Virtual Communities

A virtual community is a group of people communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically the Internet, rather than face to face. Virtual communities are also known as online communities or mediated communities.

The term virtual community is attributed to the book of the same title by Howard Rheingold in 1993. The book discussed a range of computer-mediated communication and social groups. The technologies included Usenet, MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon) and their derivatives MUSHes and MOOs, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), chat rooms and electronic mailing lists; the World Wide Web was not yet used by many people. He pointed out the potential benefits for personal psychological well-being, as well as for society at large, of belonging to such a group.

Today, virtual community can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members. An email distribution list may have hundreds of members and the communication which takes place may be merely informational (questions and answers are posted), but members may remain relative strangers and uninterested in each other and the membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.

The idea that media could generate a community is quite old. Progressive thinkers such as Charles Cooley, early in the 20th century in the United States, envisioned a nation whose members are united strongly because of the increased use of mass media. Also well-known is the term community without propinquity, coined by sociologist Melvin Webber in 1963.

The explosive diffusion of the Internet into some countries such as the United States was also accompanied by the proliferation of virtual communities. The nature of those communities and communications is rather diverse, and the benefits that Rheingold envisioned are not necessarily realized, or pursued, by many. At the same time, it is rather commonplace to see anecdotes of someone in need of special help or in search of a community benefitting from the use of the Internet.

Benchmark Virtual Communities

BBS: The WELL, GEnie
Blog: LiveJournal, Xanga
Habitat: LucasFilm's Habitat, VZones
IM: ICQ
IRC/EFNet
MMORPG: Everquest, Ultima Online
MOO: LambdaMOO
MUD/MUSH: Colossal Cave Adventure, TinyMUD
P2P: Kazaa, Morpheus, Napster
USENET
Wiki: Wikipedia, WikiWikiWeb
WWW: eBay, GeoCities, Slashdot

Additional Virtual Community Listings

Discussion boards

Electric Minds
GameFAQs
Something Awful
2channel

Art communities

DeviantART
Sheezyart
Elfwood

MUD, MUSH, MOO

GemStone ][ and GemStone III
Category:MU* servers
Category:MU* games

Other types

GameTZ.com (an online game, music, movie, and book trading community)
Meetup (an online service designed to facilitate real-world meetings of people involved in various virtual communities)
Hospitality Club (free accommodation world wide through hospitality exchange)
bianca

Virtual Community Pioneers and Experts

Jonathan Bishop
Howard Rheingold
Sherry Turkle

See Also

References and External Links

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