A Northwestern University study found out that virtual avatars created by MMO
players are subjected to the same level of racial discrimination as their real
world lookalikes, reported by Ars
Technica.
It's easy to develop a confusing picture of what goes on inside of multiuser
virtual worlds, such as Second Life and World of WarCraft. Some reports suggest that the virtual
reality enables people to escape from social interactions they otherwise find
difficult; others highlight how users of virtual worlds find them satisfying
because of the rich social interactions they enable. Some researchers at
Northwestern University looked into just how well real-life social influences
translate to the the virtual realm and discovered one that does: racism.
The authors used two different instances of social manipulation that are
known to work well in the real world. The first is the "foot in the door" (FITD)
approach, in which a small, easily accomplished favor is asked. These tend to
make the person who granted the favor happy about their cooperation, and more
likely to agree to further requests, even if they require more effort.
The second method, called "door in the face" (DITF), accomplishes the same
thing using a different approach. The initial request, instead of being easy to
handle, involves an extensive effort on the part of the person asked. Usually,
that request is declined, but it makes people more likely to agree to a further,
less time-intensive request. Instead of being inwardly-focused, the DITF method
depends largely on a person's perception of the individual or organization
making the request; the more responsible and credible they seem, the more likely
the second request will be agreed to.
German Questioned Over Gamer's Murder
