Community, Frame of Reference, and Boundary: Three Sociological Concepts and their Relevance for Virtual Worlds Research

J. Patrick Williams Williams

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.5.2.01

Authors

J. Patrick Williams Williams Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.5.2.01

Keywords:

Massively-multiplayer online game (MMO), Online community, Straight edge, Subculture, Videogame, World of Warcraft

Abstract

Virtual-worlds research is a dynamic and growing interdisciplinary area in the social sciences and humanities. Sociological theory can play an important role in how virtual worlds are conceptualized and studied. Drawing on data from ethnographic projects on two distinct types of virtual worlds, an asynchronous text-based internet forum and a massively-multiplayer online game, I consider what social and cultural similarities these two types of virtual worlds have with one another, despite their radically different forms and functions. My comparative analysis is framed in terms of three questions. First, are virtual worlds temporary and/or intentional communities? Second, what are the frames of reference through which virtual-world communities are built? Third, how do boundaries function in virtual worlds? My discussion suggests some of the common social and cultural features of virtual worlds.

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Author Biography

J. Patrick Williams Williams, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

J. Patrick Williams is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He studies youth subcultures, digital media, and identity and has published research in those areas in Symbolic Interaction, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Deviant Behavior, and elsewhere. He has edited two books on gaming, Gaming as Culture: Essays in Social Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games (McFarland 2006) and The Players' Realm: Studies on the Culture of Video Games and Gaming (McFarland 2007), as well as a book on identity and authenticity, Authenticity in Self, Culture and Society (Ashgate 2009). He is currently writing a book on subcultural studies for Polity Press.

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