Living in virtual communities by Denise Carter. How real do you want your virtual reality?

In this article Carter sets out to make a surprising claim. Most of us would probably expect an article about online friendship to end with statements like "online friendships aren't real", "online friendships have no value" or even "online friendships are damaging". Denise Carter defies expectation by providing qualitative evidence of why an online friendship is in may ways the same as an offline friendship. Even though the context and environment are radically different, that does not mean that the essential building blocks of what constitutes friendship are any different. She even argues that the accelerated forming of bonds and intimacy might even give online friendships an advantage.

I do agree with Carter that online friendships are still very much real. A critic like Clark would claim that trust and commitment aren't necessary online. Only a false sense of intimacy. I stand with Carter in saying that this is not true. We are all social beings and our behaviour won't fundamentally change when the environment does. Sure, in some ways we'll adapt to this new environment, but the underlying desires, personal morals, ethical codes and behavioural patterns will remain intact.

However, something that Carter does not address is the possibility of other forms of bonding and emotional attachment that can exist in online environments being real (or at least perceived as being real). Very recently a friend of mine has voluntarily admitted himself into a 10 week internal treatment in a Belgian psychological institute. The reason for this, is his addiction to a video game. World of Warcraft to be exact.

Right before he would take off I had an elaborate phone call with this old friend, in which we discussed not only the reason behind his decision, but also the events that led up to this. He claimed that 'real life no longer seemed to give him a sense of purpose'. When I asked him where this view came from, he explained to me how important his enrollment in a guild had become to him in his daily life.

A Guild taking a group 'photograph'

Most of you reading this will by now probably be familiar with the premise and workings of World of Warcraft as a role-playing game. A guild within this game is actually much like a stonemasons guild or a writers guild from medieval times. Players join together under the name and logo of a guild, in which they cooperate to achieve shared goals and visions for the group. This involves taking guild missions, fighting or befriending other guilds and improving your rank on the global guild leaderboards.

This friend of mine always seemed to have an endless supply of motivation available to him. Whenever he set a goal for himself, he wouldn't back down until he succeeded. When he joined this guild, this was no different. He wanted to improve his ranking and reputation within the guild, and help the guild itself thrive and improve in the process, no matter what it took. This eventually led him to be so invested in the daily interactions with his fellow guild members that his online life started to take primacy over his offline life. And who can blame him? With 2 failed educations, he was now working as a farmhand for minimum wage with very little prospects of seeing his life improve significantly on short notice. But in this online world he was one of the few with a captain rank, in a guild containing over 200 members. He was respected for his dedication and praised for his achievements. He a major contributor to the guild's high ranking and was always the number one choice for taking along on a mission due to his skill and prowess.

This is not the end

It took a tremendous effort on his part to finally admit to himself that no matter how good this online life seemed, he would never be able to escape reality. I have personally witnessed how real emotions relating to an online existence can be. Many would claim that the problem lies with these emotions being fake. Hollow illusions created by desire and a need for escapism. That is not the case. The problem is that these emotions are very real. The internet, social media, virtual worlds and all the new ways of staying connected can be a tremendous addition to our lives. For some unfortunate people however, these can become a replacement to our lives.