Real Places in Virtual Spaces

We can distinguish geometrically defined or indicated areas of space from those areas of space where a structure of social norms gives special meaning to movements and actions. A courtroom, a restaurant, a corridor each have their appropriate norms that distinguish sub-areas and assign behaviors to them. We might call such areas places as opposed to mere areas of space that have no special significance. In this sense of the word place there are real places located in the virtual spaces within online games, conferencing systems, or mixed physical-virtual spaces. As with places in physical space, the value of places in virtual space depends on the detailed character of their spatiality, the way their textures fit with their social use, and on the complexity and humaneness of the actions guided by their social norms. Introduction: Places and Areas Real events happen in real places in virtual spaces. This may seem a strange claim, if places are supposed to be in physical space, reachable by some combination of movements starting from where you are now sitting. I am claiming, though, that while places need to be within a perceptible space, that space does not have to be physical. Virtual spaces can become inhabited places. In daily English place and related terms are used in many overlapping ways. A beautiful field of flowers is a place, the broom has its place in the closet, the children's place is upstairs, the third line on the form is the place to fill in this year's income, and so on. While there are some different nuances between saying that a location is the place for the game, the site of the game, or the position of the game, in daily usage the terms often have little distinction from one another. Yet there are distinctions we can make. There are beautiful areas in a forest that are obviously "somewhere" locatable on a map, and we can walk to them, and they have a striking unified character, but they are "nowhere in particular" in the sense that there are no expectations or rituals or actions associated with the area. Many things are happening in those areas as the plants grow and the birds fly, but in another sense nothing human or social happens there. Such areas are places in one sense of the word but not in another. I want to distinguish those senses. For the purposes of this discussion I will use the term space to denote the larger wholes within which areas and places are distinguished. Spaces can be divided into areas, which Real Places in Virtual Spaces 1