Participation Review

In my online excursion I discovered that thousands of people worldwide use virtual worlds as a means of meeting people. This class really encouraged me to experience something I would have never done on my own free time. In the beginning, I had the stereotype that only weird, creepy people use virtual worlds and I felt a little uncomfortable.

As I explored deeper into Habbo Hotel I learned that not everyone was creepy. There were a lot of people who just wanted to chat about everyday life but I got the impression that they did not know many people in real life who they could talk with. No matter what time I entered the hotel there were always over 5,000 people logged in from all over the world. It seemed that most people know each other, which was another reason why I felt uncomfortable.

From the four topics we discussed in class, identity, gender, race and sexuality I felt that many people in Habbo Hotel were interested in sexuality. The other three topics were still present in this virtual world. As I mention in earlier blogs it seems that everyone I met was interested in my age, race, gender and location. The question that I never got answered was, how do we know if people in virtual worlds are telling the truth about there identity? As for gender I only made friends with boys but notices a lot of women in the hotel. Maybe Habbo is a social networking site where you meet people to form relationship and only boys asked me to be friends because my avatar was a woman.

While in Habbo hotel I could not find any issues with race until I entered a user created room for Latinos. People in the room wanted to me change my race in order to stay. They would not accept me socially until I changed. I found this very weird and kind of disturbing that people in a virtual world still have issues with race and identity.

I also found it interesting that people used the computer screen as a place to hide behind. In my first experience with a virtual world, someone who friend requested me told me that there are no rules in a virtual world. They stated, “we can do whatever, say whatever and ask each other whatever without being embarrassed cuz we don’t know each other, that’s the beauty of Habbo.” I still wonder if people would say what they say in virtual worlds in real life.

Call me old fashion but I believe that virtual worlds such as Habbo Hotel are creating a false idea of communication between people. How well can you really know someone when you never meet him or her face to face? It is unnatural for people to invest so much time into a world that is not real. If people would spend that time working on their life in the real world maybe they would be better off. On the other hand some people say it is a safe place to express and experience life in a different way. For many people this might be true and I do not know their story so I do not judge them. From my own encounter in a virtual world life is about experiencing physical relationships. Getting to know someone’s inside and out means you pick up on their nonverbal and know more than just what their avatar looks like online. Overall I am very thankful I had the chance to participate in a virtual world and now have a better understanding of the pros and cons they provide for different people.