Virtual Worlds and Futures of Anthropology
2014; Smithsonian Institution; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5479/10088/22437
ISSN2373-4000
Autores Tópico(s)Digital Games and Media
ResumofAKr^zoKorz6 AAlTi MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATION FOR EDUCATORS Volume 30 No. VIRTUAL WORLDS to Second Spring 2009 AND FUTURES OF AN by Welcome Tom Boellstorjf In graduate school Life I Sim City, discovered lation released in the late 1990s. Imagine yourself suddenly set down alone on a tropical beach close to an island you on a gorgeous blue sea lands and continents. you village. is Spread out before an archipelago of is- While the boat to this place sails away, you realize that has brought you are alone and no one in Thus began my two-year field study to help you. Second Life. could be experienced by text (and eventually In June join Second field computer. study by logging onto I Bukowski. 2 person ning vista of green cities, a 30tk avatars, each as having entered About a year later, just over at one 5 million each month, with, on average, over 50,000 residents logged in mtwersatp ticular small streets, moment. Second phenomenon, and virtual worlds much at any par- Life is there are larger not a many than Second Life (including those designed for children, humanlike this virtual on per month, and tens spending over 28 million hours inworld A a stun- final accounts were registered, with residents new world popu- by people appearing lated invited the public to by November 2007, when the over 10 million registered Second Life accounts, with over sandy beaches hills, and lands dotted with homes, even whole though voice). 2003 Linden Labs Life; time. my my named Tom What I found was same time, of thousands of persons inworld entered Second Life as an avatar, a virtual at the manuscript for my ethnography was submitted, there were to Indonesia, totaling almost three years new many people 1.5 million people logging began new technology people who could communicate with one another through Having made eight different trips I a that could generate a three-dimensional virtual world that of fieldwork, in June 2004 a popular simu- around this time, also computer engineers were pioneering have nothing to do but begin your ethnographic journey. You have no previous experience in conducting field- work in this environment; there is little to guide you and But like world games, like Club Penguin, and those designed as World of Warcraft). by logging on from an actual location around the globe. Since childhood, by technology. Born in I have always been fascinated am a member of the first generation in the United States for were a part of everyday as a voracious reader Inside: t life. I National an Anthropologist Study Virtual Worlds? whom video games was an avid player as well of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. After some preliminary searching among various worlds, I settled on Second Life for Museum of Natural History virtual my particular study. Obesity and Culture, Iraqi Ethnic Groups, Applied Readers, Discounted Text 3 Smithsonian How Can
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