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Virtual Selves, Real Relationships: An Exploration of the Context and Role for Social Interactions in the Emergence of Self in Virtual Environments

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Abstract

With the evolution of computer-mediated communication and the arrival of new virtual environments, there are potential implications for how the Self may be conceptualised. This paper considers these implications by examining the continuities and discontinuities between the Self in virtual and non-virtual environments, and contemporary and historical settings. Symbolic Interaction and Activity Theory approaches emphasise the Self as emerging in context, through Self-Other and Self-environment interactions in the minutiae of everyday life, but to some extent foreground physical rather than virtual interactions. Interactions in virtual environments are characterised by specific forms of embodiment and the experience of “presence”, with avatars providing embodiment for interaction separate from the physical world and interaction with others being one of the determinants of presence. The complexion of Self-Other interactions in virtual environments is circumscribed by the characteristics of communications and relationships that occur in them, which are constrained by reduced social cues but overcome through the invention of techniques driven by the desire to socially interact. This paper highlights the role of symbolic mediation in the emergence of Self in virtual environments and posits that, while emergence of Self is interactive in nature, virtual environments are particular sites for a Self where the specific role of social interaction must be foregrounded.

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Notes

  1. This paper uses the term “virtual environment” to refer to any space facilitated by the Internet and accessed via electronic media such as computers, mobile telephones and tablets, where participants interact with one another. It does not include the Cave Automatic Virtual Environments, i.e. systems where projectors are used to create immersive environments in room-sized cubes, as described by Cruz-Neira, et al. (1992), for example.

  2. For graphical virtual environments, a wide variety of terms is used synonymously, including virtual world, metaverse, synthetic world, MUV (multi-user virtual environment) and IVE (immersive virtual environment). For consistency this paper always uses the expression “virtual world”.

  3. Worlds dedicated to role-play gaming are commonly called Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). See Messinger et al. (2009) for a taxonomy of virtual world types.

  4. See Boellstorff (2008) and Au (2008) for detailed histories of the creation of Second Life.

  5. The expression “physical world” is used to differentiate virtual environments from what participants commonly term “real life”, as described by Peachey and Childs (2011).

  6. Typical examples of blog entries that discuss relationships in Second Life are Heron (2007) and Miles (2008). Additionally, the virtual world Second Life publishes a specific forum on its website devoted to what it calls “Lifestyles and Relationships” (see http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Lifestyles-and-Relationships/bd-p/lifestyles_relationships).

  7. For some academics, the debate continues. For example, Turkle (2011) has recently argued that mediation of experience by technology is having a deleterious impact on interpersonal relationships.

  8. It is possible to have an account with more than one world, and to have more than one account with each world; hence 1.8 billion accounts is not equivalent to 1.8 billion individuals.

  9. Here, “persistent” refers to how virtual worlds are active 24 h per day, where any changes made to the environment cannot be undone and where events occur even when the individual is not present (Castronova and Falk 2009). This compares to a conventional video game, which is only active when the user runs the gaming programme, and where changes may be undone, or the game restarted.

  10. While some online fora allow participation as a “guest” or a new username with every use, the premise of Social Networking Sites is that participants submit authentic names and information, although there is no verification of the information they supply.

  11. E.g. CAVEs.

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    Simon Evans

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Evans, S. Virtual Selves, Real Relationships: An Exploration of the Context and Role for Social Interactions in the Emergence of Self in Virtual Environments. Integr. psych. behav. 46, 512–528 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-012-9215-x

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