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Where Everyone Knows Your Name

When I ask people why they keep coming back to the Palace, the most common response is "I like the people here." The addictive power of the Palace goes far beyond that of a video game because it has something that video games never will. There are people. And people need people. On the second level of Maslow's hierarchy is the need for interpersonal contact, social recognition, and a sense of belonging. As a human, you instinctively want to go to a place where everyone knows your name.

Another stereotype in the minds of the uninformed public is that the internet is populated mostly by misfits and socially inadequate people. They can't form "real" relationships, so they resort to safe, superficial contact offered through the cold wires and glass monitor screens of cyberspace. Once again, this stereotyped thinking is more a defensive reaction to the internet than an accurate reflection of reality. Sure, some shy, interpersonally anxious, and downright pathologically schizoid people may be drawn to cyberspace relationships. They may even become "addicted" to such relationships (and who's to say that is "bad"?). However, many users are perfectly normal social beings who use the internet to find people who share similar interests and lifestyles - the kinds of people who may not be available in their immediate, real-world environment.

At the Palace users automatically have something in common with everyone else. They are USERS! They share an interest in computer technology and the internet, which offers the strong possibility of instantaneous camaraderie and a sense of belonging. Jokes about being "addicted" may be half serious, but they also boost this feeling that "we are all in this together." This is true of almost all online environments, but what makes the Palace unique is that it is a NEW technical and social environment. Unlike other places on the internet, it is a highly visual, spatial, and physical habitat. The software, the behaviors, and the social norms associated with this environment are brand new and evolving quickly. People at the Palace take great pleasure in sharing ideas about this. Many feel that they are participating in the birth of a new generation of online community. They feel like pioneers who, together, are settling new territory. It's a very addictive feeling of "belonging" to a creative process.

What makes the territory so new and challenging is that the visual/spatial qualities of the Palace have dramatically enhanced the way people can satisfy that very basic human need for social recognition and exchange. You aren't limited to text-only communication. In addition to talking, you have at your disposal the subtlety and poetry of non-verbal communication. While these non-verbals can be conveyed through action-statements in text-only environments ("Starman pats Lily on the back"), it doesn't have quite the same subtle power as a pure nonverbal behavior. At the Palace, you can run to greet friends when they enter the room. You can sit next to, above, below, or on top of people to express your mood towards them. You can place yourself into the corner of the room, float above the room, get down onto the carpet with the others, hop into a pool or a bathtub, use a chair, a table, tree, statue, or any of the other numerous objects in the environment - all as ways of showing your intentions and feelings towards others. With "thought balloons" you can express what you are thinking without expecting a reply, and with "excited balloons" you can add zip to something you want to say. Most important of all, you have props as powerful tools to express your attitudes and feelings towards others, and as social tokens to exchange with others. Add all of these visual features to the ability to "whisper" privately to others (a feature common to many chat environments) as well as the ability to write scripts to automate behavior - and you have an almost infinite array of methods to interact with others. Experimenting with these methods is quite addictive.

There is also something very captivating about the feeling that many Palace sites are like an ongoing party. Almost everyone loves a party, especially one where you can leave easily. Almost everyone can relate to the delightful nuances and complexities of hanging out and wandering through a house full of people. This social climate offers everything from casual chit-chat and goofing around to very intimate, meaningful conversation (and, of course, cybersex). A whole range of social needs can be fulfilled. While the uninformed public may claim that cyber-relationships are superficial, every experienced online user will tell you otherwise. People feel that they have made good friends, and, in some cases, lovers.

When you think about it, what's are the differences between a real relationship and one at the Palace? At the Palace you can communicate by talking and sounds, you can "do" things with people (like go for a walk), you can see them via their avatars. Words, sounds, physical actions, sights....what basic expressive dimension is left out? Well, you can't (yet) hear a person's voice or (yet) see their physical body in motion. Communication is limited by how good you are at typing and writing. But then in the real world you can't express yourself as quickly or symbolically as you can through props. And it's a well known fact that people tend to be more open and honest in cyberspace, probably BECAUSE people usually don't see or hear you.

There are indeed pros and cons to both real and cyber interactions, which simply makes them DIFFERENT. The Palace is so captivating because it is a unique ALTERNATIVE, and not necessarily a poor substitute, for satisfying social needs.... with one major exception. In cyberspace, you will never be able to touch another person. While we don't do this with just anyone in our real world lives, it IS a very important component of our closest relationships. Human physical contact is an extremely powerful need - so powerful that it also extends down into the first level of the hierarchy. Babies sink into depression and die without it. When adults are chronically deprived of it, they feel a pervasive sense of loss and longing.

There are other potentially frustrating aspects of Palace socializing. One of these frustrations can, paradoxically, foster addiction in some people. Because Palace feels like a new, pioneering territory with lots of potential rewards, a land rush has set in. Lots of new users are showing up. Among the increasing flood of people, if you want to develop and maintain friends... if you want people to know your name... you HAVE to keep coming back. The more time you spend there, the more people get to know you, the more you are considered a member who is "one of us." If you haven't signed on for a few days or longer, you may feel like you are losing ground, that you will be forgotten. You don't want those relationships you developed to fade out. So you feel compelled to go back and reestablish those ties. For many people, it is precisely those social ties that keep you coming back. Without them, the Palace would be just another video game addiction that would quickly wear off.

Hey! Look at My New Av!

On the next level of Maslow's hierarchy is the need for learning, accomplishment, mastery of the environment, and the self-esteem that arises from one's achievements. Operant theory in psychology adds that learning is most powerful when small units of accomplishment are quickly reinforced. Computers in general are so addictive because they do all of this in a highly efficient and rewarding fashion. You confront a problem or an unfamiliar computer function, you investigate, you try solutions, you finally figure it out - and the computer does something specific and concrete for you that it never did before. Challenge, experimentation, mastery, SUCCESS! It's a very addictive cycle that makes you want to learn and do more.

The Palace, being a complex technical and social environment, poses few limits on how much a person can experiment and learn. New members take great pleasure in learning the basics of how to talk, use props, play standard scripts, and navigate through the rather complex maze of rooms. Creating NEW props is a very popular hobby that requires both technical and artistic skills. Indeed, some members have refined it to an art form. For those who really want to stretch their technical prowess, there lies the challenge of learning the rather arcane computer language for writing scripts - known as "iptscrae." For those people who are not attracted to the technical side of Palace, there is the challenge of learning its social culture, i.e., discovering its people, norms, social structure, history and legends, and participating in the shaping of its future. Exploring and mastering the many levels of Palace can be a never-ending satisfier of curiosity, and a never-ending source of self-esteem. Like the cyberworld at large, it is not a static environment. New technical and social features are always appearing. To stay on top of things, you must be like a shark... you must keep moving.

For the most part, attempting to master the technical and/or social environment is a very normal, healthy process. However, for people driven to compensate for deep-seated feelings of failure, inadequacy, and helplessness, or to overcome desperate needs for acknowledge, admiration, and love - the obsession with cyberspace accomplishments can become a true addiction that never fully gratifies.

The ultimate badge of prestige at the Palace is to be chosen as "wizard." Wizards possess special abilities that ordinary members don't (like being able to kill, gag, and pin misbehaving users). They also participate in decision-making about new policies for the community. Many members, secretly or not, wish they could attain the social recognition, power, and self-esteem achieved through this promotion. To get it, one must demonstrate commitment to the community, which includes spending a considerable amount of time there. Wizardship can become a very enticing carrot that stimulates addictive attendance. For those few who do attain that position, it is a powerful reinforcer of one's efforts and further bolsters one's loyalty and devotion to Palace life. Even though the position does not include a salary, many wizards see it as a job to which they are responsible. The wizard now has a viable reason for being so "addicted." As one user stated the day after receiving his surprise promotion, "I WORK here."

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