Cet extrait de la thèse de E. Reid illustre l'idée d'une désihibition de la communication dans les mondes virtuels. Toutefois il semble que sa principale explication repose sur le fait que les personnes peuvent avoir un personnage anonyme dans un MUD, qui porte un autre nom, qui a une autre apparence ou même un autre sexe. Le sentiment de devoir assumer ses actes et ses paroles dimunue ainsi. J'ai remarqué le même effet dans des parties de jeux de rôles où la "non-réalité" des actions peut pousser à tous les excès.
CULTURAL FORMATIONS IN TEXT-BASED VIRTUAL REALITIES
by
ELIZABETH REID
Cultural Studies Program
Department of English
University of Melbourne
--- DISINHIBITION AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE ---
If all computer-mediated communication systems can be said to have one single unifying effect upon human behaviour it is that usage tends to cause the user to become less inhibited. Although they often disagree on the effects of such lack of inhibition, researchers of human behaviour on these systems have often noted that players tend to behave more freely than they would in face-to-face encounters.
Sproull and Kiesler describe computer-mediated behaviour as "relatively uninhibited and nonconforming."[11] Kiesler, Siegel and McGuire have observed that "people in computer-mediated groups were more uninhibited than they were in face-to-face groups."[12]
The forms that this disinhibition takes differ from one researcher's experience to that of the next. Some have seen an increase in examples of aggressive and disrespectful behaviour; others have noted increases in friendliness and intimacy. Behaviour on MUDs conforms to these observations. Players do seem to be less inhibited by conventions seen in everyday life. They can be seen to be both more intimate and more hostile with each other than would be socially acceptable in everyday life, particularly when considering that hostility or intimacy may be shown among players who are strangers to one another.
[11] Sara Kiesler and Lee Sproull, "Reducing Social Context Cues:
Electronic Mail in Organizational Communication."
_Management_Science_ Vol.32 No.11 (November 1986): 1498.
[12] Kiesler et al, 1129.