Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2014 The Construction of "Nature" in the Virtual World Second Life Joseph Clark Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION THE CONSTRUCTION OF “NATURE” IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD SECOND LIFE By JOSEPH CLARK A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2014 (c) 2014 Joseph Clark Joseph Clark defended this dissertation on May 1, 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: Andrew Opel Professor Directing Dissertation William Landing University Representative Ulla Sypher Committee Member Davis Houck Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii To my mother and father, Deborah Fennell Clark and Joseph Stanley Clark, Sr., who taught me to respect the natural world and to question my assumptions. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My doctoral advisor Andy Opel green-lit the genesis of this project in 2007 while I was taking his class in Media and the Environment. Andy gave me direction and encouragement, served as a scholarly role model, and was patient with my at-times glacial progress toward graduation. My committee members provided useful feedback, showed genuine interest in the arcane topic, and shared my amusement at its many ironies. Donna Nudd and Phil Steinberg were on the original committee; while they graciously bowed out for various pragmatic reasons, both continued to provide ex-officio encouragement. A charmed circle of warm, friendly, funny, and smart graduate students shared the journey with me and accepted this mid-lifer as one of their own. Faculty in FSU's School of Communication, School of Information, Department of English, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences gave me the benefit of their expertise, advice, and collegiality. The FSU Employee Tuition Scholarship allowed me to complete the Ph.D. without debt. The Association of Internet Researchers, International Environmental Communication Association, Astrid Ensslin of Bangor University, and Kim Holmberg of Åbo Akademi University gave me opportunities to share the ongoing research program that led to this dissertation. The designers, builders, and users of Second Life are also acknowledged here for their hard work, creativity, generosity towards this project, and uncounted hours of lively conversation and virtual adventures. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................................x ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................xi INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................................6 Why Media and Mediation Matter..............................................................................................6 Capitalism Shapes the Media that Shape Us..........................................................................6 The Consciousness Industry...................................................................................................7 Capitalism and The Environment...........................................................................................9 Resisting the Culture Industry: Futile?.................................................................................10 The Cycle of Mediation........................................................................................................17 Vision and Rhetoric...................................................................................................................23 Semiotics of the Visual Medium..........................................................................................23 Evolution of Visual Rhetorics...............................................................................................25 DeLuca's Image Politics.......................................................................................................27 Images: Boundaries and Evolutions.....................................................................................30 Virtual Natures..........................................................................................................................35 Anthropocentric Visuality in Virtual Reality........................................................................35 Is the Virtual Real?...............................................................................................................40 What is Nature?....................................................................................................................43 Virtualizing the Natural, Naturalizing the Virtual................................................................44 Nature in Virtual Reality.......................................................................................................55 Contexts of Circulation.........................................................................................................60 v Second Life: A New Remediation Under the Sun?...................................................................66 The Multiuser Virtual Environment Second Life.................................................................66 Political Economy................................................................................................................70 Environmental and Ecojustice Impact..................................................................................77 Second Nature......................................................................................................................79 Using SL for Education........................................................................................................83 SL and Resistance.................................................................................................................84 METHOD......................................................................................................................................86 Research Questions...................................................................................................................86 Close Readings..........................................................................................................................86 Why Second Life?................................................................................................................86 What to Sample?...................................................................................................................87 Sampling Structure...............................................................................................................88 Method for Reading Locations.............................................................................................90 Interviews..................................................................................................................................92 Who (or What) Is Being Interviewed?.................................................................................92 Who to Interview?................................................................................................................93 Interview Sample Characteristics.........................................................................................94 Informed Consent.................................................................................................................96 Circulation.................................................................................................................................97 What Kinds of Media?..........................................................................................................97 Search Terms........................................................................................................................98 Sample Parameters...............................................................................................................98 vi Reading Method...................................................................................................................99 READING SECOND LIFE.........................................................................................................100 Nature as Pastoral Idyll and Wilderness: Calas Galadhon......................................................103 Nature as Escape and Exotic Other: Las Arenas Rosadas.......................................................109 Natural Science: The Center for Water Studies.......................................................................114 Flesh Merchants in Second Life..............................................................................................119 The Animania Store.................................................................................................................123 Resisting Commodification, Part 1: Etopia.............................................................................127