Consumption in Virtual World: identities, lifestyles

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Consumption in Virtual World identities,
lifestyles item trading
Sang-Min (Leo) Whang (Dept. of Psychology, Yonsei
University) swhang_at_yonsei.ac.kr
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Construction of Self in Cyberworld Avatar
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New Generation in ICT culture









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Youth crimes in CyberWorld

A teenager was arrested by the charge of theft
on communication, who has been accused to steal
items for on-line game, such as armors and
weapons. Police authority has applied a charge of
theft on communication to Mr. Song(19) who has
moved the digital images to his own account,
while he played the game on behalf of the owner.
The digital images Mr. Song has stolen were
considered to have a value equivalent to 300
(US). Initially, a detective in charge of the
case was really confused on what criminal charge
to file because the stolen items were virtual.
(August, 2001-2003. A typical newspaper article
on Cyber Youth Crime in Korea/ translated by Leo
Sang-Min Whang)
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Research Issues

• The nature of experiences in virtual world
• Could virtual experiences have meanings
  equivalent to those of real world?
• Do they contribute to form new personal
  identities? (Multiple identities)
• Different activities? (avatars, game addiction?)
• Different social relationships?
• The consumption of digital images
• From a consumer to a prosumer in digital age
• The nature and changes of human experiences

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Human beings in Virtual World

• Identity in Real World
• With a social role in a permanent fashion
• Multiple Identities in Cyber World
• Multiple Personalities?
• Psychosocial Moratorium
• Identity explorations
• An adaptive form of youth development in diverse
  cultures globalization
• Generational Conflicts
• The value of experiences in cyber space
• Waste of time or Diverse experiences?

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Lineage The Biggest MMORPG in Korea
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Emergence of New Society Lineage
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Wedding Ceremony
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Cyber Community Invades Real World

• Community for an individual, Individual for a
  community
• Integration of Cyber Real World

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Lineage World Characters
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Lineage Gamers





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Daily Usage
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Usage Pattern Home vs. Internet Cafe
HOME
Internt Cafe
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Change of gamers proportions
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Gender Proportions in Real Cyber World



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Gender Transformation by Character
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The Psychology of On-line Game

• Single Play Game Multi Play Game
  Online Game

User vs Program User vs User
User vs World
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Nine Dimensions of Virtual Lifestyles

• Social orientation
• Traditional norm orientation
• Out-law orientation (anti social behavior)
• Role play orientation
• Achievement orientation
• Materialism
• Hierarchical orientation
• Discriminatory attitude
• Individualism

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Korean Gamers Lifestyles in Lineage(by cluster
analysis)

Individual (28.2), Community (44.8), Off Real
World (27)
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Individual Gamers They play Lineage as a game.

• Seek individualistic freedom, not necessarily
  selfish
• Think on-line game a kind of video or console
  game
• They dont really appreciate the social networks
  in online game

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Community oriented gamers

• They follow the hierarchical order in a clan as
  well as have strong comradeship.
• Open minded and not discriminatory by gender and
  age
• Popular characters, such as lords (Politicians),
  knights in Lineage world
• A majority group in the game world (44.8)

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Off Real World Game Players Play game as a
part of their Real Life

• Manage to exercise every possible means to
  achieve personal success inside the game world
• Emphasize the values and materialistic
  acquisition in game world, and have a strong
  sense of vertical individualism.
• Have the propensity to adopt a value of
  relativism, believe it is all right to harm
  others in the game world

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What does it tell us?

• The social construction of virtual world
  experiences
• emergence of new online identities lifestyles
• different social values norms in virtual
  worlds by the context of real world
• Adaptive patterns for a new social environment
• The emergence of new values and behavior
  patterns
• Different perception on the virtual worlds
• Different virtual activities and communities

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Lifestyles in Game World

• Class identification by characters
• Emergence of New Roles Jobs in Game
• Hayshop Professional Magicians for their service
  
• Earth Vending Machine
• Workshop area for hunting parties and their
  activities
• Industries in Lineage World
• Hunting, Combats, Productions, Trading, Services
  

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Social Orientation

• behaviors and values related to other-oriented
  and pro-social activities
• It is important to me that players around me are
  also doing well.
• I feel good when players around me either gain a
  level or acquire a good item.
• I often chat with new players that meet in the
  game.

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Traditional Norm Orientation

• promotion to chivalry, honor and feudalistic
  order in the game world
• I always follow the decision made by my clan.
• Upon becoming the ruler of a castle, I plan to
  lower the tax rate and exercise my power in a
  just and noble manner.
• I feel good when someone I know becomes famous.
• It is frustrating to realize that the game I love
  is slowly degrading.

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Out-law orientation (anti social behavior)

• motivation and tendency of Anti-social, outlaw
  behavior
• If necessary, I consider stealing or swindling
  items to be acceptable.
• Its enjoyable to harass or bully inexperienced
  new players.

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Role Play Orientation

• emphasize the role play nature of virtual world
• If a player asks for my age or gender, my answer
  is usually based on the current character.
• Whenever there is an event or a castle siege
  going on, I always participate in order to get
  any spoils of war.
• To earn money, I am prepared to resort to
  activities such as begging.

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Achievement Orientation

• tendency of seeking personal accomplishment and
  success in the game world
• I feel a sense of pride developing my character
  to be stronger and more powerful.
• I believe a competition among players in a game
  is very natural and an integral part of it.

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Materialism

• measure up their sense of success by the levels
  in game or the collection of precious items
• Having a lot of game money is always a good
  thing.
• In the game, success eventually means either to
  attain a high social status or to become wealthy.
• I always pay special attention in game play to
  avoid situations leading to financial loss.

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Hierarchical orientation

• emphasize the following of rank and command such
  as the military or patriarchy
• Members of the clan should be willing to
  sacrifice themselves for cause of the clan.
• To sacrifice clan members for the leader is
  perfectly acceptable.
• To run a clan successfully, its vital to have a
  well-defined system of order and a strict chain
  of command.
• Whatever situation the clan is faced with, its
  members should always unite.

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Discriminatory attitude

• tendency to decide their conduct based on gender
  and age of other players
• When I come across a new player the first thing I
  inquire is their years of game experiences.
• When I meet a player in virtual world, I check
  his/her sexual real world gender.

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Individualism

• often choose to act alone and consider personal
  freedom in game world to be important
• Ive chosen not to join any clans.
• I have no interest as to which clans gain control
  of castles and come to power.

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Lifestyles in a game world by countries
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Emergence of wealth distribution (20 vs. 80
principle)
wealth
level
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What do they do in the game world?(except
hunting)
individual
individual
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Consumption of Digital Images
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Value of Digital Image
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chinese mmorpg trading platform
item bay and item star are best positioned in
korea and china respectively where the combined
trading volume will reach over 1.5 billion usd
by 2006
korean online games market total item-trade
transaction volume
chinese online games market total item-trade
transaction volume
million usd
million usd
440
1,040
430
1,010
320
690
310
520
270
400
190
220
320
230
120
110
2002
2003
2004
2001
2004
2005
2006
2003
market entry by first movers
itemBay
Source IDC 2004, Korean Game Development and
Promotion Institute, Internal data from Itembay,
Itemstar, and K2 Network
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Values honors for gamers
individual
individual
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Social Economic Status(measured by wealth in
game)
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Living in an artificial worldPsychology of
consuming digital images
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Conclusion

• Virtual Experiences are not virtual!
• Self expression (identity)/ group cohesion,
  community
• The virtual world itself create different game
  experiences among gamers.
• Nature of game experiences addiction
• The role of cultural context for the online
  virtual experiences
• Game addiction is another type of involvement
  which has multiple meanings for identities, group
  dynamics, and social relationships.