Final Summary

The world of Cityville was quite a very interesting journey. During my journey through this world I worked my way up to almost the the pinnacle of city building. I made new friends from countries ranging from France all the way to China. I am very proud of the final outcome of my city. The vast amount of buildings and structures that I acquired were top rate. I learned that online interactions can be very random. The most memorable I would have to say was when a fellow gamer named Maxiell who was a French man first came across my city. He showed me all the strings in this virtual world. Virtual worlds are becoming more and more profitable though and creators are becoming more and more aware of this. They have found ways to implement ways to advance your ways through these worlds by paying actual real life money in exchange for experience points and other things that are exclusive to those who pay. Well Maxiell told me of a way to advance your way through the game without having to pay all the time. He said all I had to do was send him my credit card information and he would be able to unlock all the content with just one straight payment of fifteen dollars. So I told him I would get back with him the next day. So the next day when I log in his account is deleted. The creators of Cityville creators then send out a message shortly there after elaborating on a scheme that gamers were trying that sounded very similar to what Maxiell was trying with me. I was very happy because I felt like I had dodged a bullet in a way. But at the same time I didn't because I really didn't have any intentions on giving him any money. My mother taught me much better than that. The virtual world assignment was a very enlightening experience. I must say I did enjoy myself to a certain degree.

Sexuality

The component of sexuality wasn’t as strong in my virtual world as I would have liked for this post. Many people in this world are goal and task oriented and the need for social stimulus and personal communication isn’t as high. Well I would say that communication was at a decent level but the realm of talking about personal preferences and sexual matters weren’t as evident. Some people would be outright hardcore about their sexuality from the jump though. I actually came in contact with a hardcore lesbian who would only accept women as her friends. I tried to send her an invite and she had some harsh words for me to say the least. She explained that she was not interested in any male genitals and did not want to have anything to do with any male player in the Cityville realm. She was outright and extreme about her love for women and women only. I had to respect it because I feel the same, but did not deny request from male players because I felt that the game was more based off of advancing your city by any means necessary which basically means make as many friends as possible. Also I came across a female gamer who was very interested in getting to know me better. She actually lived in Lima, OH, so I entertained the conversation. She often times sent me request for gifts and help in expanding her city. I was always one of the first to help her out because she was one of the few gamers that was willing to send me pretty much any item I needed for my city. She was the exact opposite from the lesbian gamer. She was much friendlier to males.

Question:
Did you come across any gamers in your virtual world that had sexual views that strayed from the norm?

Race Card

In the world of Cityville the factor of race is quite evident because of its vast popularity throughout the world. Cityville is played by people in other countries so therefore it is easier to distinguish between race and culture just by their language regardless of what their character in the virtual realm looks like. I myself made my character a white American and I somewhat wonder what it would have been like if I had made my character from Spain or Lebanon. I feel like in any virtual world people will always feel much safer in it than in the real world so therefore they feel like they can voice their true honest opinions on how they feel about other races. Some people in these worlds can be outright outspoken about their dislike for other races. This always sours the online experience because we have came along in our society to make our differences a non factor in harmonizing with one another. I recently logged onto the game and came across a very hateful message myself. I had been off of the game for like a week because I was out of town for a funeral. I log back in and I have over one hundred request for invites and gifts from other friends who are players on the game. One guy had sent me over twenty requests by himself. He was from France and seemed to take the game very seriously. He thought it was right to call me a lazy American because of my lack of responding right back to his request. I found it quite entertaining and wanted to know what else people from other countries would say to stereotype our lifestyle. For the most part I have learned that those in other countries are not too fond of the US, which really isn’t a surprise to me because many Americans seem to have a superiority complex and believe that are lifestyle should be the standard set for everyone. Race is often times linked to history and past occurrences. So I could see why people often times would say things about other races that probably don’t pertain to that certain person that they are addressing but they have already established this as their belied from past occurrences and experiences I noticed that many gamers from the other countries only went about playing with others from their own country. I prided myself by playing with players from as many different representing countries as I could. Cityville is a very interactive game because your whole livelihood in it comes from your interaction with others. So the more people you know and are friends with on there the more your likelihood for success is.

Question:
Was race a large factor in your virtual world? Did you have any interaction from players in other countries?