davidjang said, 12/01/2005:

I agree with the chapter captain that the AOL and Counsel Connect examples could benefit from updating. Friendster, The Sims, Wikipedia etc. are all good candidates for inclusion. The session of Prof. Lessig’s class corresponding to this chapter dwelled mostly on network games—e.g. we read Lastowka & Hunter’s article “The Law of Virtual Worlds”. Lastowka & Hunter apply some fascinating analysis to how law might evolve in virtual (gaming) communities. However, the advantage of examples such as Friendster is that they would connect more readily to the experience of mainstream readers. Even Lastowka & Hunter expend a lot of energy convincing their readers that online game worlds attract enough participants to matter. It’s not such a chore to convince people that social networking apps are relevant—a wider range of people have participated on sites like Friendster, MySpace or Facebook than play Warcraft (I don’t have stats to back this up—perhaps somebody can prove me wrong?).

The strength of using an online game as an example of a virtual community is that it is far more immersive. Among other things, it projects a representation of the user into a three-dimensional virtual space and even offers opportunities for commodification of game elements. These elements are missing from the relatively flat spaces offered by Friendster or MySpace. Well, what if Friendster allowed you to create a three-dimensional, graphical lounge space for your online associates to visit? What if you occupied that space as an avatar, represented by a cartoon figure of your choosing? What if you could deck out your lounge with furniture, art, and even music? What if, in short, Friendster incorporated the immersive elements of the original MUDs and MOOs into a cute, user-friendly environment tailored for a generation of computer users raised on GUIs? Now add to this environment a market for virtual items such as wall hangings or the latest pop tunes for your virtual pad. The items would reside in your online lounge, but you would pay real-world money to acquire them. The motivation for you would be to create the coolest lounge possible, attract the most visitors and make the most friends.

If you happen to read Korean, Japanese or Chinese, you can already visit such a virtual community at Cyworld (www.cyworld.com). Read more about the site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyworld and at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b3952405.htm

There is a similar English-language site at www.nettiez.com, though Cyworld seems to be the most established, most popular and most commercially viable example of this type of online community. Apparently, an English-language version of Cyworld is in the works.

Cyworld is a South Korean creation, and it reminds me that if you want to find examples of online communities bleeding into real space and raising all sorts of regulatory issues, South Korea is the place to look. From PC Bans (internet cafes with the emphasis on internet) to professional online gaming tournaments, South Koreans have been as aggressive in embracing cyberspaces as Japanese youth in pioneering all sorts of wireless applications.

rbooton said, 02/02/2006:

Though this chapter presents virtual communities as if they were something that most people might be unfamiliar with, there might be types of virutual communities that people are very familiar with and and interact with every day.  

Aren't a company's network infrastructure a type of virtual community?  They certainly are a group of people electronically connected together, who can be governed by the rules set in place by the particular code implemented at an organization. 

In most organizations, information security personnel and management decide upon the behavior that is acceptable on a business's network.  Then these rules are partially enforced by computer network administrators through code.  Code is used to determine what files people are allowed to access and modify, what programs they can run, whether or not they can install software, whether or not they can access the Internet, the amount of disk space they can use, the time of day employees can log in, the list goes on and on.  Code can also regulates the types of communication between employees and those outside of the company, via firewall rules. 

Online Banking is another type of virtual community.  This is one that soon will be changing, due to the recent requirements of the FFIEC and the FDIC, requiring banks and other financial institutions to assess the need for stronger authentication techniques, such as two-factor authentication, for online financial transactions.  This example shows how the U.S. government is beginning to use code to regulate.  In this example, though the particular types of authentication techniques are not set in stone, the requirement to use strong authentication methods, when appropriate, forces financial institutions into choosing their own regulatory code.  This in turn, regulates the behavior of the public.  People who formerly could "phish" account information from banking customers will not have the same opportunities.

- Ryan