Virtual Community Observation Paper Examples

In my paper, I decided to observe the online community called IMVU. I saturated myself into this virtual community because I found it to be one of the most unusual communities and unlike anything I have or would do. Throughout this study, I decided to use both a naturalistic and participation observation method. I went to various realistic chat rooms where I listened in on conversations as well as tried to communicate with willing individuals. Through these conversations, I came to the realization of the human desire to manage and create unrealistically simplistic relationships. People used their time and energy to edit and modify their own avatar image; one that was make shifted from only pieces of who they truly were. This online virtual reality gave people …show more content…
I asked which one they each preferred they both agreed that real life relationships are great but they come with a lot of work that’s why they both preferred and decided to create a relationship online. Unlike the previous couple, I spoke to a couple that took the steps to actual meet in person. One of them said, “seeing each other once was important to us, but other than that we are satisfied with talking to each other online…. we like not having to constantly deal with the issues that come up in face to face relationships”. When describing these “issues” they mostly meant the daily toll of having to mesh your life around your partners. They found that having a relationship online gave them all the positives about a person but left all the negative traits of themselves in the real world. I asked this same couple if they felt that they could be their whole true self with one another. One expressed that they felt they were their full self but, the other was hesitant to say their full self. When explaining, they said they do things online that they would not do in real