Transformation of Social Relations Through Virtual Play
In the creation of online virtual worlds such as Second Life, new social possibilities emerge as users can represent themselves however they wish through their avatars, whereas in the real world, their physical appearances are largely fixed. Immaterial labor drives online virtual game worlds. Rather than existing simply as appendages to the virtual space, people invest in the game worlds through their techne: “a creative mediation between nature and humanity,” which induces the social (Guattari, 1995, 33). Kevin further discusses the concept of techne and its significance here. In Second Life, modding occurs not only when people reinvent the virtual space by adding or removing features or graphics, but also more interestingly when people play within the space by modding their avatars. Modding creates a social environment within a powerful social world in which users play and interact with each other. In Second Life, the social aspects that people show about themselves – such as their gender, sexuality, or race – through their avatars typically differ from those in real life. By modding their avatars, users fragment themselves, creating a highly social place of play in which their self-representations may not, and usually are not, who they truly are. Even so, their “virtual embodiment” may more accurately depict who they feel and think they are or wish to become (Boellstorff, 2008, 134). As Kayla discusses further here, avatars can allow individuals to express and discover who they truly believe themselves to be. Through these self-representations, people create social relations with other players, which can help them better understand their “self” in the real world.
In one case, a Second Life resident whose avatar was a “beautiful female” named Pavia was actually a man in real life (Boellstorff, 2008, 138). Through his avatar and the social relationships he formed online, the man realized he was transsexual. Although this aspect of his selfhood was formed in a simulated and “fake” space, it allowed him to better understand who he truly was in the real world. He discovered a whole new part of himself through Pavia that would have otherwise been unrecoverable in the repressive environments of real life. The social, as it manifests and transforms in a virtual space, can be meaningful and real, as it gives rise to real consequences in the actual world. For example, the social interactions and relationships that Pavia formed in Second Life will affect and transform interactions in real life. Through the mods that people make to online virtual worlds, social input is able to powerfully enliven the virtual space, facilitating social relations and thereby producing tangible effects in the real world.
Note: Social input into the technical machine, which creates the social machine, can also transform social relations through military incentives and the fleshy machine.
Citations:
Guattari, Félix. “Machinic heterogenesis.” In Chaosmosis: an aethico-aesthetic paradigm (1995): 33-57.
Boellstorff, Tom. Coming of Age in Second Life (2008).