In the virtual world Cityville, gender is indeed a factor that comes into play. When I first logged on to the game I could notice it of the bat. Women’s cities were often times “pretty” as people would say. I felt this way because they were nicely decorated with flowers and trees and any ornamental structure that helped with appearance. The cities were nicely organized and it seemed as if they put hours and hours of work to keep it this way. The Cityville game charges different amounts of experience points to get these decorations and some of them are very expensive in an experience point’s point of view. You can get all types of items with these experience points. You can buy new buildings, animals, energy, and even snow flakes to come down from the sky. Many of the female gamers I came into interaction with were very polite and helpful. I had logged on around 8 AM on February 3rd and met a girl named Maria from Spain. Her city was very nice and put mine to shame I must admit. She had been on the game much longer than me to my defense. She was very talkative and wanted to know how the weather was here in the states and things of that nature. We got to the subject of relationships and she said her and her boyfriend had just broken up. I had then asked her about Valentines Day and what she was going to do. Apparently in Spain Valentines Day is a very big event. They have festivals and carnivals that come second to none in her opinion. I found this interesting but then squashed the conversation dead when I said that Valentines Day because it finds a way to make me feel awkward and has done so ever since I was a young buck. Later on I met a man named Maximus from France. He seemed to speak English somewhat properly but I could tell from his sentence structure he did not know it all the way. His city was set up more to be an efficient business machine. He had fast food restaurants, apartment complexes, and even toy stores scattered all over. He even started his own burger joint in my city and frequents it very often to supply it with goods so it can function to its fullest potential. I noticed that many male gamers would come in and assist my city growth. They often times watered plants, chopped down trees, help construct buildings, supply my businesses with tourist, or even collect money from residents in the city.
Would you make yourself highly accessible in a virtual world?
Hey Reuben, I wanted to comment on your blog about "gender" and the online experience I had during my experiments in my virtual world of Habbo Hotel. The experience you had in Cityville is similar to what I experienced with my female avatar “Isabel” when I interacted with others. I noticed gamers in these virtual worlds were more open and friendly to a female “Habbo” and had friend requested me more often when I played as one than when I played as a male avatar. I also noticed females where more helpful, talkative, and showed a higher interest in other gamers for relationships, regardless of their sexual undertones or desires for these interactions to them.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, since I decided to change my avatar to the opposite gender of what I am in the real world, I feel I got a better understanding of how interactions and communication behaviors differ between genders. In most conversations with others, I usually didn’t reveal too much of my personal information or my relationships in the real world, but would “play” along as you did in some circumstances, to help me understand why some people/gamers make themselves as accessible and vulnerable as they do online in these virtual worlds. The only conclusion I could see this was because of the ideology, acceptable behaviors, and social understanding we’ve created for the role of gender to play in relationships has defined by culture and experiences in the real world, which then has been transcended into virtual worlds like Habbo Hotel and Cityville for gamers to follow and interact with others online.
Hey Reuben,
ReplyDeleteI don't believe I would make myself "highly accessible" in a virtual world. My virtual world, the World of Warcraft didn't really have options to make characters fat or ugly. Although certain races such as dwarves and trolls are ugly to begin with. My avatar was a male human and I didn't come across any sexuality, really... The females of races like elves or humans did seem to gain a lot of attentions in highly populated areas. A lot of the chatting that goes on is private and seldom do players "speak" outloud for others to view. The whole online world thing is a bit weird to me, and I do not understand the appeal of making attractive digital avatars. Seems like a waste of my time.