Networked Imagination
For discussion:
Excerpt from Thomas & Brown, Virtuali Worlds - page 8
http://www.johnseelybrown.com/needvirtualworlds.pdf
"When someone enters a virtual world, they enter a space which is more supplemental in nature than binary. In other words, virtual worlds provide the opportunity for participants to be both/and: both inside and outside, both player and avatari, both character and person.
Thinking beyond such constructions however, forces us to examine the mechanism by which these worlds function. Because they are persistent (the worlds continue even after a player logs off) and because they are logically consistent (every world has its own rules to follow), these worlds take on a character of their own. The primary motor that drives virtual worlds, however, is
not the rules, codei, or graphics, or even the players themselves. It is the imagined reality, which is partially shared and partially unique, that is constructed among the players that gives the space its power.
What participants construct is based on the principle of a networked imagination:
the rules, structures, and persistence of a networki, which forms the stability of the connections among people and the freedom and agency of imagination, which allows not only invention, identity play, and experimentation, but also the shared sense of co-presence required to engage with the virtual world as a shared cultural and social space."
