Virtual Community
A virtual community is a social network of a group people that shares some common values and a group of interacting people through some form of a virtual avatar.
Contents
Introduction
A community is defined as "a unified body of individuals: as the people with common interests living in a particular area, and an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location." according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. This definition of a community minus the notation about having a "common location" or "particular area" describes a virtual community. A virtual community is very much the same as a traditional community but instead of sharing a physical area, a virtual community can be linked through many different virtual avenues. Such avenues include Social Networks, Online Chat Rooms, Virtual Worlds, Online Gaming, etc.
Types of virtual communities
Online Gaming
Online gaming communities are popular and typically feature expansive online virtual communities. Interaction in online gaming environments takes place in virtual worlds and is limited by the design of the game's play mechanics. Various types of online game genres exist ranging from shooter to role-playing type games. Interaction inside of virtual worlds ranges by game type and design. Some games offer players more freedom to interact and form relationships with other players, while other games or more focused on completing objectives or winning a match. Players interact via an avatar which visually represents the user's character in the game. Avatars are given customization options that allow the player to portray themselves in-game as they see fit. There are often online forum communities that supplement in-game worlds, allowing players a further level of interaction with other players, developers and the game community as a whole.
MMORPGs
MMORPGs, short for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, are one of the most popular current online game genres. MMORPGs feature large sprawling virtual worlds, large populations of players and varying type of play mechanics. Although varying by game, the basic game-play of most MMORPGs involves creating a character, leveling up that character by completing objectives or tasks inside the game world, following the game's story line and interacting with other players within the game environment.
A list of current MMORPGs by popularity and playability.
| MMORPGs |
|---|
| World of Warcraft |
| Rift |
| Eve Online |
| Guild Wars |
| Darkfall |
| Aion |
| Lord of the Rings Online |
| Maple Story |
| City of Heroes |
| Champions Online |
| Dark Age of Camalot |
Online Chat Rooms
A virtual community can also consist of being an online chat room. An online chat room can be describe as any form of synchronous conferencing. The term can mean any technology ranging from real-time online chatting over instant messaging and online forums.
