Joey-Lee.net

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://jvwresearch.org) is soliciting “think pieces” in response to the following questions:
“In thinking about the spaces of virtual worlds, and the practices we witness within them, how can we define what counts as culture? Can we see any common cultural trends emerging in different virtual worlds, or are practices as disparate [...]

A recent Time Magazine article reports the work of Jeremy Bailenson and Nick Yee, both at Stanford University.  It’s a pretty interesting piece that discusses the implications of what Nick Yee elsewhere termed the “Proteus Effect” — that is, how avatars (qualities acquired online and conforming to expected behaviors of the avatar) can change how people [...]