Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 2-14-2012 12:00 AM Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses: The Practices, Meanings, and Consequences of Consumption in Second Life Jennifer M. Martin The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Media Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Jennifer M. Martin 2012 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Other Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Martin, Jennifer M., "Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses: The Practices, Meanings, and Consequences of Consumption in Second Life" (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 386. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/386 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. KEEPING UP WITH THE VIRTUAL JONESES: THE PRACTICES, MEANINGS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF CONSUMPTION IN SECOND LIFE (Spine title: Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses) (Thesis format: Monograph) by Jennifer M. Martin Graduate Program in Media Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Jennifer M. Martin 2012 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford Dr. Carole Farber ______________________________ Supervisory Committee Dr. Sandra Smeltzer ______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Daniel Robinson Dr. Mark McDayter ______________________________ Dr. Andrew Herman The thesis by Jennifer Meaghan Martin entitled: Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses: The Practices, Meanings, and Consequences of Consumption in Second Life is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ______________________ _______________________________ Date Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii Abstract Every day, thousands of people log into the virtual world of Second Life and collectively pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase virtual goods. With an in- world economic system that is linked to offline economies and a wealth of user-generated content, the virtual world has a wide variety of goods available for consumption. These commodities, which include everything from clothes and cars to fantastical pets and flying airships, are computer code visually rendered on a screen, and cannot exist apart from the servers on which they are housed. Although they are virtual, goods in Second Life are widely bought, sold, and traded. Through participant observation, surveys, interviews, and content analysis, this dissertation investigates the practices, meanings, and effects associated with the consumption of virtual goods. It considers the extensive consumption practices found in the world’s market and freebie economies, the degree to which Second Life residents consume virtual goods, and their consumption preferences. It also investigates the meanings associated with these practices, and examines the ways in which consumption is implicated in individuality, belonging, resistance, social status, and social and cultural capital. Finally, it argues that although there is significant consumption inequality within the world, the effects and perceptions of this inequality are moderated by factors including the virtual nature of the world, free and inexpensive virtual goods, a lack of stigmas, user-generated content, and resident attitudes. Although consumption is a practice that bears important meanings for residents and is heavily engaged, often in unequal ways, the moderating effects of the world make Second Life what can be termed a utopia of inequality. Keywords Second Life; consumption; virtual worlds; video games, virtual goods; consumer culture; consumer society; inequality. iii Acknowledgments First and foremost, my thanks go to Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford, my dissertation supervisor. His assistance and encouragement along the way have been invaluable in not only completing this work, but also in improving and refining it. Additional thanks go to Dr. Daniel Robinson, whose assistance as a second reader provided further clarity and support. Finally, many thanks go to Dr. Carole Farber, whose knowledge of Second Life, in-world connections, and remarkable kindness in sharing both set the tone for this work early on and helped it get off the ground. Within the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) community are numerous individuals who also deserve thanks. For their help in the many stages of this process I owe debts of gratitude to Dr. Pamela McKenzie, Dr. Jacquie Burkell, Cindy Morrison, and Shelley Long. Beyond FIMS, I would also like to extend my thanks to Dr. Mark McDayter, Dr. James Davies, and Dr. Nanda Dmitrov. Outside of the Western community, huge thanks go to my family for their vast reserves of patience and love. Although my husband, Josh, completed the very important tasks of building my research website and survey engine, his love, support, and dedication made the biggest difference throughout the process. My parents, Marian and Ian Martin, always expressed their faith in my abilities, but also balanced that faith with “rare eastern academic mole” jokes, Oxford comma debates, and reminders to take the occasional break. My mother-in-law, Leah Scherer, also extended the same faith and encouragement, which was always appreciated, even across the miles. Finally, in writing this list it strikes me how fortunate I am to have so many friends to thank, not only for their help and assistance in various forms, but also for just being generally awesome throughout this whole process, and amidst all the other things that are a part of academic life. So, Kyle Asquith, Sarah Camm, Michael Daubs, Wendy Daubs, Curtis Eisenberg, Owen Livermore, Jenna Olender, Elan Paulson, James Ripley, Matt Stevens, Sonja Teichert, and Caroline Whippey, thank you not only for the help and support, but also for all the laughs. iv Finally, this research was also supported in less warm and personal, but no less important ways, by funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) program and the University of Western Ontario. v Table of Contents CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION ........................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x List of Appendices ............................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Living a Second Life ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Second Life in Context ............................................................................................ 2 1.3 Second Life as a Virtual World ............................................................................... 5 1.4 Consumption and Virtual Consumption ................................................................. 6 1.5 Consumption in Second Life ................................................................................. 11 1.6 Research Contributions ......................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 17 2 Review of the Literature .............................................................................................. 17 2.1 Virtual Communities ............................................................................................. 17 2.2 Benefits of and Issues with Virtual Community ................................................... 19 2.3 Video Game Consumption .................................................................................... 23 2.4 Social Media Consumption ................................................................................... 31 2.5 Second Life Consumption ..................................................................................... 34 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 40 3 Theoretical Perspectives .............................................................................................. 40 3.1 Use-Value