Virtual worlds can foster meaningful relationships and communities despite the lack of physical interaction. They operate through similar social principles to offline communities, with people making friends, offering support, and bonding over shared interests. Trust is especially important in virtual worlds, as interactions are based on building reputation over time through consistent behavior.

1. T he Social Life of Virtual Worlds Aleks Krotoski Brighton Girl Geek Dinner Twenty-Fourth April Two Thousand Seven

5. Two thousand US Dollars

7. Gross Domestic Product

13. So how can the interactions in cyberspace be meaningful ? In traditional definitions of “community”, there’d be no such thing in cyberspace How can you develop meaningful relationships with people you’ve never met ?

14. It’s been happening for years These virtual worlds are the places which the online communities are tied to

16. Places of collaboration ? Neualtenburg: an experiment in collective democracy

17. Places of friendship ?

18. Anonymity becomes Pseudonymity

20. Virtual worlds are designed for sociability people must rely upon one another to survive and advance Whatever role trust plays in offline communities, it plays in online communities because these interactions are human-bound

22. Who Plays? Men: Eighty per cent in Fantasy titles Twenty to twenty-Eight years old 25) Students or tech-heads

23. Who plays? Women Twenty percent of Fantasy-based games Sixty percent of The Sims Online Thirty to thirty-five years old * In a Relationship* Seventy percent play with partner* New mums

26. Virtual communities operate in very similar ways to other communities – both on and offline They bring together distributed individuals based on common experience, motivations and reputation This is particularly true for virtual world participants because of the explicit social design of the software Trust varies according to communication medium Trust is paramount Don’t jeopardise that trust.

27. Aleks Krotoski www.toastkid.com