Refusing to do Facebook this time and in an attempt to explore the Internet a bit more, I searched for a regulated site by typing “role-playing chat” in my Google toolbar (hoping that not many porn sites would come up too). Within the first couple of listed sites I found www.darknexxus.com, a cyberchatroom that encompasses a made-up world using avatars. At first, it was hard to discern this chat forum from a regular forum because everyone in the room seemed to be discussing normal topics; one in particular was Fight Club. However, a bit of searching through the site and asking a few of the people what this was all about quickly helped me find the Leviathan and the purpose of the site.
A Leviathan, as stated by Wallace, “simply might be a system of government that we empower to resolve disputes, justly we hope.” On this site, the Leviathan is stated clearly in the rules and standards. Essentially, it is comparable to a PG-13 movie rating. When you are in or out of the made-up character you must adhere to rules that don’t allow for vulgarity or sexual exploitation in anyway with some exceptions to words like “damn”, “hell” or “ass”. Monitored by site “administrators”( who could also be considered Leviathans), the players are allowed to create profiles that do not include sexual content. In most cases, a real-life picture and an “Anime” picture were set as a profile picture for a member of the forum. Each chat, I found, focused on a different type of made-up world or was just a normal chat with some regulations.
As mentioned before, one was what I though to be a Fight Club virtual lifestyle where each character played a role. Although Fight Club could certainly make a chat room more susceptible to vulgar content, I found that the members were conforming to the Leviathan’s set of standards and norms. Wallace says that conformity is “to a large extent the glue that keeps a group or even a whole society, together,” suggesting that conformity is a necessary.
Each person, in character, would act out a fight and out of character (OOC) would make reference to the movie--yes, these 13-year-old screen humpers are most likely poised a few inches from their computer screen, sporting an indoor-pale complexion with the vision of being some inked-up bad ass fighting in some alley behind an old crummy bar (sorry if this is you). Under the entirely random alias, “H (e) aven”, I tested the group’s cohesiveness and conformity by swearing a few times while I enacted a quick fight scene. Needless to say, I was quickly reproached or given the “arched brow” according to Wallace. Multiple group members asked me to not swear, or even told me that the rules were “no swearing”. One member, very hospitably, told me to “GET OUT”. Being faced with the labeling of a “nonconformist”, I apologized and explained that I was new. I noticed other unwritten Leviathans on the site as well. For example, almost anyone who left the room would not just leave but address everyone with some sort of “goodbye” whether it was in character (such as “Tyler Durden wins, I give up”) or out of character (“[Adelia] Night night, peeps.”) It was important to let people know when you are done playing the game.
The evidence of conformity supports the SIDE theory in all three categories discussed by Postmes, Spears, Sakhel and Groot. Because group identity was salient (social identity) and aesthetic anonymity (deindividuation) was also present, conformity, attraction to this particular chat forum, and social influence were prevalent. The fact that people conformed and aimed to stay in character to continue role-playing could support Postmes’ “efficiency priming” in the SIDE theory. In the Postmes et al., it asserts that the “results [of the study] indicate that anonymous group members conform to the standards set by a prime, whereas identifiable group members do not.” In my opinion, the norms that existed among role-players could also support the deindividuation aspect of the SIDE theory.
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4 comments:
Hey Brandon,
Interesting post, and I'm glad people are straying away from Facebook so that we would have some diversity in the posts. Anyway, my favorite part of this post was when you tested the group's cohesiveness. It's rather interesting how much these users stuck to the norms presented in the chat room even when administrators were not present (i presume). It shows that even though there wasn't much pressure for the users to conform, they chose to play by the rules and ostracize anyone who disobeyed. Your analysis relating your experience with the group salience and deindividuation were well formulated and were easy to follow. Thanks for the great post!
You dealt with some serious Hunters at Darknexxus.
Though the forums we entered shared no topical relevance, we both encountered similar facets of the Leviathan.
Hobbes’s Leviathan is depicted as a giant monarchical being, the sort of character that ruled over a country; the Leviathan we face in the forums/boards/chatrooms takes shape in as a very different character.
While an administrative team may write the rules for chatrooms and forums, these rules are written with the potential members' best interest in mind, and, consequently, these members often do the majority of the enforcement part.
When you curse in a no-vulgarity board, the rebuke you are likely to receive will come from the users, not the administrators, as the former has a strong incentive to maintain the image of the board (the image that initially attracted the users). The Leviathan is a simple moderator, a guide, that is kept intact by those whom it was created for.
Hey Brandon! That was really interesting. It's neat that you actually figured out what the leviathan was and then tested it to see what would happen if you violated the convention. So you basically conducted a mini-experiment. It's amazing how the leviathan can have such control over what people do and don't do even online where there is anonymity and distance.
I find this interesting because at that age I don't remember being able to find a chat room what was that agaisnt such small things as swearing. I especially don't remember the members following rules so well. I think it was a really creative idea you had about testing the leviathan and seeing what happened. Great job
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