ANALYSIS

It is interesting that when I first signed it to HabboHotel, I did not expect to enjoy being around a population of teenagers. However, as weeks went by, I totally enjoyed chilling out by the pool during the day and go dancing on the WoopWoop dance floor at night. I used the Labyrinth when I needed a moment to myself and to reflect upon my experiences online. It was on one of the days I spent in the Labyrinth that I started wondering whether my life online was real or virtual. Whether I would call these computer mediated communications (CMC) a virtual community.

This feeling led me to question my beliefs so far about the notion of virtual communities. According to Watson (1997) scholars have attempted to prove that “a group of people sharing something online are in fact a community”. Therefore, the simple fact that I am a Habbo makes me part of the Habbo community. Yet, I did not feel like I am part of a community. It was more like living in a neighbourhood.

To explore further, I decided to ask some questions. Six of my online “friends” with whom I have been interacting online over the past couple of months allowed me to interview them.