance through any communicative form. Also, both the Internet and telegraph have the ability to “help couples transcend real-world barriers” (Standage 1998:137), particularly physical distance, but also shyness and social anxiety.
Visual stimulation is an essential element of the internet, and social networking and on-line dating websites “support members pursuing their own objectives of socializing and sharing of textual and pictorial content” (Messinger 2008:5). Yet, despite the increased means through which users are able to express and represent themselves, notions of authenticity are further complicated, rather than simplified. Online impression formation and management is uniquely complicated because interaction is substantially reduced online from what it would be in the actual world, rendering online impressions suspect because they are so controllable (Walther 2008:32). “People make active decisions about when and how they will self-disclose. These decisions involve a complex process in which people set rules about how and when they will divulge private information, negotiate those rules with other people, and make decisions to disclose based on violations of those rules” (Walther 2008:32).
Deception on the internet, especially within the realm of online dating, has been extensively documented in online research studies. Although the anonymous aspect of the internet may suggest widespread lack of authentic self-representation, the majority of online dating members state they are honest, and research suggests online dating may discourage deception as a result of the technical and social aspects of the environment (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:419). For example, the expectation of face-to-face contact affects self-representation decisions where individuals engage in more intentional and deliberate self disclosure as the likelihood of face to face interaction increases (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:419). Design features such as profiles where information is recorded and archived may also deter individuals from lying online (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:419). Furthermore the essence of online dating websites is to find a romantic partner in real life which may decrease misrepresentation compared to other online relationships (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:420).
Online dating participants operate in an environment in which assessing the identity of others is a complex and evolving process of reading signals and deconstructing cues, using both active and passive strategies. A study conducted by Ellison, Heino, and Gibbs found that online daters consistently engaged in “creative circumvention strategies as they went through the process of posting a profile, selecting individuals to contact, communicating with potential romantic partners and developing rules for assessing other profiles as well as their own” (2006:431). Online daters use information in profiles to form impressions of others using limited cues available online such as screen names, activeness, and friends (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:420).
Research conducted by Whitty discovered that online daters were attracted to genuine and honest people and they hoped an individual’s profile presented something about who the individual “really” is (2007:1718). In fact, over half of the participants said an attractive person was one who was truthful and honest. It appears these individuals were more attracted to individuals who expressed their “actual” self, that is, “online daters perceived honest and genuine people to be those who included in their profiles the traits or characteristics that they typically express in everyday offline social setting” (Whitty 2007:1719). Whitty’s research also highlighted the idea that the value placed on physical attributes may be greater for online daters than for individuals establishing relationships is other places on the Internet (2007:1716). However, online daters still engage in impression management, negotiating a delicate balance between revealing their true selves in their profiles and trying to “sell” themselves to prospective partners by describing how they would like to be. The motivation for this was based on not wanting to disappoint the date once they met face-to-face, but at the same time trying to attract a decent number of individuals (Whitty 2007:1716).
The pervasiveness and influence of gender stereotypes and ideologies in everyday life has prompted significant research on the effects of gender in online spaces. Del-Teso-Craviotto’s study on the language differences among men and women in online dating chat rooms found linguistic strategies such as self descriptions and screen names (2008:264). The resulting gender and sexual identities are sketches of stereotypes whose value derives from the acceptance of social and cultural discourses on gender and sexuality negotiated through interactions. Authentication is not an external process imposed upon people but the result of specific social practices (Del-Teso-Craviotto 2008:264).
Methods
Initially, our research was to be conducted using NoLongerLonely.com, an online dating website for people with mental illnesses; a marginalized group not only within society but also within the realm of research conducted in cyberspace. However, we were unable to obtain permission from the administrator of the site to conduct research. Limited access to the site and the ethics involved in working with the mentally ill as research subjects forced us to find a new direction while staying within the arena of online dating. Nonetheless, we came across Mingles.com, an open website for people looking for relationships online. Mingles.com is substantially smaller in membership than eHarmony and Match.com, but it offers a glimpse into the culture of online dating.
Online dating sites are set-up very differently from other virtual spaces, such as newsgroups, virtual worlds, chat rooms, and MMOGs. Individuals are required to construct a profile, where they may upload photographs and videos and write a description of who they are. On Mingles.com, individuals contact each other through “winks,” email, and chat features. The site also provides forums and blogs where members can interact.
Exploratory research was conducted in open forums and blogs dedicated to online dating. Through data collection, we narrowed down our research and focused on the dynamics between gender and age and impression management on online dating sites. A sample of 100 profiles was taken from Mingles.com, 50 men and 50 women. Five age cohorts were established between the ages 18-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-99. Twenty profiles from each cohort were sampled, each containing 10 men and 10 women. The profiles were analyzed based on content; self preferences, preferences in a mate, profile pictures, friends, groups, tags, blogs, and forum posts. A textual analysis was performed on the personal essays in the profiles, as well as members’ screen names.
A short survey was constructed and posted on the Culture and Cyberspace class blog. The survey consisted of questions about the subjects’ age, sex, and experiences with online dating. The survey was mostly used to compliment the data procured from the Mingles.com profiles. Although it would have been ideal to conduct interviews with online daters, we were unable to find informants willing to participate in the study.
Results
Profile Pictures
On average women posted more pictures of themselves than men. Women’s pictures were also more posed and they seemed to pay more attention to their physical appearance than men; they wore dressier clothing and makeup. Men appeared more casual in their pose and dress. Women tended to smile in their pictures more than men. Male pictures were more inactive (had less comments from other members) than the female pictures.
The younger online daters had more active pictures and they also tended to pay more attention to their appearance and pose in their pictures, especially compared to the oldest cohort (61+ years old). The younger cohorts on average posted more pictures of themselves.
Personal Essays
Women on average wrote more in their personal essays than men and tended to be more descriptive when describing themselves and the type of men and relationships they were looking for. Most of the women described themselves as loving, caring, romantic, sexy, and honest, while men used words such as funny, easy going, open minded, and honest to describe themselves. Gender-specific language was used by both men and women in their essays and screen names. Men chose masculine terms such as stone, crane, and bear for their screen names, and women used words like sassy, flower, sweet, and spunky in theirs. Women used expressive text more often in their personal essays, including emoticons, e.g. smiley faces, exclamations marks, tildes, ellipses, and quotation marks. The use of this kind of language made the tone of the essay more informal then the men’s essays. Women were more inclined to mention friends and family as their priorities in life, whereas men often stated their interest in sports and travel.
Preferences
Women were more descriptive than men regarding the partner and relationship they were seeking. The older cohorts were more specific regarding the kind of relationship they wanted and the kind of partner they were seeking, while the younger cohorts, especially 18-30, were more open to different kinds of people and interactions.
Women from the older cohorts varied in types of relationships they were looking for, although most of them stated a preference for more casual relationships such as email/chat and friendships. Older men and women stated they were interested in casual dating or serious relationships. However, women reported a desire for friendship and email/chat relationships as well. Women in general stated a preference for friendships and email/chat relationship compared to men who were looking for serious relationships. This was also supported in the survey results.
Most of the people in the sample were single or divorced, of course this varied across age cohorts with the older members more likely to be divorced. The majority of the men and women in the sample were Caucasian. Both men and women were most specific in their preference of the marital status and ethnicity of prospective partners, most favoring a person who is single, divorced, or widowed and Caucasian or Hispanic/Latin.
Age
Women were more limiting regarding the age of prospective partners, usually preferring an older man, although this varied across age cohorts. Men within the oldest cohort preferred younger women (25.7 years younger) while younger men preferred women who were closer to them in age.
Height
The majority of women stated a preference for a taller man; however, the majority of men did not state a precise height preference.
Body Type
In terms of their body types, the majority of women preferred a body type bigger than their own, and the majority of men preferred a body type smaller than their own. Men reported looking for a woman with a body type of either “thin, average or athletic.” Women were more inclusive than men regarding body type often listing the body types “a few extra pounds” and “larger” in their preferences. This was true across all age cohorts.
Friends
The majority of men and women sampled did not have friends listed in their profile; however, among those who did, women were more likely to have same sex friends as compared to the men. Among men who had friends in their profile, all of them were female and they were typically significantly younger (20- 25 years). Men in the two oldest cohorts had a higher average of friends compared to women in those cohorts.
Analysis
Pictures are one of the most salient aspects of a profile. The placement and size of the picture in relation to other elements of a profile make it the focus of the profile page. This makes the presentation of a profile picture extremely important. Almost every profile in the sample had a personal picture with most of them averaging two pictures each. The women in our study were especially conscious of their physical appearance in profile pictures. We can infer that women share a perception that there exist certain gender norms they are expected to adhere to in order to attract a romantic partner. Men seemed to share a desire for aesthetics in their pictures although not in the same way as women. Men appeared more laid back in their profile pictures, often in casual, sporty attire with less expressive and friendly facial expressions (e.g. smiling, laughing) which exemplifies gender stereotypes prevalent in American culture.
Virtual environments are not devoid of the cultural norms and historical events from which they emerged, but instead, are embedded with the ideologies of the dominant society. In their ethnographic study of cyber marriage on the Chinese Internet, Wu et al. discuss “how in-game marriage, with its game codes and marriage regulations, turns out to be the most visualized, institutionalized, and heteronormative form of cyber marriage” ( 2007:59). Similar to online dating sites such as Mingles.com, online games in China are dominated by real world practices, ideas, and norms. Gender is as much an aspect of virtual environments as it is of actual environments. The rules and regulations of marriage in China is mirrored in those of cyber marriage in online games, thus, cyber marriage is an example of the hegemonic powers in China that control the gender norms and expectations of Chinese society (Wu et al. 2009:85). While power may not be perceived to be centralized in America such as it is in China, there are nonetheless, dominant ideologies which direct our day to day interactions, thoughts, and behaviors (see Bourdieu’s concept of “habitus”) which are visualized on the Internet. The gendered behavior displayed in the online dating profiles sampled reflects the prevailing gender ideologies in the real world.
This is not to imply cyberspace is not inhabited by dissidents of the status quo, for the internet is rife with individuals and communities who deviate from the norm. For example, Chinese male gamers often play with their gender identities through gender swapping in online games. Through a practice referred to as renyao, they subvert the binary gender roles implanted within the design of Chinese online games and explore new concepts of gender and sexuality. In addition, not every female in the online dating sample fits the stereotypical image of a feminine and demure lady. In fact there were gender outliers who preferred more masculine dress and behavior, although this was less the case with men. Gendered behavior and language is prevalent in online dating sites and signifies the culture of both cyberspace and the corporeal world.
The attractiveness and impression of personal pictures is clearly an important aspect of individuals’ online profiles. This suggests profile pictures correlate with avatars commonly used in online games and virtual worlds. Avatars allow internet users to easily play around with their identity by manipulating and changing the appearance of their avatars. Online daters may not be able to change their profile pictures to the degree they could avatars, however, they deliberately select pictures that best represent who they are and how they see themselves. This act by itself is a form of identity transformation. Since the point of online dating is to attract other online daters, it is common for them to choose an attractive profile picture. If individuals believe their profile picture is attractive they may be more inclined to contact others they view as attractive. Therefore, the perceived attractiveness of profile pictures, “avatars,” can cause them to behave differently.
Although our research does not measure changes in behavior before and after selection and placement of pictures on dating profiles, we can infer that individuals with attractive profile pictures exhibit more confidence and increase self-disclosure in their profiles and interactions with other online daters. Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson discuss the Proteus effect of transformed self-representation on behavior in their experiments with altered avatars. Yee and Bailenson’s experiments compared participants with attractive avatars to participants with unattractive avatars and revealed that participants with the attractive form were more inclined to lessen their interpersonal distance with others and disclosed more personal information (Yee and Bailenson 2007:281). They also found participants with taller avatars behave in a more confident manner and “negotiate more aggressively than participants in shorter avatars” (Yee and Bailenson 2007:285). These statements correlate with research conducted on height and attractiveness in the actual world. The interesting thing about online dating sites is virtual technology is used to facilitate actual world interactions. Like the participants in Yee and Bailenson’s study, online daters are constantly negotiating interactions with others using their profile pictures to influence prospective romantic partners’ perceptions of them.
In our study age differences and similarities among online dating participants, we found that younger people posted more pictures in their profiles and sought more casual relationships such as dating, friendships, and email/chat friendships. Online daters between the ages of 18-30 have grown up within the digital culture age, which affects how they view and use digital technology, specifically the internet. A seminal study on youth and digital media funded by the MacArthur Foundation, researchers found young people mostly used communication devices such as private messages, IM and mobile phones to interact with close friends and romantic partners (Ito et al. 2008:16). For youth in America today, “new media provide a new venue for their intimacy practices, a venue that renders intimacy simultaneously more public and more private. Young people can now meet people, flirt, date” within an online setting (Ito et al. 2008:17).
The Internet offers a space for youth to experiment with identity, communication patterns, and new relationships in relatively safe environment. For young people, joining an online dating site may be a form of “hanging out” online. Ito et al. describe hanging out as a way for young people to develop peer relationships within a supportive learning environment and the quick accessibility of “multiple forms of media, in diverse contexts of everyday life, means media content is increasingly central to everyday communication and identity construction” (Ito et al. 2007:14). In addition, they use the term “hypersocial” to define the process through which young people use specific media as tokens of identity, taste, and style to negotiate their sense of self in relation to their peers” (Ito et al. 2007:14). In the case of online daters, young people use online dating sites and media such as profile pictures to navigate emerging concepts of identity and social relationships. As observed in various online dating forums, many youth use these sites as practice for real world interactions, a way of gaining real world social skills and experience through virtual spaces, which may explain their lack of desire for serious relationships.
Little research has been conducted on older generations and their participation in cyberspace. A common perception of older people, generally speaking, is they are computer illiterate, possess no computer, or they have little or no interest in the services provided by the internet. However, after conducting our research we have concluded the internet is a viable and useful resource for older people. Although the lack of profile pictures among the oldest cohorts infers they are not as tech-savvy as youth today, they are engaging in the same virtual spaces as young people. Pearce’s work on the baby boomer generation and online gaming noted the significant percentage of baby boomers participating in online gaming, particularly a high rate of women. She also discovered through interviews with informants that “adult gamers tend to socialize and game with peers instead of younger people,” who are viewed as immature (Pearce 2007:148). In addition, baby boomers expressed a desire for more mature companionship in their gaming communities, as well as courteous and pleasant social interaction (Pearce 2007:150,157). In our research only women tended to prefer to develop a relationship with peers whereas men preferred younger women. Men’s and women’s desire for a more committed relationship, such casual dating and serious relationships, in the three oldest cohorts (41-50, 51-60 and 60+) could be indicative of Pearce’s conclusions that they seek mature companionship online, where desire or a long term relationship connotes maturity in an online dater.
The friends list section on the Mingles.com profiles seems to operate in many of the same ways they do on social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. In their study on the affects of friends’ appearance and behavior on assessment of Facebook profiles, Walther et al. state, “the physical attractiveness of one’s friends’ photos, as seen in the Facebook wall postings presented on another individual’s profile, had a significant effect on the physical attractiveness of the profile’s owner” (2008:44). We can tie this back the initial argument made above that the pictures in a dating profile, whether they belong to the profile’s owner or their friends, influence how a person perceives a profile. In our research, men had more friends than women, all of them women who tended to be younger than their male friends. This could have a positive affect on how a man is perceived, since men are generally allowed by society to cavort with younger females. However, this type of behavior is not expected or appropriate for females although there seems to a slight shift regarding this construct. Walther et al also discusses this sexual double standard in his findings, stating misbehavior displayed on Facebook profiles makes men more attractive, but has the opposite effect on women (Walther et al, 2008:45).
Conclusions
Ranging from profile pictures to essays, age and gender identity constructs are apparent throughout daters’ profiles. We found similarities between online dating sites and other virtual spaces, e.g. online games, and virtual worlds. Profile pictures act as a mechanism through which daters not only express their identity but experiment with different identities as well, and this can have implications on the behaviors and interactions of online daters. Similar to avatars, people can change their appearance in the pictures they post, changing perceptions of themselves to better negotiate relationships online. Age affects the technology employed on online dating sites and as a result impacts interactions online. In our research we discovered that the younger generation tends to use the more technological features of online spaces to socialize and reach more people; older generations used these features less frequently. In addition, we found that young people preferred more casual relationships while the older population desired stable, serious relationships. Lastly, we observed how the friends listed on a dater’s profile forms an impression on those viewing it, and depending on the gender of the owner of the profile, may create a negative image of the owner. Males tend to have greater freedom than women in regards to the content they post and the friends they list on their profiles, owing to the sexual double standard.
As we have conducted research pertaining to age and gender identities on online dating sites, there exist completely different realms of online dating we have not discussed. We only researched the heterosexual population, leaving out homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals from our study. Through studying different types of sexuality, we might have drawn conclusions relating to the heterosexual population. In addition, we did not discuss the affects of race and ethnicity on identity construction within online dating sites. Our sample was predominantly white, leaving out significant parts of the population. Our restricted access to closed websites such as Match.com also created limitations to our research as well as our inability to conduct interviews with online dating informants. These limitations should be addressed in future research on identity construction and impression management on dating websites.
Bibliography
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2008 Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation.
Messinger, Paul R., Eleni Stroulia, and Kelly Lyons
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Introduction:
Cyberspace has a great effect on how we communicate, interact, and form relationships online/offline, and affects how we see ourselves both in the realm of virtual space and real/actual space. Online dating sites are spaces where the actual and virtual self are intended to be as identical as possible. Within the domain of online dating, the self is presented through constructs of gender, age, and social interaction. Online dating arenas represent an opportunity to record changing cultural norms regarding technology-mediated relationship development and gain insights into important aspects of online behavior, such as gender identity construction and self-presentation strategies. Understanding the ways people create online identities based on their “offline” selves gives insight into the interplay between virtual and actual worlds, i.e. how our real world culture affects the culture we create online and vice versa. Relationships wherein people first meet online and then move offline, known as mixed mode, challenge established theories focusing exclusively on online relationships and provide opportunities for new theory development (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006).
The study of online dating profiles provides interesting dimensions to research of identity, gender, and relationships in cyberspace. This research project was developed to analyze the gender identities of users, e.g. how they present themselves in their profiles and the kind of relationships they are looking for or expect to find using online dating sites. In addition, we examined the differences and similarities between men and women, using age as a variable. Using data gathered from personal profiles on Mingles.com we were able to compare the ways these sites mediated users’ identities through online interactions with the prospect of developing an offline relationship.
Mediated matchmaking is not a new phenomenon: Newspaper personal advertisements have existed since the mid-19th century and video dating was popular in the 1980s. Tom Standage (1998) gives a fascinating account of online dating in his book The Victorian Internet, which documents the history of the telegraph, the first invention that truly had the potential to facilitate romance through virtual space. Standage gives reports of telegraph operators who fell in love while chatting online during slow work hours. Like the modern computer monitor, the tickers functioned as the interface where information was sent and received by telegraph operators. Although different than modern computer-mediated communication, the telegraph and the relationships it facilitated are similar in kind, and this research, along with other research conducted on virtual spaces, aims to shed light on the dynamics of online dating.
Literature Review
A large body of research exists on virtual spaces, the ways in which individuals interact within them, as well as the myriad of ways in which people construct their own identities and perceive those of others. Research on online dating sites in particular have focused on how the online dating platform inhibits and permits impression management and the ways in which romantic relationships develop.
As mentioned above, “love over the wires” is not a new phenomenon. Not only was the telegraph utilized as a way to transmit love messages from one person to another, but telegraph operators actually utilized the device for their own ends, forging romantic relationships between one another through the wires, having never actually seen each other and no visual cues to base impressions: “Despite the apparently impersonal nature of communicating by wire, it was in fact an extremely subtle and intimate means of communication” (Standage 1998:130). Even through female telegraph operators were physically separated from their male counterparts, and often overseen by a matron, men and women were enabled to make romantic connections across the wires (Standage 1998:134). Anecdotes of online love affairs illustrate the inevitability of romance through any communicative form. Also, both the Internet and telegraph have the ability to “help couples transcend real-world barriers” (Standage 1998:137), particularly physical distance, but also shyness and social anxiety.
Visual stimulation is an essential element of the internet, and social networking and on-line dating websites “support members pursuing their own objectives of socializing and sharing of textual and pictorial content” (Messinger 2008:5). Yet, despite the increased means through which users are able to express and represent themselves, notions of authenticity are further complicated, rather than simplified. Online impression formation and management is uniquely complicated because interaction is substantially reduced online from what it would be in the actual world, rendering online impressions suspect because they are so controllable (Walther 2008:32). “People make active decisions about when and how they will self-disclose. These decisions involve a complex process in which people set rules about how and when they will divulge private information, negotiate those rules with other people, and make decisions to disclose based on violations of those rules” (Walther 2008:32).
Deception on the internet, especially within the realm of online dating, has been extensively documented in online research studies. Although the anonymous aspect of the internet may suggest widespread lack of authentic self-representation, the majority of online dating members state they are honest, and research suggests online dating may discourage deception as a result of the technical and social aspects of the environment (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:419). For example, the expectation of face-to-face contact affects self-representation decisions where individuals engage in more intentional and deliberate self disclosure as the likelihood of face to face interaction increases (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:419). Design features such as profiles where information is recorded and archived may also deter individuals from lying online (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:419). Furthermore the essence of online dating websites is to find a romantic partner in real life which may decrease misrepresentation compared to other online relationships (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:420).
Online dating participants operate in an environment in which assessing the identity of others is a complex and evolving process of reading signals and deconstructing cues, using both active and passive strategies. A study conducted by Ellison, Heino, and Gibbs found that online daters consistently engaged in “creative circumvention strategies as they went through the process of posting a profile, selecting individuals to contact, communicating with potential romantic partners and developing rules for assessing other profiles as well as their own” (2006:431). Online daters use information in profiles to form impressions of others using limited cues available online such as screen names, activeness, and friends (Ellison, Heino and Gibbs 2006:420).
Research conducted by Whitty discovered that online daters were attracted to genuine and honest people and they hoped an individual’s profile presented something about who the individual “really” is (2007:1718). In fact, over half of the participants said an attractive person was one who was truthful and honest. It appears these individuals were more attracted to individuals who expressed their “actual” self, that is, “online daters perceived honest and genuine people to be those who included in their profiles the traits or characteristics that they typically express in everyday offline social setting” (Whitty 2007:1719). Whitty’s research also highlighted the idea that the value placed on physical attributes may be greater for online daters than for individuals establishing relationships is other places on the Internet (2007:1716). However, online daters still engage in impression management, negotiating a delicate balance between revealing their true selves in their profiles and trying to “sell” themselves to prospective partners by describing how they would like to be. The motivation for this was based on not wanting to disappoint the date once they met face-to-face, but at the same time trying to attract a decent number of individuals (Whitty 2007:1716).
The pervasiveness and influence of gender stereotypes and ideologies in everyday life has prompted significant research on the effects of gender in online spaces. Del-Teso-Craviotto’s study on the language differences among men and women in online dating chat rooms found linguistic strategies such as self descriptions and screen names (2008:264). The resulting gender and sexual identities are sketches of stereotypes whose value derives from the acceptance of social and cultural discourses on gender and sexuality negotiated through interactions. Authentication is not an external process imposed upon people but the result of specific social practices (Del-Teso-Craviotto 2008:264).
Methods
Initially, our research was to be conducted using NoLongerLonely.com, an online dating website for people with mental illnesses; a marginalized group not only within society but also within the realm of research conducted in cyberspace. However, we were unable to obtain permission from the administrator of the site to conduct research. Limited access to the site and the ethics involved in working with the mentally ill as research subjects forced us to find a new direction while staying within the arena of online dating. Nonetheless, we came across Mingles.com, an open website for people looking for relationships online. Mingles.com is substantially smaller in membership than eHarmony and Match.com, but it offers a glimpse into the culture of online dating.
Online dating sites are set-up very differently from other virtual spaces, such as newsgroups, virtual worlds, chat rooms, and MMOGs. Individuals are required to construct a profile, where they may upload photographs and videos and write a description of who they are. On Mingles.com, individuals contact each other through “winks,” email, and chat features. The site also provides forums and blogs where members can interact.
Exploratory research was conducted in open forums and blogs dedicated to online dating. Through data collection, we narrowed down our research and focused on the dynamics between gender and age and impression management on online dating sites. A sample of 100 profiles was taken from Mingles.com, 50 men and 50 women. Five age cohorts were established between the ages 18-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-99. Twenty profiles from each cohort were sampled, each containing 10 men and 10 women. The profiles were analyzed based on content; self preferences, preferences in a mate, profile pictures, friends, groups, tags, blogs, and forum posts. A textual analysis was performed on the personal essays in the profiles, as well as members’ screen names.
A short survey was constructed and posted on the Culture and Cyberspace class blog. The survey consisted of questions about the subjects’ age, sex, and experiences with online dating. The survey was mostly used to compliment the data procured from the Mingles.com profiles. Although it would have been ideal to conduct interviews with online daters, we were unable to find informants willing to participate in the study.
Results
Profile Pictures
On average women posted more pictures of themselves than men. Women’s pictures were also more posed and they seemed to pay more attention to their physical appearance than men; they wore dressier clothing and makeup. Men appeared more casual in their pose and dress. Women tended to smile in their pictures more than men. Male pictures were more inactive (had less comments from other members) than the female pictures.
The younger online daters had more active pictures and they also tended to pay more attention to their appearance and pose in their pictures, especially compared to the oldest cohort (61+ years old). The younger cohorts on average posted more pictures of themselves.
Personal Essays
Women on average wrote more in their personal essays than men and tended to be more descriptive when describing themselves and the type of men and relationships they were looking for. Most of the women described themselves as loving, caring, romantic, sexy, and honest, while men used words such as funny, easy going, open minded, and honest to describe themselves. Gender-specific language was used by both men and women in their essays and screen names. Men chose masculine terms such as stone, crane, and bear for their screen names, and women used words like sassy, flower, sweet, and spunky in theirs. Women used expressive text more often in their personal essays, including emoticons, e.g. smiley faces, exclamations marks, tildes, ellipses, and quotation marks. The use of this kind of language made the tone of the essay more informal then the men’s essays. Women were more inclined to mention friends and family as their priorities in life, whereas men often stated their interest in sports and travel.
Preferences
Women were more descriptive than men regarding the partner and relationship they were seeking. The older cohorts were more specific regarding the kind of relationship they wanted and the kind of partner they were seeking, while the younger cohorts, especially 18-30, were more open to different kinds of people and interactions.
Women from the older cohorts varied in types of relationships they were looking for, although most of them stated a preference for more casual relationships such as email/chat and friendships. Older men and women stated they were interested in casual dating or serious relationships. However, women reported a desire for friendship and email/chat relationships as well. Women in general stated a preference for friendships and email/chat relationship compared to men who were looking for serious relationships. This was also supported in the survey results.
Most of the people in the sample were single or divorced, of course this varied across age cohorts with the older members more likely to be divorced. The majority of the men and women in the sample were Caucasian. Both men and women were most specific in their preference of the marital status and ethnicity of prospective partners, most favoring a person who is single, divorced, or widowed and Caucasian or Hispanic/Latin.
Age
Women were more limiting regarding the age of prospective partners, usually preferring an older man, although this varied across age cohorts. Men within the oldest cohort preferred younger women (25.7 years younger) while younger men preferred women who were closer to them in age.
Height
The majority of women stated a preference for a taller man; however, the majority of men did not state a precise height preference.
Body Type
In terms of their body types, the majority of women preferred a body type bigger than their own, and the majority of men preferred a body type smaller than their own. Men reported looking for a woman with a body type of either “thin, average or athletic.” Women were more inclusive than men regarding body type often listing the body types “a few extra pounds” and “larger” in their preferences. This was true across all age cohorts.
Friends
The majority of men and women sampled did not have friends listed in their profile; however, among those who did, women were more likely to have same sex friends as compared to the men. Among men who had friends in their profile, all of them were female and they were typically significantly younger (20- 25 years). Men in the two oldest cohorts had a higher average of friends compared to women in those cohorts.
Analysis
Pictures are one of the most salient aspects of a profile. The placement and size of the picture in relation to other elements of a profile make it the focus of the profile page. This makes the presentation of a profile picture extremely important. Almost every profile in the sample had a personal picture with most of them averaging two pictures each. The women in our study were especially conscious of their physical appearance in profile pictures. We can infer that women share a perception that there exist certain gender norms they are expected to adhere to in order to attract a romantic partner. Men seemed to share a desire for aesthetics in their pictures although not in the same way as women. Men appeared more laid back in their profile pictures, often in casual, sporty attire with less expressive and friendly facial expressions (e.g. smiling, laughing) which exemplifies gender stereotypes prevalent in American culture.
Virtual environments are not devoid of the cultural norms and historical events from which they emerged, but instead, are embedded with the ideologies of the dominant society. In their ethnographic study of cyber marriage on the Chinese Internet, Wu et al. discuss “how in-game marriage, with its game codes and marriage regulations, turns out to be the most visualized, institutionalized, and heteronormative form of cyber marriage” ( 2007:59). Similar to online dating sites such as Mingles.com, online games in China are dominated by real world practices, ideas, and norms. Gender is as much an aspect of virtual environments as it is of actual environments. The rules and regulations of marriage in China is mirrored in those of cyber marriage in online games, thus, cyber marriage is an example of the hegemonic powers in China that control the gender norms and expectations of Chinese society (Wu et al. 2009:85). While power may not be perceived to be centralized in America such as it is in China, there are nonetheless, dominant ideologies which direct our day to day interactions, thoughts, and behaviors (see Bourdieu’s concept of “habitus”) which are visualized on the Internet. The gendered behavior displayed in the online dating profiles sampled reflects the prevailing gender ideologies in the real world.
This is not to imply cyberspace is not inhabited by dissidents of the status quo, for the internet is rife with individuals and communities who deviate from the norm. For example, Chinese male gamers often play with their gender identities through gender swapping in online games. Through a practice referred to as renyao, they subvert the binary gender roles implanted within the design of Chinese online games and explore new concepts of gender and sexuality. In addition, not every female in the online dating sample fits the stereotypical image of a feminine and demure lady. In fact there were gender outliers who preferred more masculine dress and behavior, although this was less the case with men. Gendered behavior and language is prevalent in online dating sites and signifies the culture of both cyberspace and the corporeal world.
The attractiveness and impression of personal pictures is clearly an important aspect of individuals’ online profiles. This suggests profile pictures correlate with avatars commonly used in online games and virtual worlds. Avatars allow internet users to easily play around with their identity by manipulating and changing the appearance of their avatars. Online daters may not be able to change their profile pictures to the degree they could avatars, however, they deliberately select pictures that best represent who they are and how they see themselves. This act by itself is a form of identity transformation. Since the point of online dating is to attract other online daters, it is common for them to choose an attractive profile picture. If individuals believe their profile picture is attractive they may be more inclined to contact others they view as attractive. Therefore, the perceived attractiveness of profile pictures, “avatars,” can cause them to behave differently.
Although our research does not measure changes in behavior before and after selection and placement of pictures on dating profiles, we can infer that individuals with attractive profile pictures exhibit more confidence and increase self-disclosure in their profiles and interactions with other online daters. Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson discuss the Proteus effect of transformed self-representation on behavior in their experiments with altered avatars. Yee and Bailenson’s experiments compared participants with attractive avatars to participants with unattractive avatars and revealed that participants with the attractive form were more inclined to lessen their interpersonal distance with others and disclosed more personal information (Yee and Bailenson 2007:281). They also found participants with taller avatars behave in a more confident manner and “negotiate more aggressively than participants in shorter avatars” (Yee and Bailenson 2007:285). These statements correlate with research conducted on height and attractiveness in the actual world. The interesting thing about online dating sites is virtual technology is used to facilitate actual world interactions. Like the participants in Yee and Bailenson’s study, online daters are constantly negotiating interactions with others using their profile pictures to influence prospective romantic partners’ perceptions of them.
In our study age differences and similarities among online dating participants, we found that younger people posted more pictures in their profiles and sought more casual relationships such as dating, friendships, and email/chat friendships. Online daters between the ages of 18-30 have grown up within the digital culture age, which affects how they view and use digital technology, specifically the internet. A seminal study on youth and digital media funded by the MacArthur Foundation, researchers found young people mostly used communication devices such as private messages, IM and mobile phones to interact with close friends and romantic partners (Ito et al. 2008:16). For youth in America today, “new media provide a new venue for their intimacy practices, a venue that renders intimacy simultaneously more public and more private. Young people can now meet people, flirt, date” within an online setting (Ito et al. 2008:17).
The Internet offers a space for youth to experiment with identity, communication patterns, and new relationships in relatively safe environment. For young people, joining an online dating site may be a form of “hanging out” online. Ito et al. describe hanging out as a way for young people to develop peer relationships within a supportive learning environment and the quick accessibility of “multiple forms of media, in diverse contexts of everyday life, means media content is increasingly central to everyday communication and identity construction” (Ito et al. 2007:14). In addition, they use the term “hypersocial” to define the process through which young people use specific media as tokens of identity, taste, and style to negotiate their sense of self in relation to their peers” (Ito et al. 2007:14). In the case of online daters, young people use online dating sites and media such as profile pictures to navigate emerging concepts of identity and social relationships. As observed in various online dating forums, many youth use these sites as practice for real world interactions, a way of gaining real world social skills and experience through virtual spaces, which may explain their lack of desire for serious relationships.
Little research has been conducted on older generations and their participation in cyberspace. A common perception of older people, generally speaking, is they are computer illiterate, possess no computer, or they have little or no interest in the services provided by the internet. However, after conducting our research we have concluded the internet is a viable and useful resource for older people. Although the lack of profile pictures among the oldest cohorts infers they are not as tech-savvy as youth today, they are engaging in the same virtual spaces as young people. Pearce’s work on the baby boomer generation and online gaming noted the significant percentage of baby boomers participating in online gaming, particularly a high rate of women. She also discovered through interviews with informants that “adult gamers tend to socialize and game with peers instead of younger people,” who are viewed as immature (Pearce 2007:148). In addition, baby boomers expressed a desire for more mature companionship in their gaming communities, as well as courteous and pleasant social interaction (Pearce 2007:150,157). In our research only women tended to prefer to develop a relationship with peers whereas men preferred younger women. Men’s and women’s desire for a more committed relationship, such casual dating and serious relationships, in the three oldest cohorts (41-50, 51-60 and 60+) could be indicative of Pearce’s conclusions that they seek mature companionship online, where desire or a long term relationship connotes maturity in an online dater.
The friends list section on the Mingles.com profiles seems to operate in many of the same ways they do on social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. In their study on the affects of friends’ appearance and behavior on assessment of Facebook profiles, Walther et al. state, “the physical attractiveness of one’s friends’ photos, as seen in the Facebook wall postings presented on another individual’s profile, had a significant effect on the physical attractiveness of the profile’s owner” (2008:44). We can tie this back the initial argument made above that the pictures in a dating profile, whether they belong to the profile’s owner or their friends, influence how a person perceives a profile. In our research, men had more friends than women, all of them women who tended to be younger than their male friends. This could have a positive affect on how a man is perceived, since men are generally allowed by society to cavort with younger females. However, this type of behavior is not expected or appropriate for females although there seems to a slight shift regarding this construct. Walther et al also discusses this sexual double standard in his findings, stating misbehavior displayed on Facebook profiles makes men more attractive, but has the opposite effect on women (Walther et al, 2008:45).
Conclusions
Ranging from profile pictures to essays, age and gender identity constructs are apparent throughout daters’ profiles. We found similarities between online dating sites and other virtual spaces, e.g. online games, and virtual worlds. Profile pictures act as a mechanism through which daters not only express their identity but experiment with different identities as well, and this can have implications on the behaviors and interactions of online daters. Similar to avatars, people can change their appearance in the pictures they post, changing perceptions of themselves to better negotiate relationships online. Age affects the technology employed on online dating sites and as a result impacts interactions online. In our research we discovered that the younger generation tends to use the more technological features of online spaces to socialize and reach more people; older generations used these features less frequently. In addition, we found that young people preferred more casual relationships while the older population desired stable, serious relationships. Lastly, we observed how the friends listed on a dater’s profile forms an impression on those viewing it, and depending on the gender of the owner of the profile, may create a negative image of the owner. Males tend to have greater freedom than women in regards to the content they post and the friends they list on their profiles, owing to the sexual double standard.
As we have conducted research pertaining to age and gender identities on online dating sites, there exist completely different realms of online dating we have not discussed. We only researched the heterosexual population, leaving out homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals from our study. Through studying different types of sexuality, we might have drawn conclusions relating to the heterosexual population. In addition, we did not discuss the affects of race and ethnicity on identity construction within online dating sites. Our sample was predominantly white, leaving out significant parts of the population. Our restricted access to closed websites such as Match.com also created limitations to our research as well as our inability to conduct interviews with online dating informants. These limitations should be addressed in future research on identity construction and impression management on dating websites.
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Exploring Art in Online Communities
Exploring Art in Online Communities
Stephanie Hu
Madelyne Oliver
Kevin Pham
Geraldo Raygoza
Gwen Stacy
The advent of the virtual world poses challenges for the art community within the physical world. Artists who showcase their portfolios in galleries, coffee shops, and museums have shifted over to the Internet where their artwork reaches a wider network of people, leading to broader exposure. This exposure is crucial for artists who make a career of their art because it enhances their prospects of selling their artwork and earning an income.
In this exploration of World Wide Web, many social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster have allowed people from separate locations around the world to develop close social ties, or to reconnect with a high school friend. Joseph Walther in his article comments that a social networking site like Facebook has “a million new users establish[ing] accounts each week”, attracting 52 million people worldwide (Walther 2008:532). So if communities are building rapidly in these online spaces, in what way does the artist and his or her art use the Web? We explore this question as a group of five undergraduates who are also artists. While each member of the group has taken on a different virtual online site that is aimed at creating or expanding a pre-existing art community, our focus is on the function of art on these online art communities. Is the art influenced by the social aspects of a website? How does the art in return influence creating social bonds? As users create a profile and log on with the intention of promoting their art, this intention evolves to expanding his or her own personal social network. However, inevitably this naturalized norm of socializing or building a network traces back in a full circle to the reason he or she logged on the website—the art.
Frame of Mind
What can be said about social networking sites and online art communities?When building a social community there is usually a medium, or space, for the community to communicate with and/or in. There are examples of this in the physical world- church communities, clubs at school, and sports teams. These communities communicate in the physical space of the church, the school building, or the field. The medium is verbal as well as physical communication. In church, it is often about the religion in which the community has collectively identified with. For the others, it is the theme of the club or the play of the game.
Online the space is the internet itself, and because of its ambiguous location the community becomes dependent on the medium to glue the community together in the virtual “space.” In this research the space[s] that communities have agreed to identify with are we art-related websites. This medium is heavily visual, with a textual interface. The cue is at first visual as the artwork initiates the attraction and introduction to art-networking sites such as Flickr, Tapsmack, and DeviantArt. Other sites such as Myspace and Facebook, which are less targeted towards artists, also participate in providing personalized community. This is accomplished through the broad functions, applications, and freedom of usage on the sites.
According to J. B. Walther, author of “Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction,” there is a SIP theory (social information processing theory) in which people manage to find ways to use their environment in any means available to create a presence, identity, or impression, even when nonverbal cues are not present (Walther & Parks in “Too Much of a Good Thing? The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook,” 2008: 533). In art websites the cues that are mainly depended upon for social interaction initiation are visual because the environment is artistic at its core.
Aside from establishing that art websites have these social factors, we can see that these websites have drastically influenced the success, accessibility, and limitations for the artist. Chris Robertson, author of Majon International, one of the world’s top internet marketing companies writes in his article, “The Advantage of Interactive Online Art Communities,” that:
In the olden days before the communications revolution, it was a few assorted experts, art critics and art galleries that decided what was art and how desirable it was. Anyone who did not have access to those experts and galleries had essentially no chance to have their art seen and discussed by an audience outside of friends and family (Robertson, www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/The-Advantage-of-Interactive-Online-Art-Communities/207558).
With the web, instead of waiting to be discovered by an art collector or gallery owner, artists can display their art on their own terms in their own online art gallery. In this manner fame is not guaranteed, as Robertson points out, but “it provides what many artists desire most: getting feedback from peers and enthusiasts and to be able to make their art potentially available to millions, no matter where on the planet they may live” (1). For example, when I surf through a new online community, I can click on any photograph and am instantly in contact with the artist. I can comment on their art, chat with them, buy their art directly, or interview them. This instant access to endless varieties of art, all gathered in one communal space, where any viewer only needs to click to interact with the artist, is revolutionary in itself and should not be overlooked.
Methods
For the purpose of this research, we did not want to be selective by narrowing our scope to one website source. Instead, we chose five primary websites, two that are art-designated in addition to the two largest social networking sites on the web: Myspace and Facebook. Our five websites included: Myspace, Facebook, Tapsmack, Flickr, and DeviantArt. Each member of the group was responsible for taking a website and creating an account. As such, we became active users of the sites and active artists of the sites. We promoted our own artwork for the necessity of truly fulfilling the role of an artist using these social networking sites. In addition to this, we regularly updated our accounts, posted news, joined groups and chats to gain acceptance within the online community and explore the functions and applications within each website. Our primary method was participant observation as we observed profile pages of other active users, top artists, artwork, and even our own status- as it significantly grew due to the accustomed habit of logging in. From this we found that many artists used these sites as a middle ground for their own personalized sites. Those jump links were then also explored and observed. In order to explore how these websites shape the artist’s success, it was crucial for us to present our research directly and in the lingo used by the community on message boards and in chat rooms. This was most effective on Myspace and journal postings. On Facebook in particular, joining art groups composed of artists was effective because contrary to our original assumptions, their artwork was not posted in a photo album and uploaded to the site. Once joining the art groups it became clear that Facebook was not favored as an ideal space for an artist to showcase her artwork due to its emphasis on social networking. However, applications such as posting an event, where artists could locate an art show held by their fellow Facebook friends, was utilized heavily as a form of building a presence within the art community. Within online art communities like DeviantArt, observing activity on artists’ profile pages with high activity rates, “Deviations,” “Features,” “Favorites” and “DeviantWatches” were all crucial for understanding the ways in which an artist utilizes the online space. Most importantly, the best results were yielded from participating in the activity of commenting on artwork or responding to comments made—which created a life of its own—threads of conversation that revealed much about social dynamics and the role of art in these online spaces. On Flickr, having a profile and being a part of many different groups was crucial- as was expanding one’s social network within the site as much as possible. Through the constant exploration of the various features on the site and the close observation of social norms, we are able to witness how Flickr flourishes under both its artistic and social aspects.
Findings
Facebook
During the several weeks we followed art communities on Facebook, we observed several different types of actions. Facebook allows individuals to start groups based on different themes. Part of our research included joining different art groups to observe how they operate and to see how artists used these sites to promote their own art. One thing we noticed was that these art groups do not operate as a place for artists to showcase their work. None of the groups have wall space where members uploaded their own artwork. In fact, the only function that groups did employ within the group page itself was the wall. The wall served as a place for members to chat amongst each other about art; however, most of the sites had only a few wall posts, and others hadn’t been used in months.
Withing a couple of weeks after one member of our group joined one of these groups, the member started to receive messages. Messages appeared to be the one constant medium of exchange among these groups. It was surprising that all of the messages had the same theme—art shows. It appears that the real purpose of these groups was not to post pictures of artist’s work, or to chat within the group, but as a ground to publicize individual artist’s art shows. After receiving several invitations to shows, the member of our group started to befriend some of the artists. As this member of our group perused their profile pages, she noticed that only about half of these artists had photo albums dedicated to their artwork. In several Facebook chat interviews the member of our group asked why this was so, and received replies including “Facebook really isn’t the place where I post my art, I use other sites for that... I just use Facebook to tell me friends about my upcoming shows.” There appeared to be a consensus that many artists did not feel that Facebook was the best place to display their art. As one female college student reiterated, “On Facebook I just talk to my friends, and they have already seen all my work- so there’s no real need to post it again.” Conclusively, Facebook’s “events” and “message all members” functions are generally the most useful and popular tools among artists using Facebook.
Flickr
One member of our group has been a member of Flickr for almost a year now, and in this time its complex social nuances have gradually revealed themselves. When this member of our group first started, she assumed that Flickr was just a medium for users to upload photos to the web and share their albums with friends, family, and the occasional stranger. However, as she explored further, she stumbled upon dozens of artists and photographers whose Flickr profiles generated thousands of hits a day, and for whom an image could yield up to 400 comments within hours of its upload. The images were amazing, the member of our group conceded—however, the member of our group could not understand how another artist with similar talent could have such drastically lower view-counts and comments on his photo-stream. Another mystery to me was the phenomenon on Flickr known as “explore.” Through a complex, secret algorithm, Flickr calculates the “interestingness” of every upload based upon “where the clickthroughs are coming from; who comments on it and when; who marks it as a favorite; its tags and many more things which are constantly changing. Interestingness changes over time, as more and more fantastic content and stories are added to Flickr” (http://www.Flickr.com/explore/interesting/). The photographs deemed “most interesting” by this algorithm are then conducted into the venerable pages of “explore.” This is a highly discussed and highly sought-after honor within the Flickr community, and a quick glance through the pages of “explore” will reveal some of the most fantastic images Flickr has to offer.
I quickly realized that to “make explore,” one must first establish a network of loyal “contacts,” or friends and fans of your work. These are the people who would provide the views, comments, and “faves” that would elevate an image’s “interestingness.” The more you comment and “fave” others’ images, the courtesy is for them to return the favor. Slowly, an increasingly wider social network is established through this process, until every image you upload will have at least several obligatory comments from your contacts praising your work. In this way, the social and artistic aspects of Flickr are inextricably linked, so that rarely can one succeed without the other. Only the most brilliant and effortlessly talented image-makers on Flickr can flourish without being social, and only the most sociable and comment-happy members on Flickr can succeed without having much talent.
As an online art community, Flickr has evolved to somewhat of a popularity contest amongst artists vying to become the most “interesting” photographer on Flickr. Because of the conveniently social and often competitive nature of online art communities, it is now easier than ever to gain widespread popularity on Flickr, whether you truly have talent or not.
DeviantArt
When one member of our group first logged onto my account under my DeviantArt avatar name “thinkmadcrazy” to upload photos of her artwork, her work was added to three other users’ “favorites” collection, and she received four comments and sixteen messages—all within the first several minutes. This member of our group did not know these other members personally, but because her art was uploaded to a public viewing platform with instant access, her artwork acted as her agent, attracting future contacts. The art initiated our first introduction and further social interactions. As a beginning DeviantArt user, or a “newbie,” this member of our group wanted to further explore the purpose of networking with other artists and how these social interactions affect the art. One feature in particular on DeviantArt is the message alert system that functions similar to a “newsfeed” on Facebook creating a sense of immediate intimacy within this art community. On Facebook we have what Clive Thompson, in his article “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy,” calls “ambient updates-” which on the ‘Newsfeed’, “are all visible on a single page…they’re not really directed at you. This makes them easy to skim, like newspaper headlines” (Thompson 2008:5). Clicking on this alert system built into the site, called “DeviantWatch,” this “skimmable” inbox is divided into smaller categories: deviations, journals, news, polls, feedback, comments, replies, and activity. It is within this forum that most social interaction occurs.
“Deviations” are the images of artwork from other artists that pop up in your deviation inbox every time she or he has uploaded a new work of art. These works range in traditional art, digital art, photography, literature, artisan crafts, designs and interfaces, animation, manga, anime. In this way, the art remains the primary foundation for taking an initial interest in other artists. By clicking on an image that sparks interest, one is led immediately to the artist’s profile page where further text and visual information can be exchanged. However, under “Activity” and “Comments” was where the member of our group found herself having more immediate conversations with other artists.
Just having her artwork added to many DA users’ favorites also noticeably sparked a sense of excitement within this member of our group. In that moment she became more concerned with how other artists viewed my artwork, their thoughts or opinions, which were revealed in detail in the ‘comments’ section. While viewing and reading the comments, she noticed that conversation was often initially focused on the art, but often evolves into a free-form discussion on other topics.
The act of checking favorites, adding other members, and comments shows that “individuals are concerned to explore how it mediates between persons after publication. Indeed, the ease of online publishing means that they can devote most of their attention to how the weblog is received” (Reed 2005: 230). Within the space of “Comments” particularly, how art is received becomes a crucial stimulus to social interaction. These concerns of public feedback is crucial for developing closer ties such as “adding” other members or even buying art from that artist. Social interaction evolves from the subject of art to a more socialized textual atmosphere, yet still traces back to being about the art.
This member of our group also noticed that constructive criticism of the artwork is always in a very positive tone. It has become the social norm for DeviantArt users to comment positively on others’ work, while negative or hateful comments are often looked-down upon. This tendency to comment and communicate constructively regardless of the quality of the artwork and skill level of the artist seems to be unique to online art communities, and further establishes a communal bond that is centered on inspiring and creating art.
Functions such as commenting, adding members as favorites, or “watching” someone, all allow for a constructive community within a forum of ever-expanding social networks. However, because these social ties are founded upon the sharing of art-pieces, the community inevitably remains centered around the art itself, building relationships and expanding networks along the way.
Tapsmack
Tapsmack is a young, up-and-coming web site that fulfills the roles of social networking and marketplace. As a social network, Tapsmack brings together non-artists who have ideas for art pieces and artists ready to showcase their talents by fashioning those ideas into visual art. As a marketplace, Tapsmack allows all users, referred to as “Smackers”, to vote on the best ideas and designs. All Smackers have the option to then purchase the designs for use on actual products such as clothing and tattoos.
Unlike a social networking web site, TapSmack does not have a “friending” system in place or a ready-made network to join upon registering. However, TapSmack is not simply an art website either; while TapSmack allows Smackers to maintain a portfolio of their artwork, TapSmack does not emphasize only art showcasing or sharing. In addition to presenting ideas and designing them into a visual artwork, all Smackers can vote on their favorite designs by clicking either the “Love It” or “Like It” button next to the design being voted. They can also give feedback on designs and ideas by commenting on the respective designs or ideas’ web pages. There are also incentives for Smackers to continue participating as both Artists and Idea Creators and contributing to the growth of TapSmack. First, TapSmack establishes a rank of Smackers based on seniority. In order to move up the ranks, a Smacker would have to earn SmackCash, the TapSmack “currency” which is used as participation “points” rather than actual cash- by posting ideas and designs, voting on designs, selling designs, and inviting friends to join TapSmack.
Some people are concerned about the commoditization of art, as demonstrated in the activities on Tapsmack. However, Tapsmack is a young web site with good potential as a worthy enterprise. Sales and consumption of art are made directly between artists and consumers. Tapsmack also encourages online participation in order to form an intimate community within a common space. Non-artists, in particular, are encouraged to participate and contribute their visions and ideas. In this way, Tapsmack becomes a community in which the central focus is on generating art for the purpose of both showcasing talent and making money. Through comments, votes, and criticism of the art created, a social community is born that regulates and perpetuates the art that is created. The art originates as the central theme of discussion, and through the social functions of the site, it is either rejected as a concept or fully realized through commercial sale.
Myspace
Tattoos, as a form of art and business, have grown exponentially in popularity. Since the explosion of the Myspace community, a number of factors have contributed to the expansion and accessibility of the tattoo industry. With over 110 million monthly active users, tattoo artists have gained massive clientele potential. Internet search engines such as Lycos have revealed the popularity of tattoos, as it ranked “tattoos as the number two most requested search term on the internet in 2002.”
Myspace has provided a useful medium for tattoo artists to further their client base, network with other artists and get a better sense of “what’s being done out there”. As opposed to displaying photos of the artists themselves, most default pictures and avatars are pictures of the artist’s work. This allows for judgment based solely on merit, as people do not know what race or sex the artist is. Race and sex are not identity cues, as Wagner addressed in the article “The Skin You’re In”. Clicking on the avatars will likely reveal a profile page complete with shop location, hours, contact information and fliers for art shows. The “blog” section will normally exhibit merchandise such as sketchbooks, t-shirts and tattoo machines. Most notable is the “photos” section, containing portfolios displaying hundreds of tattoos and paintings the artist has done. In a sense, Myspace serves as a facilitator of business and advertising for the independently contracted tattoo artist, all created and personalized by the artists themselves.
Whether or not Myspace has “improved” the tattoo industry is an issue of debate among tattoo enthusiasts and artists. A 41-year-old veteran tattoo collector told a member of our group, “It’s given stupid people the ability to annoy a larger number of tattoo artists at one time.” Another tattoo collector said, “Well, for one the internet makes art much more accessible, and a lot easier to be plagiarized”. After hearing snippets of random people’s two cents, one member of our group decided to attempt to contact and conduct interviews with two world-renowned tattoo artists. Surprisingly, they responded and provided insightful information.
One of the artists felt that Myspace had not given him more clients or made him any busier than he was before Myspace, but has allowed for easier and more effective communication with customers from other countries. However, just as people believed the transatlantic cable would bring about positive world peace, the same cannot be assumed for Myspace’s impact on the tattoo industry. “Ever since people have invented things, other people have found ways to put those things to criminal use” (Standage 2007:105). An apparently negative influence of Myspace on the tattoo industry happens to be coming from the younger generation of tattoo artists. These upstart young artists have had access to worlds of artwork on Myspace. What results is the assumption that the profession of tattooing is an easy industry to enter. Thus, the youth within the community do not learn the ethics of the business or the way of the industry, disrespecting the veterans who paved the way before them. Many steal designs and plagiarize the work of other artists, making the older, more experienced tattoo artists reluctant to help their younger counterparts.
However, the connectivity and accessibility offered by Myspace has also raised the standard within the community in terms of quality and creativity. One artist told me that in the 70s and 80s, tattoos were generally simple and small. Now, the current standard of tattoos would have seemed impossible back then. Myspace has raised awareness about the incredible works possible in the profession, and has raised the bar for everyone.
Furthermore, other renowned artists also felt more positively about Myspace. One artist felt Myspace greatly helped his career as an artist by allowing him to network with thousands of other artists- resulting in more clients, more friends, and more opportunities to travel and work at different shops.
Conclusion
Through our explorations of the five websites—Facebook, Myspace, DeviantArt, Tapsmack, and Flickr—we discovered that art functions as a visual focus to initiate social interaction and relationships. As time progresses, the focus may shift slightly away from the art as social bonds are formed and networks of contacts are expanded. However, community attention will inevitably redirect itself to focus on the artwork within the community, and the primary reason most users log on remains for the purpose of sharing and distributing art.
Chatting with other artists, joining groups, commenting on artwork, and participating in buying or selling are all useful features and sometimes distractions within these spaces- however the art never leaves the online scene. Despite its advantages of providing a sense of community, feedback, and a space for the artist to reach a wider audience, online art communities have their drawbacks. For instance, plagiarism, blatant art theft, and cheapening artwork have become more rampant because of the internet. Furthermore, the social aspects of online communities can also detract from the art when users become too focused on gaining notoriety and popularity within the community, and pieces can become cheap ploys to generate hits.
Consequently, online art communities both benefit and detract from artists in a circular motion. The art will initially attract viewers and social contacts, but can evolve to the point where the quality and integrity of the art is compromised. However, with time, most members within art communities will re-balance their attention and harness the social and interactive aspects of the community to benefit their work.
This varies from our initial assumption that online art communities were just becoming networking grounds for socializing. We did not fully realize the complex relationship between an online social community and the character of the art within it. However, it has become evident that the internet has exerted great influence on the art world in more ways than one, and only one thing is for certain- the art community will never be the same.
Were we able to do things differently, we would probably have conducted more interviews with members of each site in order to gain insight into how other users view the complex relationship between the internet and the art world. Also, we would probably have focused more in-depth on one or two main online art communities, rather than dividing our resources between five vastly different communities.
Stephanie Hu
Madelyne Oliver
Kevin Pham
Geraldo Raygoza
Gwen Stacy
The advent of the virtual world poses challenges for the art community within the physical world. Artists who showcase their portfolios in galleries, coffee shops, and museums have shifted over to the Internet where their artwork reaches a wider network of people, leading to broader exposure. This exposure is crucial for artists who make a career of their art because it enhances their prospects of selling their artwork and earning an income.
In this exploration of World Wide Web, many social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster have allowed people from separate locations around the world to develop close social ties, or to reconnect with a high school friend. Joseph Walther in his article comments that a social networking site like Facebook has “a million new users establish[ing] accounts each week”, attracting 52 million people worldwide (Walther 2008:532). So if communities are building rapidly in these online spaces, in what way does the artist and his or her art use the Web? We explore this question as a group of five undergraduates who are also artists. While each member of the group has taken on a different virtual online site that is aimed at creating or expanding a pre-existing art community, our focus is on the function of art on these online art communities. Is the art influenced by the social aspects of a website? How does the art in return influence creating social bonds? As users create a profile and log on with the intention of promoting their art, this intention evolves to expanding his or her own personal social network. However, inevitably this naturalized norm of socializing or building a network traces back in a full circle to the reason he or she logged on the website—the art.
Frame of Mind
What can be said about social networking sites and online art communities?When building a social community there is usually a medium, or space, for the community to communicate with and/or in. There are examples of this in the physical world- church communities, clubs at school, and sports teams. These communities communicate in the physical space of the church, the school building, or the field. The medium is verbal as well as physical communication. In church, it is often about the religion in which the community has collectively identified with. For the others, it is the theme of the club or the play of the game.
Online the space is the internet itself, and because of its ambiguous location the community becomes dependent on the medium to glue the community together in the virtual “space.” In this research the space[s] that communities have agreed to identify with are we art-related websites. This medium is heavily visual, with a textual interface. The cue is at first visual as the artwork initiates the attraction and introduction to art-networking sites such as Flickr, Tapsmack, and DeviantArt. Other sites such as Myspace and Facebook, which are less targeted towards artists, also participate in providing personalized community. This is accomplished through the broad functions, applications, and freedom of usage on the sites.
According to J. B. Walther, author of “Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction,” there is a SIP theory (social information processing theory) in which people manage to find ways to use their environment in any means available to create a presence, identity, or impression, even when nonverbal cues are not present (Walther & Parks in “Too Much of a Good Thing? The Relationship Between Number of Friends and Interpersonal Impressions on Facebook,” 2008: 533). In art websites the cues that are mainly depended upon for social interaction initiation are visual because the environment is artistic at its core.
Aside from establishing that art websites have these social factors, we can see that these websites have drastically influenced the success, accessibility, and limitations for the artist. Chris Robertson, author of Majon International, one of the world’s top internet marketing companies writes in his article, “The Advantage of Interactive Online Art Communities,” that:
In the olden days before the communications revolution, it was a few assorted experts, art critics and art galleries that decided what was art and how desirable it was. Anyone who did not have access to those experts and galleries had essentially no chance to have their art seen and discussed by an audience outside of friends and family (Robertson, www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/The-Advantage-of-Interactive-Online-Art-Communities/207558).
With the web, instead of waiting to be discovered by an art collector or gallery owner, artists can display their art on their own terms in their own online art gallery. In this manner fame is not guaranteed, as Robertson points out, but “it provides what many artists desire most: getting feedback from peers and enthusiasts and to be able to make their art potentially available to millions, no matter where on the planet they may live” (1). For example, when I surf through a new online community, I can click on any photograph and am instantly in contact with the artist. I can comment on their art, chat with them, buy their art directly, or interview them. This instant access to endless varieties of art, all gathered in one communal space, where any viewer only needs to click to interact with the artist, is revolutionary in itself and should not be overlooked.
Methods
For the purpose of this research, we did not want to be selective by narrowing our scope to one website source. Instead, we chose five primary websites, two that are art-designated in addition to the two largest social networking sites on the web: Myspace and Facebook. Our five websites included: Myspace, Facebook, Tapsmack, Flickr, and DeviantArt. Each member of the group was responsible for taking a website and creating an account. As such, we became active users of the sites and active artists of the sites. We promoted our own artwork for the necessity of truly fulfilling the role of an artist using these social networking sites. In addition to this, we regularly updated our accounts, posted news, joined groups and chats to gain acceptance within the online community and explore the functions and applications within each website. Our primary method was participant observation as we observed profile pages of other active users, top artists, artwork, and even our own status- as it significantly grew due to the accustomed habit of logging in. From this we found that many artists used these sites as a middle ground for their own personalized sites. Those jump links were then also explored and observed. In order to explore how these websites shape the artist’s success, it was crucial for us to present our research directly and in the lingo used by the community on message boards and in chat rooms. This was most effective on Myspace and journal postings. On Facebook in particular, joining art groups composed of artists was effective because contrary to our original assumptions, their artwork was not posted in a photo album and uploaded to the site. Once joining the art groups it became clear that Facebook was not favored as an ideal space for an artist to showcase her artwork due to its emphasis on social networking. However, applications such as posting an event, where artists could locate an art show held by their fellow Facebook friends, was utilized heavily as a form of building a presence within the art community. Within online art communities like DeviantArt, observing activity on artists’ profile pages with high activity rates, “Deviations,” “Features,” “Favorites” and “DeviantWatches” were all crucial for understanding the ways in which an artist utilizes the online space. Most importantly, the best results were yielded from participating in the activity of commenting on artwork or responding to comments made—which created a life of its own—threads of conversation that revealed much about social dynamics and the role of art in these online spaces. On Flickr, having a profile and being a part of many different groups was crucial- as was expanding one’s social network within the site as much as possible. Through the constant exploration of the various features on the site and the close observation of social norms, we are able to witness how Flickr flourishes under both its artistic and social aspects.
Findings
During the several weeks we followed art communities on Facebook, we observed several different types of actions. Facebook allows individuals to start groups based on different themes. Part of our research included joining different art groups to observe how they operate and to see how artists used these sites to promote their own art. One thing we noticed was that these art groups do not operate as a place for artists to showcase their work. None of the groups have wall space where members uploaded their own artwork. In fact, the only function that groups did employ within the group page itself was the wall. The wall served as a place for members to chat amongst each other about art; however, most of the sites had only a few wall posts, and others hadn’t been used in months.
Withing a couple of weeks after one member of our group joined one of these groups, the member started to receive messages. Messages appeared to be the one constant medium of exchange among these groups. It was surprising that all of the messages had the same theme—art shows. It appears that the real purpose of these groups was not to post pictures of artist’s work, or to chat within the group, but as a ground to publicize individual artist’s art shows. After receiving several invitations to shows, the member of our group started to befriend some of the artists. As this member of our group perused their profile pages, she noticed that only about half of these artists had photo albums dedicated to their artwork. In several Facebook chat interviews the member of our group asked why this was so, and received replies including “Facebook really isn’t the place where I post my art, I use other sites for that... I just use Facebook to tell me friends about my upcoming shows.” There appeared to be a consensus that many artists did not feel that Facebook was the best place to display their art. As one female college student reiterated, “On Facebook I just talk to my friends, and they have already seen all my work- so there’s no real need to post it again.” Conclusively, Facebook’s “events” and “message all members” functions are generally the most useful and popular tools among artists using Facebook.
Flickr
One member of our group has been a member of Flickr for almost a year now, and in this time its complex social nuances have gradually revealed themselves. When this member of our group first started, she assumed that Flickr was just a medium for users to upload photos to the web and share their albums with friends, family, and the occasional stranger. However, as she explored further, she stumbled upon dozens of artists and photographers whose Flickr profiles generated thousands of hits a day, and for whom an image could yield up to 400 comments within hours of its upload. The images were amazing, the member of our group conceded—however, the member of our group could not understand how another artist with similar talent could have such drastically lower view-counts and comments on his photo-stream. Another mystery to me was the phenomenon on Flickr known as “explore.” Through a complex, secret algorithm, Flickr calculates the “interestingness” of every upload based upon “where the clickthroughs are coming from; who comments on it and when; who marks it as a favorite; its tags and many more things which are constantly changing. Interestingness changes over time, as more and more fantastic content and stories are added to Flickr” (http://www.Flickr.com/explore/interesting/). The photographs deemed “most interesting” by this algorithm are then conducted into the venerable pages of “explore.” This is a highly discussed and highly sought-after honor within the Flickr community, and a quick glance through the pages of “explore” will reveal some of the most fantastic images Flickr has to offer.
I quickly realized that to “make explore,” one must first establish a network of loyal “contacts,” or friends and fans of your work. These are the people who would provide the views, comments, and “faves” that would elevate an image’s “interestingness.” The more you comment and “fave” others’ images, the courtesy is for them to return the favor. Slowly, an increasingly wider social network is established through this process, until every image you upload will have at least several obligatory comments from your contacts praising your work. In this way, the social and artistic aspects of Flickr are inextricably linked, so that rarely can one succeed without the other. Only the most brilliant and effortlessly talented image-makers on Flickr can flourish without being social, and only the most sociable and comment-happy members on Flickr can succeed without having much talent.
As an online art community, Flickr has evolved to somewhat of a popularity contest amongst artists vying to become the most “interesting” photographer on Flickr. Because of the conveniently social and often competitive nature of online art communities, it is now easier than ever to gain widespread popularity on Flickr, whether you truly have talent or not.
DeviantArt
When one member of our group first logged onto my account under my DeviantArt avatar name “thinkmadcrazy” to upload photos of her artwork, her work was added to three other users’ “favorites” collection, and she received four comments and sixteen messages—all within the first several minutes. This member of our group did not know these other members personally, but because her art was uploaded to a public viewing platform with instant access, her artwork acted as her agent, attracting future contacts. The art initiated our first introduction and further social interactions. As a beginning DeviantArt user, or a “newbie,” this member of our group wanted to further explore the purpose of networking with other artists and how these social interactions affect the art. One feature in particular on DeviantArt is the message alert system that functions similar to a “newsfeed” on Facebook creating a sense of immediate intimacy within this art community. On Facebook we have what Clive Thompson, in his article “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy,” calls “ambient updates-” which on the ‘Newsfeed’, “are all visible on a single page…they’re not really directed at you. This makes them easy to skim, like newspaper headlines” (Thompson 2008:5). Clicking on this alert system built into the site, called “DeviantWatch,” this “skimmable” inbox is divided into smaller categories: deviations, journals, news, polls, feedback, comments, replies, and activity. It is within this forum that most social interaction occurs.
“Deviations” are the images of artwork from other artists that pop up in your deviation inbox every time she or he has uploaded a new work of art. These works range in traditional art, digital art, photography, literature, artisan crafts, designs and interfaces, animation, manga, anime. In this way, the art remains the primary foundation for taking an initial interest in other artists. By clicking on an image that sparks interest, one is led immediately to the artist’s profile page where further text and visual information can be exchanged. However, under “Activity” and “Comments” was where the member of our group found herself having more immediate conversations with other artists.
Just having her artwork added to many DA users’ favorites also noticeably sparked a sense of excitement within this member of our group. In that moment she became more concerned with how other artists viewed my artwork, their thoughts or opinions, which were revealed in detail in the ‘comments’ section. While viewing and reading the comments, she noticed that conversation was often initially focused on the art, but often evolves into a free-form discussion on other topics.
The act of checking favorites, adding other members, and comments shows that “individuals are concerned to explore how it mediates between persons after publication. Indeed, the ease of online publishing means that they can devote most of their attention to how the weblog is received” (Reed 2005: 230). Within the space of “Comments” particularly, how art is received becomes a crucial stimulus to social interaction. These concerns of public feedback is crucial for developing closer ties such as “adding” other members or even buying art from that artist. Social interaction evolves from the subject of art to a more socialized textual atmosphere, yet still traces back to being about the art.
This member of our group also noticed that constructive criticism of the artwork is always in a very positive tone. It has become the social norm for DeviantArt users to comment positively on others’ work, while negative or hateful comments are often looked-down upon. This tendency to comment and communicate constructively regardless of the quality of the artwork and skill level of the artist seems to be unique to online art communities, and further establishes a communal bond that is centered on inspiring and creating art.
Functions such as commenting, adding members as favorites, or “watching” someone, all allow for a constructive community within a forum of ever-expanding social networks. However, because these social ties are founded upon the sharing of art-pieces, the community inevitably remains centered around the art itself, building relationships and expanding networks along the way.
Tapsmack
Tapsmack is a young, up-and-coming web site that fulfills the roles of social networking and marketplace. As a social network, Tapsmack brings together non-artists who have ideas for art pieces and artists ready to showcase their talents by fashioning those ideas into visual art. As a marketplace, Tapsmack allows all users, referred to as “Smackers”, to vote on the best ideas and designs. All Smackers have the option to then purchase the designs for use on actual products such as clothing and tattoos.
Unlike a social networking web site, TapSmack does not have a “friending” system in place or a ready-made network to join upon registering. However, TapSmack is not simply an art website either; while TapSmack allows Smackers to maintain a portfolio of their artwork, TapSmack does not emphasize only art showcasing or sharing. In addition to presenting ideas and designing them into a visual artwork, all Smackers can vote on their favorite designs by clicking either the “Love It” or “Like It” button next to the design being voted. They can also give feedback on designs and ideas by commenting on the respective designs or ideas’ web pages. There are also incentives for Smackers to continue participating as both Artists and Idea Creators and contributing to the growth of TapSmack. First, TapSmack establishes a rank of Smackers based on seniority. In order to move up the ranks, a Smacker would have to earn SmackCash, the TapSmack “currency” which is used as participation “points” rather than actual cash- by posting ideas and designs, voting on designs, selling designs, and inviting friends to join TapSmack.
Some people are concerned about the commoditization of art, as demonstrated in the activities on Tapsmack. However, Tapsmack is a young web site with good potential as a worthy enterprise. Sales and consumption of art are made directly between artists and consumers. Tapsmack also encourages online participation in order to form an intimate community within a common space. Non-artists, in particular, are encouraged to participate and contribute their visions and ideas. In this way, Tapsmack becomes a community in which the central focus is on generating art for the purpose of both showcasing talent and making money. Through comments, votes, and criticism of the art created, a social community is born that regulates and perpetuates the art that is created. The art originates as the central theme of discussion, and through the social functions of the site, it is either rejected as a concept or fully realized through commercial sale.
Myspace
Tattoos, as a form of art and business, have grown exponentially in popularity. Since the explosion of the Myspace community, a number of factors have contributed to the expansion and accessibility of the tattoo industry. With over 110 million monthly active users, tattoo artists have gained massive clientele potential. Internet search engines such as Lycos have revealed the popularity of tattoos, as it ranked “tattoos as the number two most requested search term on the internet in 2002.”
Myspace has provided a useful medium for tattoo artists to further their client base, network with other artists and get a better sense of “what’s being done out there”. As opposed to displaying photos of the artists themselves, most default pictures and avatars are pictures of the artist’s work. This allows for judgment based solely on merit, as people do not know what race or sex the artist is. Race and sex are not identity cues, as Wagner addressed in the article “The Skin You’re In”. Clicking on the avatars will likely reveal a profile page complete with shop location, hours, contact information and fliers for art shows. The “blog” section will normally exhibit merchandise such as sketchbooks, t-shirts and tattoo machines. Most notable is the “photos” section, containing portfolios displaying hundreds of tattoos and paintings the artist has done. In a sense, Myspace serves as a facilitator of business and advertising for the independently contracted tattoo artist, all created and personalized by the artists themselves.
Whether or not Myspace has “improved” the tattoo industry is an issue of debate among tattoo enthusiasts and artists. A 41-year-old veteran tattoo collector told a member of our group, “It’s given stupid people the ability to annoy a larger number of tattoo artists at one time.” Another tattoo collector said, “Well, for one the internet makes art much more accessible, and a lot easier to be plagiarized”. After hearing snippets of random people’s two cents, one member of our group decided to attempt to contact and conduct interviews with two world-renowned tattoo artists. Surprisingly, they responded and provided insightful information.
One of the artists felt that Myspace had not given him more clients or made him any busier than he was before Myspace, but has allowed for easier and more effective communication with customers from other countries. However, just as people believed the transatlantic cable would bring about positive world peace, the same cannot be assumed for Myspace’s impact on the tattoo industry. “Ever since people have invented things, other people have found ways to put those things to criminal use” (Standage 2007:105). An apparently negative influence of Myspace on the tattoo industry happens to be coming from the younger generation of tattoo artists. These upstart young artists have had access to worlds of artwork on Myspace. What results is the assumption that the profession of tattooing is an easy industry to enter. Thus, the youth within the community do not learn the ethics of the business or the way of the industry, disrespecting the veterans who paved the way before them. Many steal designs and plagiarize the work of other artists, making the older, more experienced tattoo artists reluctant to help their younger counterparts.
However, the connectivity and accessibility offered by Myspace has also raised the standard within the community in terms of quality and creativity. One artist told me that in the 70s and 80s, tattoos were generally simple and small. Now, the current standard of tattoos would have seemed impossible back then. Myspace has raised awareness about the incredible works possible in the profession, and has raised the bar for everyone.
Furthermore, other renowned artists also felt more positively about Myspace. One artist felt Myspace greatly helped his career as an artist by allowing him to network with thousands of other artists- resulting in more clients, more friends, and more opportunities to travel and work at different shops.
Conclusion
Through our explorations of the five websites—Facebook, Myspace, DeviantArt, Tapsmack, and Flickr—we discovered that art functions as a visual focus to initiate social interaction and relationships. As time progresses, the focus may shift slightly away from the art as social bonds are formed and networks of contacts are expanded. However, community attention will inevitably redirect itself to focus on the artwork within the community, and the primary reason most users log on remains for the purpose of sharing and distributing art.
Chatting with other artists, joining groups, commenting on artwork, and participating in buying or selling are all useful features and sometimes distractions within these spaces- however the art never leaves the online scene. Despite its advantages of providing a sense of community, feedback, and a space for the artist to reach a wider audience, online art communities have their drawbacks. For instance, plagiarism, blatant art theft, and cheapening artwork have become more rampant because of the internet. Furthermore, the social aspects of online communities can also detract from the art when users become too focused on gaining notoriety and popularity within the community, and pieces can become cheap ploys to generate hits.
Consequently, online art communities both benefit and detract from artists in a circular motion. The art will initially attract viewers and social contacts, but can evolve to the point where the quality and integrity of the art is compromised. However, with time, most members within art communities will re-balance their attention and harness the social and interactive aspects of the community to benefit their work.
This varies from our initial assumption that online art communities were just becoming networking grounds for socializing. We did not fully realize the complex relationship between an online social community and the character of the art within it. However, it has become evident that the internet has exerted great influence on the art world in more ways than one, and only one thing is for certain- the art community will never be the same.
Were we able to do things differently, we would probably have conducted more interviews with members of each site in order to gain insight into how other users view the complex relationship between the internet and the art world. Also, we would probably have focused more in-depth on one or two main online art communities, rather than dividing our resources between five vastly different communities.
Cyber Mobs
Cyber Mobs
Khuyen Lam
Brian Tan
Victor Shen
Gloria Law
Prelude
When we found our first informant through a message board, one member of our group asked him if he could answer our questions regarding “trolling.” There was a long pause until he finally responded:
“Interview me is your first step. PayPal me twenty-dollars is your second step. Getting an A is your final step. Trolling is an art it’s hard to explain... It’s like robbing Van Gogh when he is in the Denny’s bathroom. Trolling is a form of expression like dance or writing music. The fanfare is to make people feel like they’re meaningless.” After that, we knew the project would be a long and arduous affair.
As the internet grows increasingly relevant in our everyday lives, it is important to understand the phenomena and cultures it is cultivating. One particular interest that our group decided to focus on is a behavior called “trolling.” The description of this nature is debatable, but through participant observation, interviews and research, our group was able to understand that this cultural scene resulted from “renegades” of these internet communities who disrupt and harass other users for amusement and/or notoriety.
What Counts As Trolling?
While setting down the basic outline of our research, our group often had trouble differentiating between different terms. Words such as “trolling, griefing, flaming, and spamming” are thrown around and used interchangeably at times which made it difficult to conduct research. Also, it was necessary to establish a common language to be used for interviewing. Prior to this, every time someone was interviewed about trolling, we had to first verify that their idea of trolling matches our description. This was a slow process; we often had to stop so that the person being interviewed could explain why each term meant what it meant to them. It was necessary to define trolling for the purpose of our research in order to expedite the process of gathering data. Prior to the interviews we would explain that regardless of what each term meant to them individually, we would be using the term in this particular sense.
Even though we established a common definition for trolling, we still asked what trolling meant to each person. The results often held true to our assumptions: trolling is when someone makes a post that is outrageous, hoping to get a rise out of other users for their own enjoyment. The targets vary, and the troll’s methods vary, but generally it’s making other people angry so that the troll can laugh at them and feel superior.
Oftentimes, the targets are “anybody who falls for it easily.” According to the people doing the trolling, these people are usually newbies to the site, of lower intelligence, have a superiority complex, or are trolls themselves. As one informants said, “Most of the time I am trolling I am doing it because I am bored and need something to do to amuse myself. I pretty much target anyone who displays a weakness which I can capitalize or is in a situation I can manipulate.”
Despite of what the informant above stated, however, there was a surprising find: trolls often troll other trolls. This makes trolls quite different from your typical playground bullies: instead of a group of trolls banning together to pick on a single person, many trolls explicitly expressed their distaste for ganging up on a single target. The trolls we interviewed did not like working together with other trolls and most enjoyed trolling trolls the most. When we asked why they did this, we had expected them to respond that it was fun as long as they felt like they were getting the better of someone else. However, the responses were overwhelmingly about status. These trolls trolled other trolls because it gave them more satisfaction to compete and win over an opponent of a similar level and mindset.
However, when we asked one person to clarify how this could be done, there was no distinct answer. Apparently, not knowing is fine as long as you think you’ve the upper hand and its fun. Thinking more on this issue, trolling trolls could very easily become an endless cycle, since so many different kinds of responses could be categorized as trolling. Troll A could post as a pseudo-naïve character, asking an outrageous question and expecting serious responses from people who don’t “get it.” Troll B comes in and tries to Troll A by responding in a furious and completely serious manner. Troll A will then respond thinking that they’ve found a sucker, and the cycle could continue forever. How would you know that you’ve won? For this question there was no distinct answer.
The question of when trolling occurs was met with some rather unexpected answers; I had originally meant the question to ask for specific times, such as right after someone tries to sound smart in a forum. However, those being interviewed took the question to mean something else and we realized our folly of expecting trolls to need a reason to troll. Most trolls troll when they are bored and want to have fun by messing with other people. Only one person interviewed said that they kept a specific alternate avatar strictly for trolling. Some troll only when they come upon someone who seems like an easy target, and will easily take offense, or there was already an ongoing troll attack that they choose to join in. Others purposely go looking for victims when they have time to kill, or start new threads in forums with outrageous headings to bait people into responding. Sometimes these trolls spend hours of their day continuously feeding this thread.
Contrary to what trolls would like to believe, their victims are not really offended for long. While trolls feed off of angry, excited responses, oftentimes once the victim realizes that they’re being trolled most of their anger dissipates. Rather than staying offended, most victims are just embarrassed that they fell for what the troll said as truth. Once it is clear to these victims that their attacker was just trolling for fun, and that they didn’t really believe in the things they said, they leave the thread quietly. We feel that this is the best and only thing people can do, since trolls get their laughs from making you post angry rebuttals.
Yes, there are still victims out there who know that they were trolled, but they are still deeply offended. These people tend to be perceived as taking things too seriously, and that only leads to be trolled even more.
Since websites thrive by having more people on it and using it, I was concerned over whether or not trolling would cause major damage. In theory, once there were enough trolls to hinder most people from using the site, the website would slowly die as more and more people leave. Most of those interviewed denied this would happen, including several victims. Trolling is not meant to incur real damage, and those who troll really believe that they’re not doing anything wrong. Even though their actions lead to their victims feeling less about themselves, trolls truly believe that they are righting the world with what they do. Alternately, when I asked whether or not the activity of trolls seriously hindered the intended activity on the website, most of my interviewees agreed that it did and that it was a real danger to the website that trolls were getting in the way.
Where Does Trolling Occur?
With the development of the internet, it has evolved into separate clusters, each with a multitude of forums where relevant topics may be discussed. As these hubs for information have flourished, so have those who would subvert these communities. Trolling is a text based harassment that has found a home primarily with in forum communities; however, not all forums, also called boards, experience this plight.
For trolling to occur, some basic requirements exist: the community must have a focus on text based communication, the community must also have the freedom to express themselves fairly openly without too much restraint (i.e. not predetermined responses), and it is typically large enough to have a degree of unfamiliarity between all the members.
By our definition of “trolling” as opposed to commonly seen negative behavior (i.e. griefing or flaming, etc.), we have determined that the desire to psychologically or emotional attack someone exists in text based communities, as other forms of interaction would add other incentives for this negative behavior. Without the freedom to express a person’s ideas we would not see the behavior we call “trolling” as with predetermined responses and created to limit the amount of communication and are generally geared toward a productive and positive community where negative behaviors and impulses are shunned.
Lastly, for the behavior we “considerer” trolling to apply a degree of unfamiliarity must exists between those involved. When this personal barrier does not exist, we see many of the negative aspects taken in a different light; such as an inside joke. When these comments and behaviors are treated in a humorous light, we no longer see the “attack” that we have defined trolling to fall under, so we do not treat those comments as instances of “trolling”. This is reminiscent to a passage Jennifer Mnookin wrote in a publication concerning the emergence of law in one of cyberspace’s first virtual worlds, LambdaMOO: “Remember, LambdaMOO is supposed to be fun. It’s a game. Can’t we all lighten up a bit?” A lash-back to new rules enforced by the administrations of the game, due to text-based harassment.
So long as these requirements are satisfied, trolling tends to exists in these communities; however, the frequency of trolling and whether or not trolling flourishes in the community have plenty of other markers. As trolls differ from one to the next, it is impossible to properly grasp each trolls habit; however, there are a few common situations in which trolling tends gather towards.
Seeking to incite responses out of a community, trolls tend to find a niche in forums that have strong feelings or forums that tend to have a bias regarding something. This “something” is vague precisely because it appears that forums for almost every topic exist somewhere on the internet; this “something” can range anywhere from gaming opinions, political views, religious beliefs, etc. A common method trolls use to incite a response in these situations is to simply place a comment or post that is opposed or opposite the general bias of a forum; many users that are associated with the forum will quickly reply to demonstrate their views and this situation is perpetuated. Another common situation that allows trolling to occur is the “question forums”. These forums are generally utilized for help in certain questions and the trolling of these forums has split into two broad categories: deserved or underserved. Underserved trolling applies to trolls who purposefully give useless advice (i.e. “Do a barrel roll!”) or comments merely to insult and put down the help seeker; this type of behavior is generally not accepted nor appreciated by most communities.
Deserved trolling applies in a narrowly defined margin, where trolling is applauded and appreciated because the question may have special circumstances attached to it; such as, questions that are forbidden to be asked as stated in the rules of a forum community or else questions asked for so often that a special post or sub-forum may exists to handle inquiries of those type. Trolls that attack these questions are accepted because it is perceived that members of the community that fail to conform and follow the rules are detracting and hindering the community. These two situations have developed into natural attractants for trolling behavior; however, just as there are natural attractants for trolls, some communities present a natural deterrent for this behavior based upon its structure. One prime example is smaller internet communities. As previously stated, trolls are more prevalent the larger the community. This reason cannot be solely attributed to the odds of interacting with the same members, because of open registration the ease in which a troll can create and “alt,” which means alternative accounts, for negative or positive purposes does not account for the absence of trolling on smaller communities. In some ways, it alters the presentation of an individual. In Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson’s writing, they posed the question: “Virtual environments, such as online games and web-based chat rooms, increasingly allow us to alter our digital self-representations dramatically and easily. But as we change our self-representations, do our self-representations change our behavior in turn?” The anonymity and “appearance” that was created for the sake of trolling most likely influences the attitude and behaviors of the individual.
Another heavily prevalent factor that helps maintain the level of trolling that appears upon various internet communities is the interactivity of the administration with the regular members of the community. In online forums where the administrators are not shadowy overlords dictating rules and presenting penalties, but utilize the forum as it was its original purpose, the sharing of ideas, those forum appear to have the least trolling activity. The two most plausible reasons for this lowered trolling activity are either the moderators are constantly dealing with the trolls as they will come across them in their own forum use, or trolls in such communities do not exists because of the fostered good will between all members and staff that appears to be created. Trolling appears to permeate all internet communities in a shape or form; however, trolls are far from the random attacks, rather they have a governing method.
Methods
For our original research, we used two methods to intimately understand trolls and trolling behavior. Initially, we interviewed three individuals with whom one of our team members are friends. Through these connections, a level of trust had already been established, so we sent a preliminary set of open-ended questions for the individuals to respond to via instant messaging. Since the questions were grouped together, the respondents answered our questions very quickly like a questionnaire. Also, there was little opportunity to immediately follow-up on their responses. Unfortunately, none of them have responded to our second set of questions which were composed to gather more in-depth responses. Our team member speculates that the friends did not perceive our research project to be serious work.
Secondly, we analyzed the text of an online forum where trolling occurs to better understand the context of these incidents. We briefly looked at the layout of the messages and the thread hierarchy of the website along with the additional features the forum might have such as indicators regarding the popularity of a particular discussion. Then we inspected the semantic organization of the website and compared its intended forum discussion topics to the messages posted on the forums. We identify the troll message as one that is completely off the topic of discussion or the topic of the moment that evolved from the leading thread. From the posting of the troll message, we read the responses proceeding it. Some of these messages were addressed to the troll, while some later responses were reactions to them. However, there were responses that were ambiguous to whom they were addressing.
Also, we attempted to contact trolls and a few respondents through the forums via the private messaging feature if it was available, which is usual on forums that require an account name. Unfortunately, after introducing our research project to our prospective informants, they did not respond. We speculate that they ignore the private messaging notifications for a few main reasons. The first major reason is that the message received notification is not displayed prominently when the user logs on. There was probably no improvement on this feature because it is rarely used. Second, the users may have read our message, however they may have felt that our message was off topic to the discussion. Some may have wanted to forget about the trolling incident and allocate their efforts towards their interests at the forum. Third, we did not gain enough trust with the informant despite guarantees of anonymity. Since we recently created new accounts at the forums, we may not have established enough of a reputation to identify ourselves beyond our message. With a lack of reputation around the forums, our intention for interviewing trolls may have seemed suspect. Lastly, the user may only created the account for a particular set of purposes: to troll or respond to trolling. Also, some users set up an account to troll over a set period time and then abandon it. So the user may not have seen our message at all.
It is difficult to define distinctions among flaming, griefing, trolling. Due to the growing popularization of Internet access and increasing unique users joining online forums, the definitions among flaming, trolling, and griefing have very little precision that distinguishes them from each other. This occurs as a result from the recent emergence of these phenomena, the lack of a central authority to define such a recent activity, and the multiple understandings of hostile online behavior. Although Wikipedia seems to emerge as a center of authority regarding knowledge about recent phenomena, there is a pervasive lack of reflection on the methodology of their definitions. Since these terms are undergoing debate and still gaining a consensus on their precise meanings, we will attempt to outline some criteria that might distinguish these activities. Julian Dibbell, a writer for the Wired Magazine, wrote, “Griefing, as a term, dates to the late 1990s, when it was used to describe the willfully antisocial behaviors seen in early massively multiplayer games like Ultima Online and first-person shooters like Counter-Strike (fragging your own teammates, for instance, or repeatedly killing a player many levels below you).” In some ways, trolling is a variation of griefing, except that it primarily uses a text-based form. The first criterion to consider is the number of participants involved in the activity. For all of these, the act can be performed by one user, but there can be a group of users that perform this anti-social behavior through signaling with the hostile message itself or coordinating outside of the site of the attack. Moreover, the number of those affected by the act should be considered. Flaming is believed to target only one user on a personal level, while trolling and griefing targets multiple users usually on an impersonal level. However, there can be cases where trolls and griefers seek to disrupt a particular user’s experience throughout the site.
Next, the site of the attack should be considered. Flamers use many online channels of communication, such as chatrooms and e-mails, to attack the user. On the other hand, trolling and griefing seem be contained in a forum or graphical virtual world, respectively. The last criterion to contemplate could be the level of annoyance that the affected users experience. An attack from flamers appears to be inescapable as they send continuous amounts of hostile messages from as many channels as possible, which disrupts the user’s ability to use those affected channels. Due to the impersonality of most trolling and griefing incidents, users can leave the certain parts of the site and ignore them. However, frequent repetition of those anti-social acts will decrease the appearance of social cohesion within those virtual worlds, and thus detract from their social utility.
More Trouble Shooting
A difficult issue that our research pertained to the subject matter; trolling is a behavior that is based off of wiles, mischief, transient users and deceit—many of our interviewees did not believe that we were being honest, and felt that we were trolls. In other cases, there were a lot of interactions that seemed fruitless. As one informant, nicknamed “Snapper,” wrote, “You already asked me these. S-stop. I am n-not a troll. Who else are you going to ask these to? If they’re a troll none of them will give serious responses.” One group member, who served as a field researcher, responded, “Like you?” After a short while, the informant began to cooperate and said, “Then.... they are not.... masters of the art. The art of “trolling.” I only troll defensively or people I don’t know. “The Art of Troll” ~ Tun (sic) Szu.” At which the researcher responded, “Alright, that’s enough.” It was difficult trying to cope with hours and hours of trying to find informants, and once that opportunity comes, the informant does not yield the results desired. However, after trial and error, we realized uncooperativeness was not necessarily “useless information,” as it is still a part of our data.
In some interesting situations, there were some interviewees who claimed they were trolls, because they were excited to have their names published in a paper. As one informant asked, “Will I be on this as KK51 or anonymous?” However, the researcher responded, “Sorry, but I don’t think it is ethnical for me to put your screen name on this. I have to cite you as anonymous.” The interviewee was disappointed and responded, “But I want to be on this as KK5.” Unfortunately, after this exchange, he ignored further follow-up questions. Again, while frustrating, this behavior was still a useful incite. Our perception of what was “useful information” or not was influenced by the fact that some of our group members had a myopic gaze, which means that some data that may be significant to a research might be lost because the researchers are already well-integrated in the field they are studying in. However, thanks to the use of detailed field notes, we were able to go over the data in detail.
It was interesting how there were some individuals who vehemently denied that they were trolls. While acting as a participant observer on a forum, the researcher noticed one member that acted extremely brash and insulted everyone on the forum in a ridiculous and exaggerated manner that resembled many other trolls she had previously interviewed. She sent him a private message and explained that she was conducting a research on trolls, and outlined in detail how he matched the description of a troll. However, he adamantly denied that he exhibited any behaviors. Before the conversation evolved into an argument, the researcher ignored him. It is unclear whether or not he did that because he wanted to troll our research, or because he honestly believed that the way he acted as fine.
Conclusion
Though the research was arduous, it was fruitful; however, because trolling is a modern phenomenon that is changing each day, we cannot ascertain that our definition of trolling and explanations for why it exists is absolute and universal. Arguably, we can make the argument that most individuals that engage in this type of aggressive and anti-social behavior are heavily motivated by jovial intentions, despite of the fact that their actions may seem extremely negative and brutish.
Citations
Dibble, Julian
2008 Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: But the Blame on Griefers, Sociopaths of the Virtual World. Electronic document,
http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons?currentPage=all, accessed March 19, 2009.
Mnookin, Jennifer
1996 Virtual(ly) Law: Emergence of Law in LambdaMOO. Electronic document,
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue1/lambda.html#Law%20and%20Politics,
accessed March 19, 2009.
Turner, Fred
1998 Where the Counterculture Met the New Economy: The WELL and the Origins of Virtual Community. Electronic document,
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/technology_and_culture/,
accessed March 19, 2009.
Yee, Nick and Bailenson, Jeremey
The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior. Electronic document,
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118533557/PDFSTART, accessed March 19, 2009.
Appendix
Figure A—”Trollz,” Encyclopedia Dramatica
1 This username is a pseudonym for the purpose of this research paper
Khuyen Lam
Brian Tan
Victor Shen
Gloria Law
Prelude
When we found our first informant through a message board, one member of our group asked him if he could answer our questions regarding “trolling.” There was a long pause until he finally responded:
“Interview me is your first step. PayPal me twenty-dollars is your second step. Getting an A is your final step. Trolling is an art it’s hard to explain... It’s like robbing Van Gogh when he is in the Denny’s bathroom. Trolling is a form of expression like dance or writing music. The fanfare is to make people feel like they’re meaningless.” After that, we knew the project would be a long and arduous affair.
As the internet grows increasingly relevant in our everyday lives, it is important to understand the phenomena and cultures it is cultivating. One particular interest that our group decided to focus on is a behavior called “trolling.” The description of this nature is debatable, but through participant observation, interviews and research, our group was able to understand that this cultural scene resulted from “renegades” of these internet communities who disrupt and harass other users for amusement and/or notoriety.
What Counts As Trolling?
While setting down the basic outline of our research, our group often had trouble differentiating between different terms. Words such as “trolling, griefing, flaming, and spamming” are thrown around and used interchangeably at times which made it difficult to conduct research. Also, it was necessary to establish a common language to be used for interviewing. Prior to this, every time someone was interviewed about trolling, we had to first verify that their idea of trolling matches our description. This was a slow process; we often had to stop so that the person being interviewed could explain why each term meant what it meant to them. It was necessary to define trolling for the purpose of our research in order to expedite the process of gathering data. Prior to the interviews we would explain that regardless of what each term meant to them individually, we would be using the term in this particular sense.
Even though we established a common definition for trolling, we still asked what trolling meant to each person. The results often held true to our assumptions: trolling is when someone makes a post that is outrageous, hoping to get a rise out of other users for their own enjoyment. The targets vary, and the troll’s methods vary, but generally it’s making other people angry so that the troll can laugh at them and feel superior.
Oftentimes, the targets are “anybody who falls for it easily.” According to the people doing the trolling, these people are usually newbies to the site, of lower intelligence, have a superiority complex, or are trolls themselves. As one informants said, “Most of the time I am trolling I am doing it because I am bored and need something to do to amuse myself. I pretty much target anyone who displays a weakness which I can capitalize or is in a situation I can manipulate.”
Despite of what the informant above stated, however, there was a surprising find: trolls often troll other trolls. This makes trolls quite different from your typical playground bullies: instead of a group of trolls banning together to pick on a single person, many trolls explicitly expressed their distaste for ganging up on a single target. The trolls we interviewed did not like working together with other trolls and most enjoyed trolling trolls the most. When we asked why they did this, we had expected them to respond that it was fun as long as they felt like they were getting the better of someone else. However, the responses were overwhelmingly about status. These trolls trolled other trolls because it gave them more satisfaction to compete and win over an opponent of a similar level and mindset.
However, when we asked one person to clarify how this could be done, there was no distinct answer. Apparently, not knowing is fine as long as you think you’ve the upper hand and its fun. Thinking more on this issue, trolling trolls could very easily become an endless cycle, since so many different kinds of responses could be categorized as trolling. Troll A could post as a pseudo-naïve character, asking an outrageous question and expecting serious responses from people who don’t “get it.” Troll B comes in and tries to Troll A by responding in a furious and completely serious manner. Troll A will then respond thinking that they’ve found a sucker, and the cycle could continue forever. How would you know that you’ve won? For this question there was no distinct answer.
The question of when trolling occurs was met with some rather unexpected answers; I had originally meant the question to ask for specific times, such as right after someone tries to sound smart in a forum. However, those being interviewed took the question to mean something else and we realized our folly of expecting trolls to need a reason to troll. Most trolls troll when they are bored and want to have fun by messing with other people. Only one person interviewed said that they kept a specific alternate avatar strictly for trolling. Some troll only when they come upon someone who seems like an easy target, and will easily take offense, or there was already an ongoing troll attack that they choose to join in. Others purposely go looking for victims when they have time to kill, or start new threads in forums with outrageous headings to bait people into responding. Sometimes these trolls spend hours of their day continuously feeding this thread.
Contrary to what trolls would like to believe, their victims are not really offended for long. While trolls feed off of angry, excited responses, oftentimes once the victim realizes that they’re being trolled most of their anger dissipates. Rather than staying offended, most victims are just embarrassed that they fell for what the troll said as truth. Once it is clear to these victims that their attacker was just trolling for fun, and that they didn’t really believe in the things they said, they leave the thread quietly. We feel that this is the best and only thing people can do, since trolls get their laughs from making you post angry rebuttals.
Yes, there are still victims out there who know that they were trolled, but they are still deeply offended. These people tend to be perceived as taking things too seriously, and that only leads to be trolled even more.
Since websites thrive by having more people on it and using it, I was concerned over whether or not trolling would cause major damage. In theory, once there were enough trolls to hinder most people from using the site, the website would slowly die as more and more people leave. Most of those interviewed denied this would happen, including several victims. Trolling is not meant to incur real damage, and those who troll really believe that they’re not doing anything wrong. Even though their actions lead to their victims feeling less about themselves, trolls truly believe that they are righting the world with what they do. Alternately, when I asked whether or not the activity of trolls seriously hindered the intended activity on the website, most of my interviewees agreed that it did and that it was a real danger to the website that trolls were getting in the way.
Where Does Trolling Occur?
With the development of the internet, it has evolved into separate clusters, each with a multitude of forums where relevant topics may be discussed. As these hubs for information have flourished, so have those who would subvert these communities. Trolling is a text based harassment that has found a home primarily with in forum communities; however, not all forums, also called boards, experience this plight.
For trolling to occur, some basic requirements exist: the community must have a focus on text based communication, the community must also have the freedom to express themselves fairly openly without too much restraint (i.e. not predetermined responses), and it is typically large enough to have a degree of unfamiliarity between all the members.
By our definition of “trolling” as opposed to commonly seen negative behavior (i.e. griefing or flaming, etc.), we have determined that the desire to psychologically or emotional attack someone exists in text based communities, as other forms of interaction would add other incentives for this negative behavior. Without the freedom to express a person’s ideas we would not see the behavior we call “trolling” as with predetermined responses and created to limit the amount of communication and are generally geared toward a productive and positive community where negative behaviors and impulses are shunned.
Lastly, for the behavior we “considerer” trolling to apply a degree of unfamiliarity must exists between those involved. When this personal barrier does not exist, we see many of the negative aspects taken in a different light; such as an inside joke. When these comments and behaviors are treated in a humorous light, we no longer see the “attack” that we have defined trolling to fall under, so we do not treat those comments as instances of “trolling”. This is reminiscent to a passage Jennifer Mnookin wrote in a publication concerning the emergence of law in one of cyberspace’s first virtual worlds, LambdaMOO: “Remember, LambdaMOO is supposed to be fun. It’s a game. Can’t we all lighten up a bit?” A lash-back to new rules enforced by the administrations of the game, due to text-based harassment.
So long as these requirements are satisfied, trolling tends to exists in these communities; however, the frequency of trolling and whether or not trolling flourishes in the community have plenty of other markers. As trolls differ from one to the next, it is impossible to properly grasp each trolls habit; however, there are a few common situations in which trolling tends gather towards.
Seeking to incite responses out of a community, trolls tend to find a niche in forums that have strong feelings or forums that tend to have a bias regarding something. This “something” is vague precisely because it appears that forums for almost every topic exist somewhere on the internet; this “something” can range anywhere from gaming opinions, political views, religious beliefs, etc. A common method trolls use to incite a response in these situations is to simply place a comment or post that is opposed or opposite the general bias of a forum; many users that are associated with the forum will quickly reply to demonstrate their views and this situation is perpetuated. Another common situation that allows trolling to occur is the “question forums”. These forums are generally utilized for help in certain questions and the trolling of these forums has split into two broad categories: deserved or underserved. Underserved trolling applies to trolls who purposefully give useless advice (i.e. “Do a barrel roll!”) or comments merely to insult and put down the help seeker; this type of behavior is generally not accepted nor appreciated by most communities.
Deserved trolling applies in a narrowly defined margin, where trolling is applauded and appreciated because the question may have special circumstances attached to it; such as, questions that are forbidden to be asked as stated in the rules of a forum community or else questions asked for so often that a special post or sub-forum may exists to handle inquiries of those type. Trolls that attack these questions are accepted because it is perceived that members of the community that fail to conform and follow the rules are detracting and hindering the community. These two situations have developed into natural attractants for trolling behavior; however, just as there are natural attractants for trolls, some communities present a natural deterrent for this behavior based upon its structure. One prime example is smaller internet communities. As previously stated, trolls are more prevalent the larger the community. This reason cannot be solely attributed to the odds of interacting with the same members, because of open registration the ease in which a troll can create and “alt,” which means alternative accounts, for negative or positive purposes does not account for the absence of trolling on smaller communities. In some ways, it alters the presentation of an individual. In Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson’s writing, they posed the question: “Virtual environments, such as online games and web-based chat rooms, increasingly allow us to alter our digital self-representations dramatically and easily. But as we change our self-representations, do our self-representations change our behavior in turn?” The anonymity and “appearance” that was created for the sake of trolling most likely influences the attitude and behaviors of the individual.
Another heavily prevalent factor that helps maintain the level of trolling that appears upon various internet communities is the interactivity of the administration with the regular members of the community. In online forums where the administrators are not shadowy overlords dictating rules and presenting penalties, but utilize the forum as it was its original purpose, the sharing of ideas, those forum appear to have the least trolling activity. The two most plausible reasons for this lowered trolling activity are either the moderators are constantly dealing with the trolls as they will come across them in their own forum use, or trolls in such communities do not exists because of the fostered good will between all members and staff that appears to be created. Trolling appears to permeate all internet communities in a shape or form; however, trolls are far from the random attacks, rather they have a governing method.
Methods
For our original research, we used two methods to intimately understand trolls and trolling behavior. Initially, we interviewed three individuals with whom one of our team members are friends. Through these connections, a level of trust had already been established, so we sent a preliminary set of open-ended questions for the individuals to respond to via instant messaging. Since the questions were grouped together, the respondents answered our questions very quickly like a questionnaire. Also, there was little opportunity to immediately follow-up on their responses. Unfortunately, none of them have responded to our second set of questions which were composed to gather more in-depth responses. Our team member speculates that the friends did not perceive our research project to be serious work.
Secondly, we analyzed the text of an online forum where trolling occurs to better understand the context of these incidents. We briefly looked at the layout of the messages and the thread hierarchy of the website along with the additional features the forum might have such as indicators regarding the popularity of a particular discussion. Then we inspected the semantic organization of the website and compared its intended forum discussion topics to the messages posted on the forums. We identify the troll message as one that is completely off the topic of discussion or the topic of the moment that evolved from the leading thread. From the posting of the troll message, we read the responses proceeding it. Some of these messages were addressed to the troll, while some later responses were reactions to them. However, there were responses that were ambiguous to whom they were addressing.
Also, we attempted to contact trolls and a few respondents through the forums via the private messaging feature if it was available, which is usual on forums that require an account name. Unfortunately, after introducing our research project to our prospective informants, they did not respond. We speculate that they ignore the private messaging notifications for a few main reasons. The first major reason is that the message received notification is not displayed prominently when the user logs on. There was probably no improvement on this feature because it is rarely used. Second, the users may have read our message, however they may have felt that our message was off topic to the discussion. Some may have wanted to forget about the trolling incident and allocate their efforts towards their interests at the forum. Third, we did not gain enough trust with the informant despite guarantees of anonymity. Since we recently created new accounts at the forums, we may not have established enough of a reputation to identify ourselves beyond our message. With a lack of reputation around the forums, our intention for interviewing trolls may have seemed suspect. Lastly, the user may only created the account for a particular set of purposes: to troll or respond to trolling. Also, some users set up an account to troll over a set period time and then abandon it. So the user may not have seen our message at all.
It is difficult to define distinctions among flaming, griefing, trolling. Due to the growing popularization of Internet access and increasing unique users joining online forums, the definitions among flaming, trolling, and griefing have very little precision that distinguishes them from each other. This occurs as a result from the recent emergence of these phenomena, the lack of a central authority to define such a recent activity, and the multiple understandings of hostile online behavior. Although Wikipedia seems to emerge as a center of authority regarding knowledge about recent phenomena, there is a pervasive lack of reflection on the methodology of their definitions. Since these terms are undergoing debate and still gaining a consensus on their precise meanings, we will attempt to outline some criteria that might distinguish these activities. Julian Dibbell, a writer for the Wired Magazine, wrote, “Griefing, as a term, dates to the late 1990s, when it was used to describe the willfully antisocial behaviors seen in early massively multiplayer games like Ultima Online and first-person shooters like Counter-Strike (fragging your own teammates, for instance, or repeatedly killing a player many levels below you).” In some ways, trolling is a variation of griefing, except that it primarily uses a text-based form. The first criterion to consider is the number of participants involved in the activity. For all of these, the act can be performed by one user, but there can be a group of users that perform this anti-social behavior through signaling with the hostile message itself or coordinating outside of the site of the attack. Moreover, the number of those affected by the act should be considered. Flaming is believed to target only one user on a personal level, while trolling and griefing targets multiple users usually on an impersonal level. However, there can be cases where trolls and griefers seek to disrupt a particular user’s experience throughout the site.
Next, the site of the attack should be considered. Flamers use many online channels of communication, such as chatrooms and e-mails, to attack the user. On the other hand, trolling and griefing seem be contained in a forum or graphical virtual world, respectively. The last criterion to contemplate could be the level of annoyance that the affected users experience. An attack from flamers appears to be inescapable as they send continuous amounts of hostile messages from as many channels as possible, which disrupts the user’s ability to use those affected channels. Due to the impersonality of most trolling and griefing incidents, users can leave the certain parts of the site and ignore them. However, frequent repetition of those anti-social acts will decrease the appearance of social cohesion within those virtual worlds, and thus detract from their social utility.
More Trouble Shooting
A difficult issue that our research pertained to the subject matter; trolling is a behavior that is based off of wiles, mischief, transient users and deceit—many of our interviewees did not believe that we were being honest, and felt that we were trolls. In other cases, there were a lot of interactions that seemed fruitless. As one informant, nicknamed “Snapper,” wrote, “You already asked me these. S-stop. I am n-not a troll. Who else are you going to ask these to? If they’re a troll none of them will give serious responses.” One group member, who served as a field researcher, responded, “Like you?” After a short while, the informant began to cooperate and said, “Then.... they are not.... masters of the art. The art of “trolling.” I only troll defensively or people I don’t know. “The Art of Troll” ~ Tun (sic) Szu.” At which the researcher responded, “Alright, that’s enough.” It was difficult trying to cope with hours and hours of trying to find informants, and once that opportunity comes, the informant does not yield the results desired. However, after trial and error, we realized uncooperativeness was not necessarily “useless information,” as it is still a part of our data.
In some interesting situations, there were some interviewees who claimed they were trolls, because they were excited to have their names published in a paper. As one informant asked, “Will I be on this as KK51 or anonymous?” However, the researcher responded, “Sorry, but I don’t think it is ethnical for me to put your screen name on this. I have to cite you as anonymous.” The interviewee was disappointed and responded, “But I want to be on this as KK5.” Unfortunately, after this exchange, he ignored further follow-up questions. Again, while frustrating, this behavior was still a useful incite. Our perception of what was “useful information” or not was influenced by the fact that some of our group members had a myopic gaze, which means that some data that may be significant to a research might be lost because the researchers are already well-integrated in the field they are studying in. However, thanks to the use of detailed field notes, we were able to go over the data in detail.
It was interesting how there were some individuals who vehemently denied that they were trolls. While acting as a participant observer on a forum, the researcher noticed one member that acted extremely brash and insulted everyone on the forum in a ridiculous and exaggerated manner that resembled many other trolls she had previously interviewed. She sent him a private message and explained that she was conducting a research on trolls, and outlined in detail how he matched the description of a troll. However, he adamantly denied that he exhibited any behaviors. Before the conversation evolved into an argument, the researcher ignored him. It is unclear whether or not he did that because he wanted to troll our research, or because he honestly believed that the way he acted as fine.
Conclusion
Though the research was arduous, it was fruitful; however, because trolling is a modern phenomenon that is changing each day, we cannot ascertain that our definition of trolling and explanations for why it exists is absolute and universal. Arguably, we can make the argument that most individuals that engage in this type of aggressive and anti-social behavior are heavily motivated by jovial intentions, despite of the fact that their actions may seem extremely negative and brutish.
Citations
Dibble, Julian
2008 Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: But the Blame on Griefers, Sociopaths of the Virtual World. Electronic document,
http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons?currentPage=all, accessed March 19, 2009.
Mnookin, Jennifer
1996 Virtual(ly) Law: Emergence of Law in LambdaMOO. Electronic document,
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue1/lambda.html#Law%20and%20Politics,
accessed March 19, 2009.
Turner, Fred
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Appendix
Figure A—”Trollz,” Encyclopedia Dramatica
1 This username is a pseudonym for the purpose of this research paper
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