After reading Steinkuehler's article, it was obvious that him and Vonnegut have different ideas of what a community is or can be. Vonnegut, firm in his belief, said that a community could only be defined as a physical space. As he put, "Electronic communities build nothing." On the other hand, there was Steinkuehler's article, and she believes in something completely opposite from Vonnegut. Steinkuehler believes that through massively multiplayer online games (MMO), a community can form.
Vonneguts article I think I would agree with more. Like Vonnegut, I believe communities must involve real life actions in a real life world. In his article he talked about going to the post office and buying a manilla envelope. Those are real life events with real life humans. Steinkuehler's article is about real people interacting in a virtual world. Sure, I think that could be considered a community just the same type of community Vonnegut talks about. As Steinkuehler put "Participation in such virtual "third places" appears particularly well
suited to the bridging social capital (putnam, 2000), social
relationships that, while not providing deep emotional support per se,
typically function to expose the individual to a diversity of
worldviews". I do agree with that, however, to compare this community to the one Vonnegut discusses, a physical place, they are not the same. I get that online you meet new people and connect but you do that in real life too and you actually get to interact with these people in person; It's more humanistic.
I am the same way. I would much rather interact with real humans in real time. There is something so much different about being able to see people's real emotions instead of hiding behind a screen. Family dinners, social events, and sports are all things that I love to do, and I just cannot see a way that any online virtual world would satisfy my need for those personal interactions. Vonnegut is a little extreme to one side because he seems to refuse and technological advance, whereas these gamers' whole worlds are virtual. My answer is finding a balance that is constantly adjusting to the two
ReplyDeleteRyan, I definitely agree with your blog post! Relationships formed in physical spaces are far more meaningful and they help define us as humans. When someone asks who your friends are, you aren't going to name people's code names from an MMO...you're going to name the people who you see in real life and share interests with. Though I don't think people should rely entirely on the virtual world for relationships, I think the internet world can enhance relationships. But overall I definitely agree that Vonnegut's view sounds more appealing and I would rather live in the real world than live in a virtual world.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely more on Vonnegut's side of the argument when it comes to interactions. I would much rather communicate with someone in person than over the phone or internet. I think this is becoming a huge problem with our society today. Many people do not know how to interact with others in person due to the fact that they are so involved with third space interactions. As a society we are becoming more defined by who we are online versus who we are in person. It is impossible to fully get to know someone without actually interacting with them in person.
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