The intelligence of environments 161
clothes or bodily extensions (“attachments”) or even entire bodies for avatars,
from “prims” or “primitives”, that is from basic computer-generated shapes and
textures. These structures can be placed on land purchased or rented by the user,
or they can be bought and sold between users with in-world currency, which is
converted to and from real-world currency. This sort of activity is constitutive to
SL because all in-world objects and structures are user generated. The same partly
holds on the behavioural level, where there is a possibility for scripting bodily
movements, expressions, poses and gestures for one’s own or other avatars’ use
that are more diversified and refined than the default settings.
Access to that virtual space is granted by registering as a “resident”, which
does not necessitate the acquisition of virtual land. However, not only is the entire
visual appearance of SL besides being a navigable space user-crated, but all realworld economic revenue for SL is generated by those users who engage in building, scripting, and then buying and selling digital items. Within this framework,
and depending on users’ interests, areas are designated to certain themes, from
being a virtual university to being a virtual shopping mall or nightclub, or to certain theme-oriented role-playing games. By such means, well-defined places are
created within the digitally simulated space. Unless restricted by membership or
by age constraints for the use of “adult” content, residents are free to move to any
kind of place and to engage in any kind of activity appropriate to the respective
place. Only at this stage, under such locally bounded conditions, place-specific
rules can be imposed and, sometimes automatically, enforced by a place’s owners.
Such rules are usually explicitly communicated to the resident entering the respective place. For example ‘physical’ attacks, that is scripted behaviours targeted at
another avatar’s integrity, are forbidden in most places, but are a core practice in
places dedicated to fighting games. This specificity of SL serves to distinguish it
from online role-playing games that are, ab initio and globally, dedicated to one
certain set of rule-sanctioned roles and activities.
Attempts have been made to classify SL residents by their type of engagement,
but not without difficulty (Bartle 2003). However one may choose to subsume
residents under certain types, one very basic distinction seems to be possible:
there is an apparent difference between role-players, who predominantly move
within spaces dedicated to the game of their choice and who are careful to play
and remain within the character assigned to them, and a more amorphous and
casual set of residents who assume a variety of identities under a variety of conditions, and who do not always distinguish between SL and RL to the same degree.
In the context of a role-play, any remarks that are “out of character” must be indicated as such, and sparingly used (see Sixma 2009 for an instructive example). In
the wider context of SL, roles are either not defined or vary from place to place,
allowing for a significant amount of communicative confusion – which may actually be part of the fun to some players.
However, even under the role-playing paradigm, a number of common interactive oddities requires residents to step out of their role, for example when having
to ask for help or when offering advice to fellow residents who do not know how
to use a certain script. Thus, the resource of interaction becomes the topic of
clothes or bodily extensions (“attachments”) or even entire bodies for avatars,
from “prims” or “primitives”, that is from basic computer-generated shapes and
textures. These structures can be placed on land purchased or rented by the user,
or they can be bought and sold between users with in-world currency, which is
converted to and from real-world currency. This sort of activity is constitutive to
SL because all in-world objects and structures are user generated. The same partly
holds on the behavioural level, where there is a possibility for scripting bodily
movements, expressions, poses and gestures for one’s own or other avatars’ use
that are more diversified and refined than the default settings.
Access to that virtual space is granted by registering as a “resident”, which
does not necessitate the acquisition of virtual land. However, not only is the entire
visual appearance of SL besides being a navigable space user-crated, but all realworld economic revenue for SL is generated by those users who engage in building, scripting, and then buying and selling digital items. Within this framework,
and depending on users’ interests, areas are designated to certain themes, from
being a virtual university to being a virtual shopping mall or nightclub, or to certain theme-oriented role-playing games. By such means, well-defined places are
created within the digitally simulated space. Unless restricted by membership or
by age constraints for the use of “adult” content, residents are free to move to any
kind of place and to engage in any kind of activity appropriate to the respective
place. Only at this stage, under such locally bounded conditions, place-specific
rules can be imposed and, sometimes automatically, enforced by a place’s owners.
Such rules are usually explicitly communicated to the resident entering the respective place. For example ‘physical’ attacks, that is scripted behaviours targeted at
another avatar’s integrity, are forbidden in most places, but are a core practice in
places dedicated to fighting games. This specificity of SL serves to distinguish it
from online role-playing games that are, ab initio and globally, dedicated to one
certain set of rule-sanctioned roles and activities.
Attempts have been made to classify SL residents by their type of engagement,
but not without difficulty (Bartle 2003). However one may choose to subsume
residents under certain types, one very basic distinction seems to be possible:
there is an apparent difference between role-players, who predominantly move
within spaces dedicated to the game of their choice and who are careful to play
and remain within the character assigned to them, and a more amorphous and
casual set of residents who assume a variety of identities under a variety of conditions, and who do not always distinguish between SL and RL to the same degree.
In the context of a role-play, any remarks that are “out of character” must be indicated as such, and sparingly used (see Sixma 2009 for an instructive example). In
the wider context of SL, roles are either not defined or vary from place to place,
allowing for a significant amount of communicative confusion – which may actually be part of the fun to some players.
However, even under the role-playing paradigm, a number of common interactive oddities requires residents to step out of their role, for example when having
to ask for help or when offering advice to fellow residents who do not know how
to use a certain script. Thus, the resource of interaction becomes the topic of