Are you online?

In an earlier blog I spoke of subculture in the real world. As I was surfing the internet and frequented my daily websites, such as Facebook, Myspace (music) and other social networking sites, I realized that these sites formed an online subculture. My attempt to define subculture as a culture or group of people which deviates from the norm or mainstream influence seems to work in close contact with these websites. People all over the internet attempt to identify themselves as being unique in some form or another. Pictures depicting a wide assortment of weird and wacky obsessions litter these social websites. I found myself looking at my own profile and realized that I was following the same compulsion. Mainstream influences placed in our lives are deeply embedded that the realization that life has a lot more to offer than a simple rat-race is solicited by online subculture.

Networking websites are not the only form of subculture available on the internet, I also found myself gravitate towards the massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG, MMO for short). Games which include, World Of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI Online and a horde of other titles. These games offer the player a form of alternate reality in which the world is molded by every action the player makes. These channels of subculture enable the formation of bonds and relationships between players. In these worlds there are no restrictions or mainstream influences placed on personas. Another example where this non restrictive alternate reality is evident is Second Life, another world where players create avatars to interact with other players. Within these games or worlds it is evident that the real world can be completely left behind so that one may live in this parallel universe. There has been proof that people have made incredible sums of money through living a Second Life.

Basically what I’m getting at here is that facebook, myspace and all those awesome MMORPG’s offer a different medium in which to interact with subculture. Whether you are a facebook creeper or a video gaming nerd like me, you are helping to shape the online subculture of the next generation.