Unit 7 Online Culture

In any community there is culture. There has been culture in neighborhoods, clubs, committees, states, countries, etc… An online community is not any different from these traditional places where culture forms. Throughout the history of time people have been developing traditions, cultures, values, etc…through how they interact with people and where they grew up. For example in any local town there are certain traditions; whether it be having the annual 4th of July fair or the local holiday drive to raise awareness about kids in need. The same goes for places like Rutgers University; for example on third down at a football game you do the third down hand motion these are all traditional and cultural things in the offline community. The examples given are very different however they have one thing in common and that is that the people within these communities are bound by the same admiration for that community or are in the same social system usually. This is not any different in online communities. Yes, there is no physical contact, but if you play a game long enough with a group of people you will develop traditions and traits that are unique to that group or community; for example in the Sydell article ““virtual” virus sheds light on real world behavior” the players in  World of Warcraft were dying due to this virtual virus which was really a glitch in the system. This created an epidemic according to the article, “[B]ecause of the emotional connection game players have to their characters it can come pretty close. She says peoples' reactions to the plague in World of Warcraft were remarkably realistic.” (Sydell 2005). This shows the culture or community of values that this World of Warcraft community shares. The connection they formed is that the players all worked very hard to craft these characters, grind up to the highest level, and get the best gear. Now when the plague rolls around and characters are dying, yes it is just a game however the dreaded repair bill gets racked up especially if you keep dying. This creates the emotional connection within the community to share this value that “hey we have pride in these characters and we do not want to see them go down like this”. This creates the same type of connection and community might have when feeling prideful about a big win their team just had or the local holiday pageant a local town might have. In my opinion no matter where you are you can create a sense of community and shared values even in an online community.