Abstract
Online computer gaming is becoming an increasingly popular leisure activity as well as a growing context for social networking and social interaction in general. Drawing from a cyber-ethnography conducted in one such online game, I analyze the process by which the notion of victimization is socially constructed within the online gaming community. I contextualize this analysis within the framework of social construction theories, specifically addressing how internal and external norms, beliefs and values influence the assessment of the severity of virtual harm and the subsequent validity of victim claims. The reported findings suggest a distinction between virtual violence and theft within the context of the game; the latter being assessed as more harmful to the cohesiveness of the online community as well as the individual victim. Reasons for this distinction as well as a broader analysis of the interaction between online and offline culture is discussed.
Highlights
Losing any possession in game should have no meaning to you
Real people are doing real things to real people when they do them in game...The only difference is that when it’s done online, there’s more space between you and the person you’re speaking with. (Online gamer 2)
The data I draw upon is from an ethnography conducted in UO, wherein members may be deeply entrenched in game-specific subcultures and are invested in the “reality” of the game as a meaningful part of their lives
Summary
Losing any possession in game should have no meaning to you. The only thing that should be hurt when you lose in a game should be your pride that’s it. (Online gamer 1). The preceding quotes and their distinctly different perspectives reflect a discourse central to the social construction of cyber-victimization, within the context of the online game. In this inquiry I explore and seek to explain the nature of this discourse as it plays out in the form of a negotiated social construction process—a process emergent within one of the earliest graphical online role playing games, Ultima Online ( referred to as UO). UO is a pioneer of what is a market of many online virtual worlds that are becoming more immersive and encompassing a growing spectrum of opportunities to engage in mimicked “real” behavior In these virtual worlds the connection of a player with the virtual world is becoming more visceral, and exposure to virtual harm has the potential to become more real. The results of this analysis suggest that are there distinct instances of victimization occurring in the context of the online game, and that the members of the online gaming community serve as the primary agents by which these victimization experiences are defined as harmful, meaningful, or worthy of serious attention
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
