Games and Culture http://gac.sagepub.com The Digital Dollhouse: Context and Social Norms in The Sims Online Rosa Mikeal Martey and Jennifer Stromer-Galley Games and Culture 2007; 2; 314 DOI: 10.1177/1555412007309583 The online version of this article can be found at: http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/4/314 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com Additional services and information for Games and Culture can be found at: Email Alerts: http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://gac.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/2/4/314 Downloaded from http://gac.sagepub.com at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN on June 1, 2009 Games and Culture Volume 2 Number 4 October 2007 314-334 © 2007 Sage Publications The Digital Dollhouse 10.1177/1555412007309583 http://gac.sagepub.com hosted at Context and Social Norms in http://online.sagepub.com The Sims Online Rosa Mikeal Martey Colorado State University Jennifer Stromer-Galley University at Albany, State University of New York This article investigates the relationships between norms and the rich visual environment of the multiplayer game The Sims Online (TSO). Literature suggests that people exhibit normative behavior in online environments. The complex actions and interactions possi- ble with the game’s avatars and a minimal game structure make TSO an evocative online space in which to examine social interaction. Through participation and observation, we examined conversation and avatar conduct in TSO and found norms for verbal and non- verbal behavior that governed both text and avatar use. These norms are related to offline expectations of politeness and etiquette associated with visiting and hosting in people’s homes, and they correspond with the visual dollhouse-like environment of TSO and its characters. This game is a special context where social norms are clear and powerful, affecting not only players’ game play but also their social interaction. Keywords: online games; social norms; avatar use; multiplayer games; The Sims Online s the internet and the World Wide Web have grown, so too have networked A gaming environments. Although once online games such as MUDs (multiuser dungeon) and MOOs (MUD object oriented) were exclusively text based, today’s online video games include sophisticated and dynamic images of landscapes, build- ings, and characters. Long a fantasy of cyberpunk writers like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, animated environments and their actors, digital avatars, have become a reality in games such as World of Warcraft, The Sims Online (TSO), and Second Life. These environments allow individuals to communicate and express themselves with both written and spoken words as well as through the creation and control of dig- ital avatars. No longer is an online smile : -) limited to text, but instead it can include the smile of a digital animated self. The textual *hug* sent to a friend can be accom- panied by a hug between two animated characters in digital space. In this article, we explore the development of norms in a relatively new kind of multiplayer online space that includes extensive use of avatars (digital “bodies”). These games are a type of massively multiplayer online game, or MMOG, a genre 314 Downloaded from http://gac.sagepub.com at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN on June 1, 2009 Martey, Stromer-Galley / The Digital Dollhouse 315 that includes fantasy-adventure games, war games, and the distinctive dollhouse-like game of TSO. Many of the norms that are developed in multiplayer online games develop within the gaming context; that is, the rules and goals of the game heavily influence which behaviors are and are not acceptable (Chen, 2005; Squire & Steinkuehler, 2006; Suler, 2002; T. L. Taylor, 2006; Williams et al., 2006). Generally limited or missing from these analyses are explorations of how norms are influenced by visual contexts (Becker & Mark, 2002). Although scholars may be certain that social norms and standards are present in textual interaction online, we ask, What is the nature of those norms when visual representations of self and context are present? Through participation and observation, we examined the social norms that make some behavior in TSO welcome and sanctioned and other behavior inappropriate and censured. We found standards for verbal and nonverbal behavior that are under- stood by most players of TSO. These online standards, or norms, parallel offline expectations of politeness in interacting with strangers and acquaintances as well as norms of visiting and hosting in people’s homes. These norms are influenced by the environment in which players interact and are constructed primarily through the per- formance of actions and interactions by participants. The Sims Online TSO is the massively multiplayer online version of the most successful offline video game ever created, The Sims (C. Taylor, 2003). In TSO, players pay a monthly fee to move animated, digital representations of themselves around an online game space and interact with other players. Players select the look and style of an avatar from a wide range of options, including gender, hair and skin color, clothing, facial characteristics, and body type. Players use their character to enter any one of hundreds of game “houses” to pursue game goals, such as earning money, and social goals, such as get- ting to know other players. The game’s houses are richly detailed visual environments created by other players and include a broad assortment of decorations, objects, archi- tectural styles, and activities. A successful house draws many players and provides all the objects sims need to stay “healthy” and earn “simoleans,” or sim currency. Most conversation in TSO is public within each individual house and appears as words in dialogue bubbles over the speaker’s head. Players can also use their sims to express themselves by making them wave, vomit, throw a temper tantrum, blow smoke out of their ears, or primp. Additionally, sims interact with each other, for example, by hugging, slapping, or giving a pile drive. Importantly, the programming of the game limits sim interaction to mutual permission: Requests for interactions such as hugs, dances, or pile drives must be actively approved. These constraints limit certain kinds of antisocial behavior but still permit a range of other sim transgressions. Although as a game, TSO has not enjoyed substantial success and membership has declined (C. Taylor, 2003), as a social environment, it offers intriguing possibilities Downloaded from http://gac.sagepub.com at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN on June 1, 2009 316 Games and Culture for online interaction. In addition, the significantly more diverse demographics of its users made the TSO environment far more similar to the internet user population than games such as World of Warcraft or EverQuest, which have long been populated mostly by young men (Willams et al., 2006). In contrast, TSO reported at its peak in 2003 that of its more than 82,000 subscribers, about 60% were female (“Jobs for the Girls,” 2005). Prior research into TSO and its offline counterpart, The Sims, has examined those spaces along a range of dimensions. Nutt and Railton (2003) suggest that The Sims genre is one of “real life,” making it especially suited to playing out “real world con- ceptualizations of family and other relationships” (p. 577). Iverson (2005) notes the importance of the games’ challenges and suggests that they provide “incredible free- dom to players in terms of defining [their] own goals and which challenges to engage in” (p. 6). Tsikalas (2001) argues that the console game The Sims provides an ideal space for learning, self-reflection, and identity development. In contrast, Steen, Greenfield, Davies, and Tynes (2006) examined three players’ diaries of TSO and conclude that players find the game goals of raising skills and making money to be deeply repetitive and boring. As a result, they tend to go “AFK,” or away from their keyboard, robbing the game of some of the depth and possibility for social interac- tion that seemed initially to be the point of the game. Consalvo (in press) notes that TSO has expansive possibilities for role-play but that its mundane (household) con- text generally is populated by mundane characters modeled more on real life than a fantasy world. Along with Consalvo and others, we have wondered why individuals play this profoundly “mundane” game and conclude that its social opportunities are central to its appeal. Although Steen et al. (2006) suggest that the game ultimately fails to be compelling, our experiences with and observations of players in the game suggest that the social possibilities are what serve as primary drivers to continue playing. We next turn to the literature on social interaction and norms to contextualize how visual factors, including avatars and the environment of the house, structure social norms and interactions that develop in TSO. Social Interaction and Norms Social norms are considered central to successful interaction in social environments (Deutch & Gerard, 1955). Generally considered social rules of behavior, norms are often unwritten and implied and create a frame of understanding within a group that identifies appropriate and inappropriate behavior (Bendor & Swistak, 2001; Deutch & Gerard, 1955; Goffman, 1967). Although often unstated, norms are communicated through language and social cues (Bendor & Swistak, 2001). This is true in the online communication context, as well. Current research has demonstrated not only the strong presence of social norms (Baym, 1998; Jeffrey & Mark, 2003; Peña & Hancock, 2006; Sassenberg, 2002; Yee, Downloaded from http://gac.sagepub.com at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN on June 1, 2009 Martey, Stromer-Galley / The Digital Dollhouse 317 Bailenson, Urbanek, Chang, & Merget, 2007) but also intimacy (Walther, Loh, & Granka, 2005), cooperation (Walther, 1995), and greater self-disclosure in computer- mediated communication (CMC) chat than in face-to-face settings (Tidwell & Walther, 2002).