Approximating it to the real

Whether the virtual world does (and should) simulate the real is a complex question, now ready to be relegated to the list of profound philosophical and unanswerable questions. By rephrasing this conundrum and narrowing its scope, one could ask how communities in the virtual world relate to those in the real one. For this one would begin to list the features of the real world communities and of the ones in the cyber world, thus enabling a transparent comparison.

Is the real world community an analyzable unit?

In attempting to list the features of the real world communities (barring organizations and instrumental communities) [link first article] it is observed that the communities in the real world are largely described only in negation. That is to say one can only understand the community in terms of what it is not. Thus the only thing that we can say concretely about a community is that it is difficult to understand it. A list of features of a community (say a group of friends) would follow a pattern like this:

• A single feature cannot identify the members of this community.


• There is no known reason for them to form a group


• There seems to be no apparent benefit that is accrued by being part of the community (other than pop-psychological reasons like need for other individuals etc)

How does the virtual perceive the real?

In designing virtual communities there is a blueprint of the real world communities, or at least an aspect of those communities. Connectivity is one of the most primary requirements of a community. Online communities are thus concentrating on finding ways in which members of that community can keep in touch with each other. The design protocols of online communities is thus to facilitate easier ways for people to get in touch with each other.

What bonds the virtual communities?

We have not been able to identify the bonds of the real world communities, however designer communities in the cyber world would have explicit and perceivable ties by which one would be able to identify them as communities. While one of the adhesives of a virtual community would be the nature of the information/field that brings the members of that community together, the other would be the identity of those members.
Information communities

A strong glue that keeps together various online communities, unlike real world communities, is a shared interest in the information that the community generates. Thus it is not uncommon to find online communities that talk of music, religion, pets, business, wars, etc. As long as the information shared and generated by this community is interesting and alive, the community continues to remain together.

Identities in the virtual world

The nature of virtual communities is such that one can speak of identities as being fluid, fraudulent or even therapeutic. Whether this affects, or shapes the online community in any substantive way is a question that the next article will deal with