Parents see how [computer] toys may be educational, but fear the quality of children's engagement with them. [They say] "It's eerie when their playmates are machines." "I wish my son wouldn't take his 'Little Professor' to bed. I don't mind a book, would welcome a stuffed animal--but taking the machine to bed gives me a funny feeling" (Turkle 1984:13-14).

Designers of virtual environments today understand that their systems are a "many participant environment," defined more by the interactions among the participants, than by the technology (Morningstar & Farmer 1993:274-275; Laurel 1991:4). While digital communication and collective participation in virtual systems is a yet little understood phenomenon, one thing is clear: the Internet is not simply an information highway, it is a highly social space. Any "transportation" theory of information flow is not only inadequate, it seems oblivious to one of the purposes of human communication which is to strike a "resonant chord" with fellow participants (Schwartz 1973:4,27).

Derrick de Kerckhove (1995), a follower of McLuhan, views computer networks and other digital media as physical extensions of the human nervous system, creating "collective minds that better solve our problems." Once the planet is fully wired, he suggests, existing power structures will crumble, and control of the economy will shift as more people acquire home computers and are able to publish and broadcast over the net. The idea of an impending technological revolution creates utopian optimism in some and raises apocalyptic fears in others. The Internet becomes a symbol of social upheaval and, as is often the case, public furor focuses on issues of morality, pornography, addiction, and free speech.

This resembles the controversy over public coffee houses that erupted in the Middle East during the 16th century (Hattox 1985). Coffee was originally used by Sufi orders in Yemen as a stimulant during religious ceremonies. When consumption moved into the secular classes, the coffee house emerged, catching the attention of religious and political authorities. The ultrapious Muslim establishment rejected drinking coffee simply because it was an innovation. But the goverment and custodians of public morality were alarmed by the the social life of the coffeehouse -- political movements, gambling, and unorthodox sexual practices (Hattox 1985:6). The coffee house became a symbol of deep social conflict and change (Hattox 1985:73).

Similarly, the Internet has become a symbol of profound change in today's world. Sometimes it has even played a role in that change. Ordinary people today can do something never before possible. They can spin a web of communication around the globe, construct shared spaces of digitized words, graphics and sound. In her book "Global Networks" Linda Harasim suggests that the Internet offers a "matrix where the world can meet" (Harasim 1993:3):

Computer networks are not merely tools....they have come to be experienced as places where we network: a networld. The computer screen is the window to this world...." (Harasim 1993:15).

If the "holding power" of the computer, combined with human presence on the other side of the screen, creates new arenas for social experience it is important to ask: what is going on online?

I became interested in this topic in 1990 during a fellowship at The Hebrew University. Since then, I have been collaborating with Prof. Brenda Danet in the Departments of Communication/Journalsm and Sociology/Anthropology, to study culture and communication on the Internet. In 1994 we received a two year grant from the Ministry of Science. We adopt a qualitative, ethnographic, interpretive approach to the material. Our general areas of research cover incipient/emergent social organization, and the integration of virtual realty online (VR) with real life offline (RL). In particular, we have focused on playful behavior:

• play with language
• play with sense of place
• play with identity
• play with frames of interaction

The Internet is a medium that was built for communication -- a computer-mediated communication. Although there is increasing use of sound and graphics, most communication over the Internet is still primarily verbal. Nonverbal exerience such as sense of person, place, group, and affect, are expressed through play with language.

Groups form on IRC or a MOO (MUDs Object Oriented), who then create homepages as community bulletin boards or picture albums. Many virtual groups arrange face to face meetings or "flesh meets." IRC users in Israel used to meet 3 or 4 times a year on the lawn at Tel Aviv campus. I attended a few of these in 1991. People clustered together in the same configuration as the channels they had joined online, seeking to put a face to the nicknames they had come to know. More recently, members of channel #israel have met for a beach party. Other groups never meet face to face at all but use the multiple platforms online for both different levels of work and play.

What are the implications of communicating on these many levels of "reality?"

And why look at play?

	Thinking primarily of word-processing, Heim (1987) suggests that
	the computer is an inherently playful medium:
	

	My stream of consciousness can be paralleled by the running
	flow of the electric element. Words dance on the screen.
	Sentences slide smoothly into place, make way for one another,
	while paragraphs ripple down the screen. Words become
	highlighted, vanish at the push of a button, then reappear
	instantly at will. Verbal life is fast-paced, easier, with
	something of the exhilaration of video games. (Heim, 1987:
	152). 

	Electronic literature will remain a game, just as all computer
	programming is a game....the impermanence of electronic
	literature cuts both ways: as there is no lasting success,
	there is also no failure that needs to last. By contrast,
	there is a solemnity at the center of printed literature--even
	comedy, romance and satire--because of the immutability of the
	printed page. (Bolter, 1991: 130).

Electronic communications occur in an abstract space of telecommunications technology that challenges ordinary questions like "What time is it?" or "Where are we?" (Gibson, 1984; Barlow, 1990; Benedikt, 1991; Biocca, 1992). Some newcomers to the medium report a period of disorientation or vertigo that can be either distressing or exhilarating.

The suspension of the traditional coordinates of time and space makes cyberspace an ideal "place" for play.

A participant in an electronic discussion list admits there is a "spell" associated with a net-relationship. In his words:

	there's something sensually tantalizing about the slow
	progression of crafted words across a screen. (irvc-l October
	10, 1993)

	Communication technology develops more rapidly, initially, in
	the contexts of military applications and entertainment, that
	is at opposite ends of the instrumentality spectrum and there
	is much to be explored in their relationship (Kirshenblatt-
	Gimblett 1995).

So what kind of communities are possible in such a playful medium?

Huizinga (1955) suggests that play promotes the formation of social groupings that surround themselves with secrecy and stress their difference by disguise or other means (Huizinga, 1955: 13).

In the material world, the effect of masks and costumes would be the paradigmatic example of anonymity and freedom (Turner, 1986c). Here it is the ephemeral, non-material medium, and the dependence on text alone that provides the mask!

Pioneering researchers of computer-mediated communication in the late 1970's and early 1980's were slow to notice playfulness in the new medium, or to regard this as a topic worth investigating. They were concerned primarily with the instrumental, rather than the socio-emotional aspects of communication.

Researchers expected the general frame of messages to be serious and electronic discussion groups were referred to as "teleconferencing" or "conferences." These terms are still common among scholars of organizational communication.

Some perceived the medium, by definition, as cold, anonymous, and lacking in "social presence," often referred to as "reduced bandwidth" due to the absence of non-verbal cues or facial expression (Short, et al., 1976 Kiesler, et al., 1984; Rice and Love, 1987; Walther, 1992).

One of the surprises has been that electronic text is dynamic(Bolter, 1991: 59). It is, in fact, an emotionally volatile medium, illiciting both wrath and infatuation with the slip of a finger. It shares many features with oral communication (Maynor in press; Ferrara et al. 1991; Murray 1991; Yates 1992a, 1992b; Bolter 1991; Collot and Belmore 1992; Leslie 1994) and the verbal art of oral cultures (Ben-Amos 1976; Bauman 1975, 1977; Ong 1982; Edwards and Sienkewicz 1990).

Electronic text is often described as "written speech" (Elmer- Dewitt 1994). Non-standard spelling resembles a vernacular, spoken American English such as "see you sooooooon!" or "c u later" or "c u l8tr" or "me 2". Punctuation indicates pauses rather than speech clauses. So you might indicate a long sigh........ with an ellipse.

Electronic text also resembles genres of popular writing, comics, graffiti, or the personal letters of young people. If someone writes "I REALLY LIKE THAT!" all in caps, someone else is likely to type back "DON'T SHOUT!" Others capitalize single words for emphasis:

Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 13:41:37 -0600
From: FringeWare Daily 
Reply to: James Waldrop 
Subject: IF - Highways Were Like the Net...

Sent from: sulam@construct.net (James Waldrop)

There it is again.  Some clueless FOOL talking about the
"Information Superhighway."  They don't know JACK about the net. 
It's NOTHING like a Superhighway.  That's a BAD metaphor.

Yeah, but suppose the metaphor ran in the OTHER direction.  Suppose
the HIGHWAYS were like the NET.  All right!....

Special vocabulary, symbols, and technical jargon indicate "insider status." Symbols from programming languages, other than letters are used to create transitional language forms that are embedded into a text. For example "!happy" makes use of the exclamation mark, called a bang mark in the C programming language and is used to negate an expression. The example above thus means "not happy."

The basic smiley icon is also composed of symbols used in programming, however since it resembles something we recognize and evokes an emotional response, a smilie is referred to as an emoticon. It expresses humor, laughter, friendliness, and occasionally, sarcasm (Raymond, 1991: 142-143; Mason, 1990). The two other most common emoticons are the frown and the wink:

:-) a 'smiley' expresses humor, laughter, friendliness
:-( a 'frowney face' expresses sadness, anger, or upset
;-) a 'half smiley' represents a wink and a smile

Large collections of "smiley dictionaries" with hundreds of playful icons created from various symbols on the keyboard, have been circulating around the net for the last decade or more (Reid, 1991; Blackman and Clevenger, 1990; Danet and Ruedenberg, 1992; Kuehn, 1993; Godin, 1993). Similarly, there are large collections of acronyms, one of the most common ones being ROTFL to convey the action and emotion of "roll on the floor laughing."

Some people reject emoticons and acronyms as being "in poor taste," or in conflict with standards of "good writing" associated with literate culture. For others, playing with smiley icons is a way of signaling initiation and familiarity with the medium.

Lee Ellen Marvin (1995), in a study of the use of language in MOOs, points out that in face-to-face contexts a smile can be strategic or spontaneous, whereas in the context of the MOO, every smile must be consciously indicated. A participant may smile or frown at something that flows across their computer screen, but a conscious choice must be made to type it out.

Initiates into the world of electronic communication quickly learn to explore the expressivity of the medium, juxtaposing fantasy with high-tech reality (Meyer and Thomas 1990). Digital communication lies somewhere between talking and writing, playing an instrument, and performing a role.

The following example of an IRC chat between two students who are hanging out and simulate smoking a joint. Their verbal improvisations read like a charades or mime (Hamblin, 1978).

Line 126 <Thunder> ssssssssssssss *passes joint to Kang*
	 <Kang> thanx dude *puff* *hold*........... :-)
     138 <Thunder> kang exhale.. you will die :-)
	 <Kang> *exhale*
	 <Kang> ;-)
	 

	 <Thunder> *as smoke fills the channel again*
	 *** Thunder sets the topic to: ssssssssssssssssssssssss
	 <Kang> :)
	 <Thunder> we had better be careful kang.. it is getting
	  into the topic.. it will soon spread to other
	  channels.. they will see the smoke
	

Line 365 <Thunder> *gurble gurble gurble* sssssssssssss
	 <Kang> yea!
	 ...
	 <Thunder> sssssssssssssssss                             
    370  <Thunder> sssssssssssssssss                             
   	 <Thunder> ssss              
	 <Thunder> ss                
	 <Thunder> s                 
	 <Thunder>                   
    375  <Thunder> wow               

Such a self referential style of communication illustrates the experience of distance between the person typing and the nickname speaking, pointed out by Marvin in reference to the experience of smiling. Self reference reflects a process of mediation that is required in this medium. A skilled performer can use this distance to in fact increase communication.

<Thunder> comments that smoke is "filling the channel" and sets the topic to "ssssssssssssssssss." <Kang> responds appreciatively with a midget "smiley" :) (the nose is omitted) and misspelles "suspicious." <Thunder> elaborates upon his topic, until the sssssssssssss evolves into a graphic representation of dissipating smoke. The graphic contours of the "s" conveys the visual look of spiralling smoke, and /s/ is the initial letter of the word "smoke."

Play with the letter "sssssssssssssssss" conveys the hissing sound of inhaling and exhaling smoke. This strategy of writing out sequences of letters to convey sounds, as in "grrrr," "oof," "bam!," is a well known convention in comic art where there are three main types of language to convey narration, dialogue and sound effect (Inge, 1990, chap. 2; Abbott, 1986: 156).

While there are experiments today with multi-media platforms, most communication on the Internet is still in the form of text or static graphics.

Text Based Culture Groups

IRC and MUDs are two environments on the Internet that have produced text based culture groups. They both provide an interactive environment for synchronous communication in real time. The difference between them is that MUDs combines static and dynamic characteristics, while IRC is only a dynamic environment. Examples from these two environments explore how play with language can enable group formation.

MUDs (Multi User Domain) are text-based virtual realities originating from the game Dragons and Dungeons. MUDs are both synchronous and hypertext forms of communication. The synchronous component allows users to interact in "real-time", somewhat like holding a conversation in a room. The hypertext component of MUDs consists of written descriptions of imaginary rooms, objects, and people. Participants can selectively view the objects and people, and virtually move from one "room" to another, much as a reader of a hypertext follows links in a document, from one passage to another.

MOOs are a particular type of MUD (MUD Object Oriented) based on software developed by Pavel Curtis of Xerox Corporation. LambdaMOO is the oldest and largest of the MOOs, originally modeled after the Palo Alto home of its developer, Pavel Curtis.

Participants enter this world in the form of self-described, verbally constructed characters who can interact with each other (Curtis 1992; Marvin 1995; Rheingold 1993; Dibbell 1993; Reid 1995; Turkle 1995; Marvin 1995; Jacobson and Dana 1995; Coe 1995; Shirky 1995; Danet 1995).

MUDs and MOOs are relatively small, self contained virtual communities with regular participants and open to guest or visitors. LamdaMOO, with 8000 members, is the largest and normally not all of them log on at the same time. At present, there are some 500 MUDs and MOOs on the Internet.

In a study of the aesthetics of jargon on six different MOOs, Lee Ellen Marvin (1995) notes that a cultural group is defined by its common expressive resources and suggests that language and the aesthetics of expression are a resource for the construction of community.

Marvin examines four terms that express fundamental concepts unique to computer mediated communications: "spoof" is unattributed (or falsely attributed) communication, "spam" is an excess of communication, "lurk" is the refusal to communicate, and "lag" is the technical delay of communication.

The expression "spam" is used throughout the Internet, on both synchronous and asynchronous forms, for any "excess of words". In the MOOs and on IRC, which are both synchronous media, "spam" also means words which enter the stream of scrolling conversation too fast to be read. Most people view spamming as a form of harassment that ranges in intent from playful to pernicious (Stivale, 1994). On the playful end, it spamming has something in common with the performance of poetry or a monologue.

The following example was collected by Marvin (1995) in the Living Room of LambdaMOO:

-------------------------------------------------------------
1    lmarvin says, "actually...i am right at this moment,
doing a study on 'spoofing' in the moo..."
2    lmarvin asks, "how come spoofing is illegal?"
3    Guest says, "whats spoofing?""
*
4    Plate says, "this is spoofing""
5    A can of Spam tromps into the room.
The can of Spam locates it's target.
The can begins making noises like it's gonna hack up a
spitwad.
*
The can of Spam suddenly spews a stream of unwanted text at  
Guest, tattoos a knockwurst on its forehead, then floors it
out of the room as fast as it can go.
6    Plate [to Guest]: Thats spoofing :)
7    Guest gasps
--------------------------------------------------------------

Since on a MOO, worlds are created through words alone, too much or too little, too early or too late, becomes a matter of not only fancy or fashion. Without any text on the screen (lag), the other side is non-existant. With too much text (spam) you cannot assert your presence on the screen.

On IRC a similar phenomenon called "channel dumping" allows a user to read a file of text of graphics onto a channel for viewing by other members on that channel. Again, too much is considered disruptive to communication and will get a user kicked off of a channel, but the right amount at the right time, creates a lively improvisation.

Compared to MUDs and MOOs, IRC is the Grand Central Station of the Internet. It is a world wide interactive chat program, invented in the late 1980s by Jarkko Oikarinen a student of computer science at the University of Olutensin in Finland who wanted to provide local users on his BBS with a way to chat with each other. Inspired by BITNET Relay, a chat program for IBM protocol machines, he created a similar program for the unix machine that could connect to the Internet. As with most shareware programs, it "just spread around."

Today, there are several global networks of servers that use the IRC protocol. The original IRC is still the largest, often referred to as the EFnet by disgruntled users as a euphimism for F... net. Smaller offshoots such as the Undernet or Delnet have their own network of servers. All these servers connect with each other to create an IRC backbone.

Discussions on IRC occur in "channels" one to one, or in groups. It is not a hypertext environment. A channel only exists as long as someone is on it. Topics run the gamut from professional and educational to recreational: poetry readings, word games, flirting, computer programming, or news flashes in times of crises.

The majority of participants on IRC are university students, since one needs full interactive access to the Internet. However this is rapidly changing. In the last five years participation has increased from around 400 to over 4000 at any given time of day.

The following example was collected by myself in 1991 on a channel called #bagelnosh. <redROM> fiddles with his nickname, as if looking for the correct persona. <MissMali> finds the right moment for him to perform a poem:

--------------------------------------------------------
IRC log started Wed Nov 18 17:01 [1991]

*** redROM is now known as Ionk
 stop that
> hmmm
 >whistling<
 >waiting<
 How come ?
*** Ionk is now known as Cyrano
 better
 well,   "ionk" is not reserved
 you look good as cyrano
 oh thank you
 but that nose!!!!!
 Cyrano Savinien Hercule de Bergerac  at your service *bow*
 :^)
 All the better to smell you with!
 *applause*
.....
 shhhhh
 *curtain opens*
 *slowly*
 ?
 *he is puzzled*
> and out comes....
 am I on ?
 uh oh
.....
> you are *ON*
 *the roar of the crowd*
 uhm
 er...
 ah 
.....
> show us your nose
 Look apon the leaves of autumn
 *bonk*
 The perfect venetian red
 They know how to do
 die
 not do
 They know how to die
 Just a little hesitation
 alittle fear of mingling with the common dust
 and then they let go
 *the rustle of candy wrappers*
> and the falling stars
 a short fall from the branch to the ground
 so graceful
 it seems
 like
 flying
 *bow*
 *applauese*
> *APPLAUSE*

 #####
 (that was a direct quote from the play )
 #    #  #        ##    #####   #####      #    #    #   ####
 #       #       #  #   #    #  #    #     #    ##   #  #    #
 #       #      #    #  #    #  #    #     #    # #  #  #
 #       #      ######  #####   #####      #    #  # #  #  ###
 #     # #      #    #  #       #          #    #   ##  #    #
 #####   #####  #    #  #       #          #    #    #   ####

  #    #   ####   #####   ######
  ##  ##  #    #  #    #  #
  # ## #  #    #  #    #  #####
  #    #  #    #  #####   #
  #    #  #    #  #   #   #
  #    #   ####   #    #  ######

    ##    #####   #####   #         ##    #    #   ####   ######
   #  #   #    #  #    #  #        #  #   #    #  #       #
  #    #  #    #  #    #  #       #    #  #    #   ####   #####
  ######  #####   #####   #       ######  #    #       #  #
 More, I have some in store
  #    #  #       #       #       #    #  #    #  #    #  #
  #    #  #       #       ######  #    #   ####    ####   ######

......
 A favorite pastime for me on the IRC is a rhyming game
------------------------------------------------------------

Synchronous modes of electronic communication like IRC and MUDs or MOOs can be addictive and consequently IRC has been banned from places in Australia, and some American universities such as Amherst College (Rheingold, 1993; Kelly and Rheingold, 1993). In Israel, only four of the seven academic institutions allow unrestricted access.

Although some people worry about a drain on computer resources, its inventor (nicknamed WIZ) maintains that the main problem with IRC is simply that it takes time away from "useful studying and work":

irc doesn't take much CPU time, or not even very much network bandwidth. it just takes a lot of people.... people do not study when they use irc. they do not work either.

He commented wryly:

I'm known as the ultimate cracker who managed to program a computer virus which makes students graduate later and which isn't stoppable :-)

Many players on IRC report losing a sense of time once they get involved in a chat. Some report marathons that last anywhere from 5 to 25 hours!

In her study of IRC, Elizabeth Reid (1991) observes that users treat the medium as both a "frontier world" and a "playground" in which they feel free to experiment with forms of communication and self representation. IRC provides a place to act out fantasies, challenge social norms, and exercise aspects of one's personality that would under normal circumstances be inhibited (Reid, 1991).

In her recent study of "Life on the Screen" (1995), Sherry Turkle examines obsessive participation in MUDs. Her observations could just as well apply to other environments such as email, discussion groups, IRC, or web surfing. She suggests that virtual worlds create a liminal space -- a "moratorium" from consequential life -- similar to the protected space provided by pscyhoanalysis. There people can play with serious themes in their life, successfully or unsuccessfully.

Turkle concludes that the medium shifts focus onto multiplicity and flexibility as opposed to unity and stability. Identity is shaped by "cycling through" many selves. Unity is viewed as the communication between many parts. And the communication between the many parts of a "whole" can be used to construct more than one kind of object. We use communication to build a 'self,' an 'organization,' or a 'community.'

Low Bandwidth Communication

Most researchers note that the absence of non-verbal cues are a defining and troubling factor in computer-mediated communication. With greater bandwidth we could see and hear each other by sending good quality video feed. Experiments with the VRML (virtual reality markup language) protocol simulate three-dimensional reality. In the absence of non-verbal we explores ways to recreate them.

Usually, we create and maintain interpersonal relationships with the help of four kinds of non-verbal cues (Michener, Delamater and Schwartz 1990:195-6):

* paralangue: the vocal aspects of speech other than words, including crying * kinesics: body language such as scowls, smiles, nods, gazes, gestures, movement, posture, caresses, slaps, etc * proximity: interpersonal spacing, positioning ourselves at varying distances and angles from others * accessories: the choice of personal effects (accessories) such as clothes, valued objects, etc.

In a study of "community" on IRC, Karina Greenaple (1996) points out that a verbal interaction may be filled with indicators of non- verbal cues. For example, in some channels, every time a person joins or leaves, their friends pounce on them with a *HUG*. The most common way to show affection and friendship, a hug indicates both kinesics and proximity, signalling social closeness, but not necessarily intimacy.

In another example from channel #bagelnosh, we can see reference to paralingual cues, proximity, kinesics and the use of props:

-------------------------------------------- rap -------- [snip]

rap attack Heheheheheh! [paralangue] .... pick up the beat [paralangue and accessory] (silence strikes...) not so > silent beat [paralangue and kinesics] diablo you just havent been paying attention lucia is doing her human beat box while rickp cuts a break > *thump* [paralangue and kinesics] MM: I'm sorry!!!!! I'm not awake anough for this!!! > *cut* [paralangue and kinesics] *bonmp* thunk* [paralangue and accessory] Diablo: You should try it at 2am!!!!! *scratch* *scratch* [paralangue and accessory] > *scrape* [paralangue and accessory] rick is his name he isn't the same as the man he rides [kinesics] throught the cyber sides and he travels through space [proximity and kinesics] at incredible pace the Imperial wizard on his unix machine [accessory] *thump* *scratch* *thump* *scratch* [paralangue and kinesics] > *chuckles* and *applause* [paralangue and kinesics] > let's *dance* [kinesics] humpidy dump [paralangue] party > three birds in thump *Applauds* [kinesics and paralangue and accessory (hands)] HO---OH [paralangue] HO---OH let me hear a HO > HO HO ehehehehehheheh [paralangue] > HO .... I am singing to rickp [paralangue] I am having a rap attack .... ------------------------------------------------------ end -----

Through words alone, MissMali has recreated a live performance scenario, culling up images of movement and sound, clapping hands, laughter, beating against one's body, scratching on a record, and dancing. The rap itself is an ode to cyber space. Images include travel through space on a unix machine.

Another example illustrates how a pantomime with smilie icons represents both physical proximity and facial expression. and are sharing a joint:

------------------------------------------------------- mime ---- 417 *inhale* *hold* ...................... :-) :| :\ heheheh heheheheheh that was great 425 :/ :) hehehehehhe *exhale* :0 430 :| :| :\sssss :) hheeeheee :-Q :| :| :\sssss :) heheheh ever ... mmmmmmm.... heard of Gainesville Green? 435 :-) cute my hometown! never heard of it *** Thunder sets the topic to: \:-Q :-| :-| :\sssss :-) ha! 440 uggg *** Thunder sets the topic to: \ :-Q :-| :-| :\sssss :-) there we go ---------------------------------------------------- end -------

Usually smiley icons are embedded in the text to express emotion. In this sample they are used to mime action. The improvisation begins when *inhales* some smokem using a verbal representation of action (kinesics). It shifts from verbal to increasingly graphic representation when, on line 19, uses the colon and a pipe :| to represent the action of inhaling as a tightlipped grimace. He adds a backward slash, and chuckles (a paralingual activity) by typing "hehehe." smiled and reverted momentarily to the use words to *exhale.* Then he immediatly replaced the word with the figure zero for an open mouth. Thus the sequence or action has been depicted pictorially.

then mimicks and expands upon 's performance. He puts the whole sequence together on one line (line 430) and adds a row of "sssss" and the letter Q. The usual meaning of the icon :-Q is given as "man smoking a cigarette."

In conclusion, as a kind of coda, puts the sequence into the "topic" of his channel (line 438), as if fiddling with the props or resetting a "scene." On IRC, a new topic can be changed at any time during a chat by the channel operator who is usually the person who "opened" the channel.

One last example of the representation of non-verbal cues examines the use of nicknames as images of the self. Verbal play with nicknames represents play with accesssory, in this case, the body, the face, or perhaps a mask. The log was collected by Haya Bechar- Israeli (1995), in a study of identity on IRC (http://shum.huji.ac.il/jcmc/vol1/issue2/bechar.html).

IRC does not allow the same two nicknames to exist simultaneously. Thus there are times when people "steal" nicknames, intentionally or not. In this case, when one member of the channel #30plus noticed that he could not use his usual nick , he adopted an extra 3 . His friends on the channel noticed the difference and responded collectively and playfully with the limits of the medium:

-------------------------------------------- me33 --------------

irclog april 3 1994. 22:03 (Israel time), channel #30plus.

1. *me33 feels put out someone has taken my nick!!! ...................................................... 2. hey me33... how'd you get 30 added to you nick??? ....................................................... ....................................................... 3. daisee someone has taken my nick!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....................................................... ....................................................... 4. me33: the noive!!! 5. i dont know why... i msged, but no reply from them. 6. poor me3. 7. daisee i agree! 8. me is 31. ....................................................... ....................................................... 9. hmmmmm maybe you could all msg me3 the normal msges me3 gets.. i.e., ewwww go away, etc, that will make him/her give it up! :) ....................................................... ....................................................... 10. me33 hi there 11. /msg me33 i dont think you get silly messages 12. infonut yeah...but you can send a few to me3 now! it might help. 13. me33- ok. 14. me3 you look older ;) ....................................................... ....................................................... 15.***daisee is now known as daisee3 16.***cloudkid is now known as cloud33 ....................................................... ....................................................... 17.***sylvie is now known as sylvie33 18. sylvie :))) 19.***borghese is now known as borg33 ....................................................... 20.***coucou is now known as coucou69 21. *ouch* 22. cloud33!!! 23. hehehe 24. kayla, seattle =) 25. it's glorious here... croucuses 'n' evrything :) 26.***daisee3 is now known as daisee33 27.***steven is now known as steven331 28.***infonut is now known as info33 29. ops 30.*me33 feels like such a tredsetter today! :)) 31. what is with the 33? 32.***steven331 is now known as steven 33. me33: see what you started????????????????????? 34. me33, y've always ben trendy! :) 35.*info33 lughs at borg33 36. prpl, were being supportive of me33. 37.***cloud33 has changed the topic on channel #30plus to "if your name doesnt have '33' in it do it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 38.***mermer has left channel #30plus 39.***capsean is now known as capt33 40.*me33 is loosing it now!!! 41.***firstmate is now known as mate33 42.***kayla is now known as kyla33 ....................................................... 43.***bmw is now known as bmw333333 44. bmw has the most 3's, must be collecting them!!! 45.***signoff: duckie-(leaving) ....................................................... ....................................................... 46. my ducks... having a difficult time dealing with this 33 crap. no sense of humor today. 47. where do i get a '3'? 48. gotta run have a great weekend all you 33'rs!!!!!!! 49. came to think about it... 3 is not a good mumber for me ....................................................... 50. hurrah!!!!!!!!!! me3 is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 51.***me33 is now known as me3 52.***net33 is now known as annette 53.*annette has decided to act her age (not) 54. wheh!! feels much better. 55.***kyla33 is now known as kayla 56.***daisee33 is now known as daisee 57.***sylvie33 is now known as sylvie

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The nickname can serve a kinesic function by standing in for looks, the face, an expression, the body, or in this case age. In line 14. comments to : "me3 you look older ;)". The verbal play with the number 33 in this log illustrates how a nickname can serve as an expressive medium for group identity and solidarity. Verbal play serves the formation of community. The recreation of non-verbal behaviors through play with language can anchor a community that was formed in the abstract place of cyberspace. Greenblatt (1996) reminds us that the very word "cyberspace" itself emerges out of our need for a sense of place. Physical presence and sensory contact remain primary forms of experience evem when we are abstracted from them.

In a study of community ties, Stamm (1985:10-11,20) suggests four kinds of links that connect a individual to a community:

• communication
• geographic location
• cognitive association (an image of the group)
• affective attachment (emotional closeness to the group)

Of the four kinds of links that Stamm (1985:10-11,20) suggests connect a individual to a community, only geography is absent from computer-mediated communication. Communication, cognitive association, and affective attachment are present if not enhanced by the medium. Certainly, the Internet was created for communication.

A channel name on IRC such as #30plus creates cognitive association to a group by giving the group a name. When everyone adds the number 33 to their name they create a cognitive association to the channel name which also contains the number 3. Through collective play with the number 33 they also create an association to each other by making their different nicknames resemble each other.

goes overboard and adds six "3s." is the exception to the rule who can't deal with this "33 crap nonsense." has to be different and adopts "69" instead (still, its a number).

is clearly upset about losing his nickname and the group clearly identifies with 's plight by adding "33" to their names. This illustrates affective attachment as a sign of the emergence of community. When asks "what is with the 33?" explains "were being supportive of me33." They even change the topic of the channel to "if your name doesn't have '33' in it, do it now!!!". When the "thief" finally quits IRC can once again use his nick and he "cries out" with joy and excitement, indicated by the exclamation marks (line 50).

Sometimes virtual is equated with "not real" or "not serious" (Jacobson and Dana 1995). Although virtual worlds may be inherently playful, virtual encounters can be serious business and very real in the cognitive or affective sense.

Howard Rheingold suggests that "we do everything people do when people get together, but we do it with words on computer screens, leaving our bodies behind":

Millions of us have already built communities where our identities commingle and interact electronically, independent of local time or location (Rheingold 1992).

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1995) reminds us that despite the "disembodied presence and immateriality of place, fluid membership and ephemeral existence" on the net, there is a strong sense of presence and performativity in online communication.

How then, does a community emerge without a physical place?

A Place without a Location

Traditionally, communities have been confined physically, emotionally, and psychologically by bound spaces and the time required to navigate through them. It took Marco Polo decades to convey letters from the Church of Rome to the Emporer of China (Harasim 1993). With the introduction of the telegraph in the 1840s, information began to "flow through walls" and as a result, where one is has less and less to do with what one knows and experiences" (Meyrowitz 1985:viii).

The concept of "a place without a location" has informed media studies since the 1960s, when scholars became interested in the television as a gathering place (Adams 1992:117).

Geographers such as Yi-Fu Tuan view place is a "center of felt value" (1977:4, 130-131). Anselm Strauss suggests that:

A group constituted around a common symbolic structure is a "culture area" of its own, the limits of which are set neither by territory nor formal membership, but by the limits of communication (Strauss 1986).

Clifford Geertz's approach to the study of culture is essentially a semiotic one, believing that "man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun" (Geertz 19733:5).

Some view cyberspace to the 19th Century West (John Perry Barlow, 1990), peopled by "computer cowboys" (Hafner and Markoff, 1991: 10), "console cowboys," or "digital explorers" (Levy, 1984, Preface). John Perry Barlow writes:

It is vast, unmapped, culturally and legally ambiguous, verbally terse..., hard to get around in, and up for grabs. Large institutions already claim to own the place, but most of the actual natives are solitary and independent, sometimes to the point of sociopathy. It is, of course, a perfect breeding ground for both outlaws and new ideas about liberty. (Barlow, 1990).

Others view it as a place for relaxed conviviality resembling Ray Oldenburg's concept of a "third place" that lies somewhere between "home" and "work" (Oldenburg 1989; Rheingold, 1993; Coate, 1993; Smith, 1993; Frost 1993). Thinking of the pub, cafe, or hair salon, Oldenburg writes:

Within these places, conversation is the primary activity and the major vehicle for the display and appreciation of human personality and individuality (Oldenburg, 1989: 42).

The virtual chatroom, electronic discussion list, or homepage on the web resemble a "third place" in that their character is determined most of all by a "regular clientele" and they are marked by a playful mood (Oldenburg, 1989). The Cyberpoet's Guide to Virtual Culture notes that:

If you see a net.user with more than one window open, chances are one of those windows is linked to an electronic cafe....these coffeehouse atmospheres are prime spots for chatting or perhaps a little gaming or roleplaying (The Cyberpoet's Guide to Virtual Culture, 1993).

In an examination of instrumental uses of the network, Linda Harasim (1993) notes that many "networlds" are organized around metaphors drawn from human settings (offices, malls, campuses, cafes) or social structures (groups, meetings, seminars, parties). In this case, metaphors convey what is "socially appropriate" (Harasim 1993:30):

An online classroom, for example, involves a structured environment, with different conferences for different activities: a seminar "room," a student "cafe," a resource "library," and a "help" line....Metaphors provide familiarity and serve as navigational and cognitive aids, helping to organize the interactions and set participant expectations (Harasim 1993:29-30).

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett notes that "topic is of the utmost importance in structuring and navigating the vast electronic net" because "topic is place--from topos, the Greek word for place":

And virtual places are defined not just by the designated topic, be it jazz or sourdough, but also by the attitude to topic control. The designated topic may be the address, but the attitude to topic control helps to give the place its distinctive social character (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1995).

On some lists participants keep the topic in the air by "slapping the virtual wrists" of anyone who lets it drop. Others are moderated by a listowner who filters postings and sometimes gathers related ones together before distributing them. The charter for the USENET newsgroup rec.food.recipes stipulates that "recipes and recipes only will be posted to the newsgroup....No discussion of any kind is allowed." Members of rec.music.blues argue over whether jazz and blues belong on one list or should be separated into two different ones. Other discussion lists, like Words-L, encourage people to discuss whatever they please (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1995).

A characteristic of all electronic communication is the simultaneity of numerous conversational "threads" that allows everyone to have their say:

As a listener, you can follow all the threads, interwoven as they are with one another. Or you can ignore those that do not interest you...The result is not the cacophany of the cocktail party but a conversational tapestry that is a physical impossibility in face-to-face situations and unimaginable by phone due to the limits of audibility...Depending on your perspective the result is a constantly interrupted series of simultaneous conversations or several long continuous ones (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1995).

A good news reader will sort the cacophany of posts according to the subject line in the header of each message. You can choose which thread to follow, like branches of a tree. Mailing list software, on the other hand, does not have this capability and therefore topic control on electronic discussion lists is more in the hands of the human participants. A sense of "netiquette" has developed to negotiate the delicate and not so delicate differences of taste and temperament.

For some time now, a description of "The Natural Life Cycle of Mailing Lists" has circulated the net. It lists 6 or 7 stages in the development of an electronic discussion group that seem to resemble group formation in other settings. The stages progress from initial enthusaism, to evangelism, through growth, into a sense of community, on to discomfort with diverstiy, and end either in smug complacency and stagnation or reach a state of maturity.

In a psychological examination of cyberspace, Storm King notes that whereas "talking to strangers on the street can be problematic, talking to strangers in cyberspace is not only encouraged, it is highly rewarding and very much reinforced." Still, "public typing, like public speaking, is not everyone's cup of tea":

Levels of involvement in cyberspaces varies according to the individual's inclination for immersion and interactivity. Many choose a read only mode [what others call lurking], content to examine the thoughts of others and reflect on them in silence. Regardless of this choice, very few are single list, single space participants. It could be real time chat, bulletin boards, email lists, or all three, but the role one plays is subtly different in each new forum....just as our behavior is different in real life when in church, at school, or spending an evening in a jazz bar, so too does the level of and content of discourse vary across cyberspace....Future generations will grow up used to such alternative environments where such different rules apply, and will thrive on the mixing of cyber and real life interactions (Storm King, "Psychology of Cyberspace" unpublished ms. available from the author at stormk@netcom.com)

With the emergence of multiple environments and applications on the Internet, experiments with group formation are taking place over numerous platforms. Like MUDs, the World Wide Web is a hypertext environment. Whereas MUDs have been an exclusively text based environment, the web includes graphics and sound files.

The WEB is the second most used application on the Internet today, next to email, in part because it is the only place on the Internet that allows access to commercial interests access. In addition to the explosion of commercial sites, individuals, couples, and small groups are creating "homepages" that serve social networking purposes.

#tahitibar is a group of young Finnish adults that met on IRC. They speak Finnish on their channel and have built a homepage on the web: http://www.jyu.fi/tahitibar. There they explain to the world that they are a channel with a "history," a "history," and a "waitress." Their page contains a collection of photographs taken at various face to face meetings, such a beach party with sauna.

Words-L is an electronic discussion list that is owned by Natalie Mayner at Mississippi State University (together with her dog). What started as a discussion about the English language, developed into an unusually tightly knit social group that discusses anything that comes to mind, in a kind of collective free association. Members' attachment to each other and to the list resembles the phenomenon of a home territory bar where regulars take care of the place and keep suspicious outsiders at bay (Cavan 1966). When Worlds-L created a homepage, they envisioned a bar named "BlueMoon." The page, which can be found at http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/Words-L, contains pictures of members of the list and announces upcoming the annual face to face meetings that are large cook outs with a new, interesting name every year.

Experiments with multi-media environments try to combine the web and MOO protocols, creating WOO. "ChibaMOO" is such an experiment, explained on a webpage named after William Gibson's "megalopolis" in _Neuromancer_ (1984), "The Sprawl." http://sensemedia.net/sprawl

Story is a vital medium through which we make sense of ourselves and the world. A subscriber to the perform-l discussion list described how story tellers in British pub still hold everyone's attention as they relate an incident of local interest. Drama in education is also a vital means of allowing children to develop stories relevant to their concerns and locality. He asks:

We are moving from a world where there were/are stories specific to a particular community/culture to one where there are global stories....How long will it be before we can switch on and inhabit a three-dimensional world of our choice in our homes? We could then go home, lock the door, set the security systems and enter our vitual worlds, the fiction of our choice (John Somers, subscriber to perform-l@acfcluster.nyu.edu March 3, 1995).

It is already possible to do that today.

A diversity of platforms for communication broadens our horizons and creates new levels of immediacy and mediation. I do not believe that we ever experience an unmediated reality. We are always distanced from some "truth" by some kind of frame or configuration. It is only recently that we attribute this process of mediation to technology.

What one loses on IRC in terms of physical experience, perhaps one gains in psychological growth. One IRC user described their experience in the following way:

you have friends in RL...then you have freinds here, there you work, play, hang out with RL friends...here you LIVE with them...

Here I write poetry...experiences sensuality...levitate to rafters for Christ's sake...there I'm simply filling time

[Greenblatt 1996]

Certainly, some people may read this as sad or scarey that a person should turn to IRC in order to feel alive. But it is also sad that face to face life leaves a need in this person that they feel can only fill on IRC. And the Internet did not cause that condition. At its best, it provides a safe haven wherein to have some good experiences that will induce growth and maturity and improve the psychological and spiritual realms of life.

Conclusion

The Internet is a symbol of change that produces both fear and hope. Examining playful uses of the Internet can reveal some of its unique potential. I have focused on culture, communication, and location. I have tried to show how play with transitional language forms constructs virtual worlds.

Computer networks have broadened our horizons of communication by allowing us to reach out to people far away. They have narrowed the sensory realm of communication by distancing our reach so very far from our touch. When the communication "bandwidth" gets too narrow, we reconstruct our physical experiences of touch and smell, sight and sound through verbal play that is a hybrid form of both speech and writing, new in the history of human communication.

This verbal play has produced ethereal culture groups that make use of a variety of environments and platforms to build a sense of community and continuity. Communication, cognitive association and affective attachment is what links members of these groups together. The loss of non-verbal cues and geographic links prompts attempts to recreation and representation of person and place. Topic and attitudes toward topic control are especially important in the construction of a sense of place and community.

Communication on the Internet is still primarily textual, although graphics have become increasingly important. Future technologies for transmitting sound and movement will create additional environments, and additional platforms for culture and communication.

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