MAIN > SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVE > G. Dirk Mateer (Sep 18)

Tuesday 18th September 2007 10:00 am

G. Dirk Mateer: Beyond the Marketplace, Building the Virtual Social Contract

Economist G. Dirk Mateer asks whether the social contract in virtual worlds is particularly driven by legal and market forces.

As Connie Flanagan discussed in her previous post, our research team is interested in exploring what kind of ‘social contract’ evolves in virtual communities such as Second Life, if any. 

Flanagan writes: “So far the ‘rules of the game’ in SL are defined by the rules of a free market and the ‘Big Six’ community standards.  These six principles ... seem like a good set to insure basic civility, free expression, and individual privacy.  But is that enough to form a community?  Beyond a marketplace, what is it people are building together?”

For instance, virtual communities come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Among pre-teens, Club Penguin offers a simple interactive mechanism to engage children. As participants age, Teen SL bridges the gap between the full blown SL experience and simpler virtual worlds.  As a result, Teen SL has a more sophisticated set of rules of engagement. The rules, or the social contract, become ever more complex as one enters SL. What drives the evolution of the social contract? Are market forces the driver here? Or are legal issues the driver?

To me, one of the best ways to tackle this issue is to construct a chronology of important markers, or changes, in the social contract and examine how real events in SL (and other virtual worlds) cause the participants, creators, and other stakeholders to amend the rules of the game.

I have worked some with flash animations (but I am not a techie) to teach large classes here at Penn State. Therefore, the idea that participants can create virtual goods and services in SL strike me as a very powerful vehicle for growth and development. How are these new technologies regulated and who profits from them?

Editor’s note: G. Dirk Mateer is a member of Connie Flanagan’s research team “Exploring the Social Contract in Virtual Worlds.” See post.

Category: Civic-Engagement

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