Online Communication

Over the years, various online communities have created different ways for communicating online. These include smilies, acronyms and leet/1337 (elite) speak.

Smilies were created as a result of the ambiguity of internet communication. They were designed to replace facial emotions, which are difficult to convey through text over the internet. At first, simple smilies were introduced, such as the happy/sad face, but eventually, more complex ones were made, which graphical images introduced later on. I tend to use smilies when using almost any communication software that uses the internet as I find it helps to get by message across.

Acronyms were made in order to convey phrases that are used often through only using a few characters on the keyboard. I use acronyms a lot in synchronous online conversations. For example, to say I'll be afk (away from keyboard), I might type "brb" (be right back) or "bbl" (be back later). This is useful for those who know what these phrases mean, but can be confusing for the uninitiated.

Leet speak (1337) was developed primarily as a way to bypass filters on the internet that prevented talk of an illegal or deviant nature. For example, exploits (in software) would become "spl01tz". It is still used today for the same purpose and also by gamers who cheat and try to avoid being punished by using non-ASCII characters in their name. Many people use it nowadays as a source of fun on the internet.

Online Gaming

In recent years, as high speed internet has become more and more available, news has concentrated more on the effects of intense computer gaming sessions. In South Korea for example, computer gaming has become a new sport (Delirium of disorder, 2004). People have actually died (BBC News, 2005) at their computer screen as they became absorbed into the game they were playing. Games where this intense gaming generally happens are starting to have controls put into them, so that they can only be played for so long each day.

The effects of online gaming are not always negative however. People are able to take items they're acquired in the virtual world, and them sell (BBC News, 2004) them in the physical world. Again, this may sound daft, but for the people who've spent a lot of their time producing whatever they have virtually, it means a lot to them, so they are then able to sell to like minded people.

Gamers can also take what was once a hobby, and become a professional "cyber athlete", in the same way a tennis player would. Probably the most famous cyber is Fatal1ty (Johnathan Wendel) who's won over $1m in prize money from tournaments.

Although I do spend a fair bit of my time playing a variety of different games myself (generally centred around 1 online community), I don't play anywhere near enough to either die playing, or take it to a professional level (even though it does sound like a good way to make a living).

BBC News (2004) Gamer buys $26,500 virtual land [internet], Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4104731.stm [Accessed 10 November 2006].
BBC News (2005) S Korean dies after games session [internet], Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm [Accessed 10 November 2006].
Delirium of disorder (2004) E-sports Gaining Popularity in South Korea [internet], Available from: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/04/1910229 [Accessed 10 November 2006].

Internet Addiction

Kimberly S. Young made a website to help anyone with an addiction to the internet (Young, 2006). On it, there's a video about how she got involved in the subject, a blog about the addiction, and a test for visitors to take to see if they've got a problem. Although the internet is probably a strange place to give advice on internet addiction, I can see why it works. People who need the help will be more comfortable starting to help themselves through the internet as it's what they're used to, and also gives them anonymity.

Also on the site is a test for people to take to see how addicted to the internet you are. Whilst it may be a good idea in theory, I don't think that internet addiction (or possibly any addiction) can be diagnosed through a simple test. For example, there is not a 'never' option for any of the questions. All the questions are qualitative also, which can make them hard to answer. One persons 'frequently' may be another persons 'often'. There are many other things that could have been asked as well in my opinion, such as the amount of time spent online, and also why they spend time online.

Generally, I think that internet addiction does happen, but only because they're attached to the content that can be found. For example, a socially disadvantaged person may find it easier to make friends online, so would then return to that regularly. I also believe that for someone to be a true internet addict, they must show similar symptoms to conventional addictions when the internet is removed from them.

Young, K. (2006) Center for net addiction recovery (IHEI) [Internet]. London, IHEI. Available from: http://www.netaddiction.com/ [Accessed 07 November 2006].