In Denise Carter’s article, “Living In Virtual Communities: An Ethnography of Human Relationships in Cyberspace”, she discusses her in-depth research into the virtual world of CyberCity. CyberCity as described by Carter is, “a virtual community on the Internet, a social world that is no less real for being supported by Internet technologies, with residents drawn from countries all over the world.” (153) The part that struck my attention and that I thought about while reading the article was weather or not online or virtual worlds are in fact, “no less real for being supported by Internet technologies.” For certain there must be some differences when talking about real life face-to-face communication or communication occurring through a technologically created world. Cybercity in itself is massive. It hold over 1,062,072 registered users and is designed purposefully to mirror large cities. Much like Second life there are plazas, beaches, cafes, post offices and all of the other common things one could find in a real city.Neighborhoods in Cybercity consists of five blocks, while each block contains about 40 private homes. However, even with Cybercity’s attempts to mirror a real world city, there still is something missing.

The article discusses that the main way to make friends in Cybercity is to simply go up to strangers and say hello. You can meet people in the public plaza or just stroll right on into their house if you real want. Users often go on “friendship hunts” where they move (usually in groups ranging from two to eleven) and introduce themselves to others. Users of Cybercity claim that they would rather meet friends this way because meeting others on a virtual world eliminates social or shallow prejudices that occur in face-to-face communication. Furthermore, some users find it easier to be more open and their true self when online and the pressures of physical cues are not present.  As a Cybercity user of 46 months, Taygeta explains, “When you meet people online, people you cannot see face to face, you can be more open with them, and therefore you learn more about them. In this way, you are able to connect with people who are like yourself in many ways. These are friendships that last.” (157)

While these friendships may last, how they last is in my opinion what distinguishes the virtual world from the real; and virtual friendships from real ones. As described in detail in the article, friendship is something that does not have a true meaning or exact definition except to one’s own self. However what is agreed upon by most theorists is that friendship is a relationship between two people which revolves around trust and is voluntary. I do believe that it is a good thing for Cybercity users to have these friends online, however I also believe it is important to have an offline life as well. I do not believe the virtual and real world mix as well as the Carter seems to be suggesting. For example when Taygeta says that virtual friendships last, they last online exclusively (for the most part except for some exceptions when users meet offline. However even when they do so the majority of their friendship still is sustained online where it originated). I believe that if one becomes too engrossed with their virtual friendships they may lose touch with their offline ones. The reason I believe that this is such a big distinction is because your virtual friends rely on you using a technological medium to communicate with them. It is important to have friendships and communities you can interact with in the real world when those technologies are not available or if the technologies fail.

Overall I believe that there is a place in all of our lives for both online and offline friendships to be made. We can all benefit from online friendships especially if they help us to be more open with ourselves and help us be more open with others. However, I feel the main objective of the online friendships should be to help us enhance and strengthen our relationships with our offline friends. There will always be a place for both and as technology increases I believe the differences and gap between the two will only shrink.

This weeks discussion asks if we believe that we are more honest with our virtual selves then our “real” ones. I believe that there are aspects of our virtual lives that we are extremely honest with and other aspects in which we are more representative of how we WANT to be rather then a realistic projection. When discussing  superficial or physical aspects of virtual life, one is much more likely to portray his or her self as he or she wishes to seen, not always an honest representation of reality. In the aspects of life relating to our own beliefs, ideals and personality, I believe we are very honest in our virtual life. I believe that the reason for this is because we inherently as humans want to be liked and want our ideas and beliefs to be shared with others. Along with this goes the fact in the “real” world there are many social paradigms which cause us to believe that there is a certain physical and superficial look that our peers respect. Therefore, in our virtual life there is a certain “look” we wish to create that may not actual be honest or true to our “real” life. On the other hand, in virtual life we tend to be more honest with our ideas beliefs and personal likes/dislikes because as it says int he reading we are, “[liberated] from social context”. Most, if not all, social anxieties of interacting with others are removed in virtual world because we, for the most part, don’t anticipate ever actual meeting who we interact with in the virtual world, in the “real” world. As described by a MCI advertisement in 1997, “There is no race, there are no genders, there is no age, there are no infirmities, there are only minds. Utopia? No, the Internet.” The Internet and “virtual” world gives us an outlet to be completely honest with aspects of our personality, however we are not always honest with our physical or superficial features.