The document discusses the immersive experience of users in virtual worlds like Norrath as well as the sociocultural implications of such environments. It emphasizes how these digital spaces serve as significant places of residence and interaction, blurring the lines between virtual and real life. Various perspectives and quotes highlight the complexity of inhabiting and experiencing these virtual realities.

1. Jean-­‐François
LUCAS
Aka
Gehan
Kamachi
PhD
candidate
in
Sociology
Anthropology
and
Sociology
Lab
(LAS
-­‐
EA
2241)
European
University
of
BriCany
Rennes
-­‐
France
VisiGng
Graduate
CRCA
-­‐
University
of
California,
San
Diego

4. 1
-­‐
A
large
numbers
would
spend
all
of
their
Gme
there
if
they
could.
Conclusion
:
the
results
show
that
a
significant
number
of
people
think
of
Norrath
as
their
main
place
of
residence.
2
-­‐
They
treat
the
game
world
as
their
life
world.
Moreover,
a
clear
majority
wishes
to
spend
more
Gme
in
Norrath
than
is
now
possible.
Conclusion
:
roughly
speaking,
we
can
characterize
about
one-­‐fiVh
of
Norrath’s
users
as
more
or
less
fully
immersed

5. “The
word
'users'
doesn't
do
a
very
good
job
of
describing
the
two-­‐way
nature
of
Second
Life,
where
the
people
involved
are
providing
content
and
contribu=ng
to
the
experience.
We
also
thought
about
'members'
(boring!),
'ci=zens'
(too
poli=cal!),
and
'players'
(too
game-­‐y).
'Residents',
however,
seems
most
descrip=ve
of
people
who
have
a
stake
in
the
world
and
how
it
grows.”
Robin
Linden,
07/31/2006

7. Internet
based
virtual
worlds
are
persistent
mulG-­‐user
digital
environments,
in
which
a
person
can
interact
with
it
as
well
as
people
through
an
avatar.
They
authorize
synchronous
and
non-­‐synchronous
communicaGons.
Finally,
parGcularly
for
the
city,
an
explicit
3D
representaGon
of
space
is
an
essenGally
quality
of
the
virtual
worlds
(Bourassa,
Edwards,
2007)

9. “We
should
therefore
have
to
say
how
we
inhabit
our
vital
space,
in
accord
with
all
the
dialec=cs
of
life,
how
we
take
root,
day
aHer
day,
in
a
“corner
of
the
world
[..]
For
our
house
is
our
corner
of
the
world.
As
has
oHen
been
said,
it
is
our
first
universe,
a
real
cosmos
in
every
sense
of
the
word”.
(Bachelard,
The
PoeGcs
of
space,
ediGon
1994
by
John
R.SGlgoe,
p.4).

10. “The
term
Virtual
Paris
doesn't
refer
to
the
downloading
from
the
Web,
the
complete
disembodiment,
ul=mate
moderniza=on
or
final
connec=on
that
is
the
stuff
of
hackers'
dreams;
on
the
contrary,
it
means
a
return
to
incarna=on,
to
virtuali=es.
Yes,
the
power
is
invisible,
but
like
the
virtual,
like
the
plasma,
like
the
perpetual
transforma=ons
of
the
Pont-­‐Neuf.
”
“So
the
word
"virtual"
does
not
necessarily
refer
to
a
world
of
spirits
freed
from
the
constraints
of
maWer.
At
this
stage,
life
on
the
Web
seems
more
like
the
Neolithic
in
which
Lute=a
was
founded.
Social
life
seems
to
be
back
to
square
one:
rough
bodies,
frustrated
feelings,
fledgling
languages,
barely
polished
"ne=queWe",
simplis=c
technologies,
fluctua=ng
currencies.
These
elementary
social
atoms
groping
for
one
another
in
the
dark
seem
more
like
the
primi=ve
beings
peopling
the
opening
of
Rousseau’s
Discourse
on
the
Origins
of
Inequality.
If
one
word
could
express
this
slowness,
this
thickening,
this
archaism,
it
would
be
"material"
rather
than
virtual.
”
Paris:
Invisible
City
Bruno
Latour
&
Emilie
Hermant
Translated
from
the
French
by
Liz
Carey-­‐Libbrecht,
2006

11. Second
Life
Twinity
Virtual
Philadelphia
Ⓒ
AngryBeth
-­‐
Flickr
Ⓒ
Digital
Urban
Ⓒ
Thereaver
Barrymore
-­‐
Flickr

12. Sefngs
:
High
Sefngs
:
Middle

13. Video
:
hCp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=r1xdQxsEKe0&feature=player_embedded

16. Dublin
in
SL
London
UK

17. Paris
Bourbon
islands

18. “Yes,
there
is
a
common
world,
full
and
whole
existences,
civilizaGons,
but
we
have
to
agree
to
study
how
totaliGes
are
summed
up
in
narrow
temporary
places
where
they
paint
their
pictures;
and
then
follow
them
in
the
worlds
they
perform
–
streets,
corridors,
squares,
words,
clichés,
common
places,
standards
–;
and,
finally,
we
have
to
agree
to
explore
how
these
scaCered
totaliGes
provide
beings,
themselves
mulGple
and
variable,
with
ways
to
gather
themselves
as
coherent
wholes.
AVer
learning
how
to
wander
along
these
traces,
to
proporGon
relaGons
without
ever
going
through
the
myth
of
Society,
aVer
learning
how
interpretaGons
are
formaCed,
we
can
now
go
a
liCle
further
and
try
to
understand
how
this
social
theory
can
empower.
It
really
is
Gme
to
virtualize
Paris,
to
increase
its
temperature.
”
Paris:
Invisible
City
Bruno
Latour
&
Emilie
Hermant
Translated
from
the
French
by
Liz
Carey-­‐Libbrecht,
2006

19. «
The
quesGon
of
the
habitat
is
fundamentally
a
maCer
of
pracGce,
associated
with
representaGons,
values,
symbols,
imaginary
which
refer
to
geographic
locaGons
»
(Stock,
2004).

20. 3
pm
–
during
the
last
7
days
8
pm
–
during
the
last
7
days

21. 02/01/2011

25. A
world
like
Second
Life
is
a
world
with
blanks
:
in
Gme
and
space.
While
we
offer
representaGons
of
the
world
ever
more
comprehensive,
"total",
worlds
like
Second
Life
allows
us
to
think
"blanks",
and
it
is
the
cogniGve
and
creaGve
acGvity
of
the
Lector
(Umberto
Eco)
who
finds
his
place.