The context of virtual worlds has served as a newly and beneficial channel in which individuals have been able to formulate, meaningful relationships with other people through continuous contact (Shang, Chen & Huang et al., 2012). In this regard, it has been evident that the establishment of Second life as an example of postmodernism has proven to be of great significance. Postmodern culture has not reflected a drastic change with modernism, but is rather, an indication of the shift in time of a transitional period of economic, social, and cultural patterns which would significantly determine possibilities of the representation of the future. Both postmodern culture and modern culture have depicted, in some way, the representation and notion of the construct of the ‘structure of feeling’, or simply, the aesthetic expression or construction of the ‘real’. Barker & Jane (2016), go on to elaborate that, modernism and postmodernism culture have significantly been linked to the same constructs of life, in which there seems to be an acceleration in the pace of living and tension between instability and concern for depth and meaning.
This essay will explain the significance of how Second Life is a good example of postmodern culture. With regards to the statement above, the analysis of the core characteristics of postmodernism: reflexive postmodernism, collapse of boundaries, bricolage and intertexuality, aestheticism, and implosion; will be discussed, so as to serve as a strong theoretical framework of reference to identify why Second Life is regarded as a significant example of postmodern culture.
2. Second life as a virtual reality game
Virtual reality worlds have been depicted as non-existent virtual environments in which people formulate a sense of existence of other characters or people being present, these individuals tend to interact with others on a daily virtual basis (Schroeder, 2008). Similarly, Second Life is an online virtual world, developed and owned by the San Francisco-based firm Linden Lab and launched on June 23, 2003. By 2013, Second Life had approximately 1 million regular users. In many ways, Second Life is similar to massively multiplayer online role-playing games; however, Linden Lab is emphatic that their creation is not a game, as there is no manufactured conflict and no set objective. The virtual reality game Second Life blurs the distinction between reality and fantasy; between self and identity; between culture and art; between economy and high culture. In this way, Second Life is characteristic of Postmodern culture.
Gottschalk (1995), states that as new technologies, virtual games are becoming increasingly popular among today’s preteens and teenagers, relying on systematic observation of video games found in public arcades, participation in them, and engagement with the relevant literature. In this day and age it is seen that both our private and public environments are becoming increasingly computerised, an example of this is evident within Second life. The virtual reality game Second life, allows users to interact with other online users by simply striking their computer keyboard, as a means of formulating a digital representation of the kind of person they would like to be (Boellstorff, 2015). This fictional digital character is depicted as an ‘avatar’, that is able to be controlled by its user who may interact with other avatars, controlled by various individuals all over the world. In most instances, people prefer to remain anonymous by using their avatar as a means of rarely disclosing confidential information about their corporeal selves. Boellstorff (2015), offers a clear and comprehensive description for individuals who are completely unfamiliar with this form of socialising of how Second Life works, from the selection of an avatar, to the mere construction of a dream house, the securing of a dream job, friendships, hobbies and even the selection of spouses and children.
The postmodern shift is predicated on much more than a simple association with these new technologies, but such a shift is importantly informed by their presence and multiplication (Gottschalk, 1995). Games have become extensions of our social life, they have given new meanings to social structures which have become so familiar that this obscures the routine activities of everyday life. Second life allows its players to metaphorically transfer the power of control and meanings from their avatars that they have chosen from the game, to create a series of interesting inversions from normal everyday life. Virtual games such as the Second life provide a sense of pleasure which takes a particularly interesting form which resonates with various depictions of postmodern culture as one of electronic simulation and excess. The concern of the Second life Game is that one may lose their self in the virtual world, as it requires individuals to immerse themselves in the virtual world in order to master it. Virtual games such as Second life represents the breakdown of boundaries characteristics of postmodern culture, boundaries between fantasy and science, high tech and primitivism, and play and real life. Technology has made the possibility of division seem infinite, the popular imagination appears to have taken flight either into a world like those represented by pop videos where sings are not anchored to anything (Gottschalk, 1995).
3. Postmodernism
According to Baker (2012), postmodernism in philosophy has been associated with thinkers as diverse as Lyotard, Baudrillard, Foucault, Rorty, and Bauman, not all whom would welcome that characterisation. Postmodernism as a cultural sensibility associated with high or post modernity.
Postmodernism does not accept anything as a reliable means of knowing things. Freedom, imagination and emotion are common to Postmodernism, subjectivity and emphasis on individualism and solitary life in society are common to Postmodernism. Mistrust in science is present in Postmodernism, because the former cherishes nature and the latter denies all metanarratives. Postmodernism denies all kinds of ultimate truths, in Postmodernism the individual is regarded as an effect of desires or discourses and power systems (Dimaggio & Mukhtar, 2004). Modernity and postmodernity are terms that refer to historical and sociological configurations, as well as, cultural and epistemological concepts (Baker, 2012). Modernism advocates rational thinking and the use of science for the advancement of man while postmodernism believed in the irrationality of things. Postmodernism takes the dissolution of art into social life and rejects tradition, but it crosses this with unpolitical impulses of modernism.
4. The core characteristics of postmodernism
4.1 Reflexivity
The reflexive postmodern perspective highlights the existential analysis of the micro-practices of individuals’ lives and the discourses imposed on them by the environment and other individuals. Foucault (according to a citing by Pinkus (1996); Barker and Jane, 2016) defines discourses as more than just the perceptions that individuals put together in formulating meaning; therefore, discourses are the articulations of a constructed knowledge, the influence of social relations and practices, power factors within the former, and the subjective involvement of an individual and how all these aspects have influence on what an object would then represent.
Fundamentally, (Barker and Jane, 2012, p. 181), reflexivity is considered the divorce of certain beliefs in norm to the social debate on liberalization of the construction of self’s meaning, in opposing of the societal reality of the world. In religion and culture, individuals get lost in the mental and behavioural act of making generative choices consequently moving away from a rooted identity. This is a form of false consciousness: a capitalist cog that depicts an idealistic sense culture. This then results in individuals further constructing multiple identities simultaneously with preexisting discourses.
A reflexive culture is a manipulation and play of an already existing culture; and meaning stands on contested grounds, thence, the authenticity of an idea is kept and in simulation of meanings and ideas to a signal object, word/phrase the unoriginal idea inherits the original meaning from mass culture together with popular culture (Barker and Jane, 2016). This simulation is also a self-referential ‘ reflexivity ‘ of the idealised relationships between one’s self-concept and the social environment (Turner, 2000, np.). The virtual world ‘ something like Second Life ‘ is such an example of a contemporary reflexive postmodern practice. The residents in the virtual environment do not live such a different life to that of the real world but just construct other meanings and practices to the already existing social environment that relate to an identity that the resident is in parallel with in the virtual environment.
4.1.1 Reflexivity in Second Life
The initial and primary function of this virtual reality world (game) is for one to live in a world that is surreal in reality to that one that would be one’s life outside of Second Life ‘ the ultimate world and reality; reflexive and parallel to the real world (which, within the virtual world is ‘a collection of server host machines) however, with the exception of creations and abilities above that of Earth-human capabilities (Barker and Jane, 2016) ‘ this, then, is when there is a manipulation and regeneration of one’s identity. The creative dynamics that an individual can create him/herself are called scripts, that give the resident (the ‘player’) new abilities like teleporting to a different location or even flying (Strickland and Roos, 2007) and further create user additional objects (called resident additions). From the aforementioned on reflexivity, the world an individual creates in this virtual world is not so distinct from the real world, and it is more of a evolutionary based concept that is a consequence on what is, together with what can be. Second Life practices the same norms as that of the real world, viz. it has a virtual economy that is dependent on real currency ‘ for instance, the United States’ dollar currency can be exchanged for the virtual world’s currency, called the Linden Dollar. Second Life also expands of Derrida’s theory on language. Derrida points out that language is not fixed and thus semantics does not functions on a single constructed meaning (Barker, 2012); that being said, Second Life residence’s use a language called Linden Scripting Language (LSL) (Strickland and Roos, 2007).
4.2 Postmodernism and the collapse of cultural boundaries
In postmodernism there is a move away from the modernist discursive to the figural. The modernist regime of signification prioritises words over image, urges for rationalist worldview, explores the meanings of cultural texts and distances the spectator from the cultural object. Postmodern culture is therefore identified by the blurring and collapse of the usual, traditional boundaries between culture and art, high and low culture (Baker, 2012). Globalisation implies all sorts of economic, political and cultural challenges an changes. Dalby (1998) , stated that the economic decisions are slowly moving away beyond state control.
The collapse of cultural boundaries can be seen in the production of cars, where by Gartman (2004) , argued that the emergence of the cultural logic of a particular automotive age is influenced by the demand of auto production and use. However as the culture of cars grows, mass production seizes culture and subjects it to the imperatives of exchange value. Through mass production and the high demand of car manufacturers resort to reducing the qualities of products to the lowest common denominator in order to facilitate runs of standardised goods on machines (Gartman, 2004).
Postmodern theorists have stated that the influence of politics are involved in this collapse of class identities and the rise of a culture dominated by an ever changing array of consumer spectacles expressing the identities of a society fragmentedby lifestyle concerns. The collapse of class identities and the diverging culture that accompanies them, are based on hierarchical models that reproduce the passivity of the masses at the bottom, who await deliverance by the experts at the top (Gartman, 2004).
With regards to cultural studies, the language used when discussing boundaries is also changing. Newman and Paasi (1998), have identified that the concepts of boundaries are increasingly used not only in relation to state boundaries, but also more generally to social and cultural boundaries. New conceptualisations and representations of space have emerged within cultural studies, being different from those which political geographers traditionally created in their concepts of boundaries, many of which are explicit representations of space, scale and culture (Newman & Paasi, 1998).
4.3 Bricolage and Intertextuality
Bricolage as a cultural style is a core element of postmodern culture, it is observable in architecture, film and popular music videos. Bricolage also refers to the organising and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning. Shopping centres have made the mixing of styles from different times and places a particular trademark. Postmodern culture is identifiable by the reference of on text within another, this is referred to as Intertextuality (Baker, 2012).
Kincheloe (2005), stated that all observations of the world are shaped either consciously or unconsciously by social theory, with this being said the bricolage exist out of respect for the complexity of the lived world. When looking at theory it is seen as a cultural and linguistic artifact. Kincheloe (2005), also added that the task of the Bricolage is to attack this complexity, uncovering the invisible artifacts of power and culture and documenting the nature of their influence not only on their own scholarship but also of its observation as inseparable from the historical dynamics that have shaped it.
The Bricolage plays an active role in influencing people, it shapes their reality by creating the research processes and narratives that represent it. The bricolage’s main concern is that it struggles to find and develop numerous strategies for getting beyond a one dimensionality, further more Kincheloe (2005) added on to this concern the understanding of the dialectical relationship between knowledge and reality. With this in mind the Bricolage, maintained that the concept originated in an understanding of the complex and unpredictability of the cultural domain (Kincheloe, 2005). In reference to Kincheloe he stated that the notion of Intertextuality, defined as the complicated interrelationship connecting a text to other texts in the act of textual creation or interpretation. He also added to the importance of Intertextuality in the context of the Bricolage and the effort to understand complexity involves the notion that all narratives obtain meaning not only just by their relationship to material reality but from their connection to other narratives (Kincheloe, 2005).
4.4 Aestheticism
Aestheticism in its simplest yet broadest sense, has always been known to have both operated in a central mode of engaging in and of interpreting philosophy, history, and politics (Loesberg, 2014). For many critics it has stood as a vague synonym, as it sought to distinctly separate from social or historical effect, and the the imagination of a realm of art, in this way, it distinctly adapted to a means to advocate an escape into that ‘unreal’, aesthetic universe ( Loesberg, 2014).
Aestheticism in everyday life has somewhat taken the form of Second Life virtual reality in the blurring of cultural boundaries, allied to the prominence of image which has arguably resulted in the aestheticization of urban life (Barker & Jane, 2016). Barker & Jane (2016), suggests that this phenomena has taken on three distinct forms: artistic subcultures that have sought out to erase the possibility of the establishment of boundaries between art and everyday life, the project of turning life into a work of art, and the fabric saturation of everyday life through the flow of signs. There is a clear linkage between identity projects and the aestheticization of daily life within consumer culture, through the creation of lifestyles that have been centered primarily on the consumption of aesthetic objects and signs.
A core to postmodern cultural style has been proven to be evident in television, as it has been regarded as one of the core centres of image production, and the continuous circulation of a collage of stitched-together images (Barker & Jane, 2016). Second life is a clear example which parodies a series of cultural stereotypes and constructs in the virtual reality world. With regards to the cartoon postmodern, Second Life is postmodern, in the way that it is able to break away from what is known as the ‘fourth wall’, which is the invisible barrier between the performers and the audience. An example of this is depicted when a player attempts to create his/her own avatar or virtual reality character, eventually some players may become frustrated in an attempt to create his/her ideal avatar, but may find that it’s a lot more complex to do so, this suggest that the avatar characters have a degree of autonomy from their makers (Barker & Jane, 2016).
4.5 Implosion
Ritzer (2000) quotes Baudrillard as defining implosion as a ‘contraction into each [of] other, a fantastic telescoping, a collapsing of the two traditional poles into one another’. This definition highlights the integration of postmodernism into the then concept of modernism, expanding the knowledge and theories of science, and ideology on the phenomenon of culture (Ritzer, 2000). The lines of simulation and reality are blurred by mass culture and the meaning that is accepted in popular culture (Turner, 2000).
Furthermore, implosion is the disintegrating differentiation of imitative representation and reality. The two factors lie on the fence of one another, thus, making it difficult to tell apart the relevance in messages and their meanings (Ritzer cited Baudrillard, 2000). In regarding the role of the masses in media, there is greater reverence for the meaning that is subjected to the media and its content by the mass culture and less qualification to the direct representation that the media tries to rely (Ritzer cited Baudrillard, 2000). The media may create a perceptive capitalist culture and ideological beliefs that quantify the materialism of Western and Eastern culture; however, the grand portion of that perception is constructed by the individual’s meanings and thus approve to make meaning a moot phenomenon (Goneos-Malika, 2012, p. 43). And the inference of that is the fact that meaning is not just a pivotal and distinct notion due to the simulation process it is consistently subjected. From the monarchial periods of ‘high culture’ versus the ‘low culture’ and how that subjectivity is not longer regarded nor predominated by a single class but rather a mass popular culture (Barker, 2012).
4.5.1 Implosion in Second Life
The initial and primary function of this virtual reality world (game) is for one to live in a world that is surreal in reality to that one that would be one’s life outside of Second Life ‘ the ultimate world and reality; reflexive and parallel to the real world (which, within the virtual world is ‘a collection of server host machines) however, with the exception of creations and abilities above that of Earth-human capabilities (Barker and Jane, 2016) ‘ this, then, is when there is a manipulation and regeneration of one’s identity. The creative dynamics that an individual can create him/herself are called scripts, that give the resident (the ‘player’) new abilities like teleporting to a different location or even flying (Strickland and Roos, 2007) and further create user additional objects (called resident additions). From the aforementioned on reflexivity, the world an individual creates in this virtual world is not so distinct from the real world, and it is more of a evolutionary based concept that is a consequence on what is, together with what can be. Second Life practices the same norms as that of the real world, viz. it has a virtual economy that is dependent on real currency ‘ for instance, the United States’ dollar currency can be exchanged for the virtual world’s currency, called the Linden Dollar. Second Life also expands of Derrida’s theory on language. Derrida points out that language is not fixed and thus semantics does not functions on a single constructed meaning (Barker, 2012); that being said, Second Life residence’s use a language called Linden Scripting Language (LSL) (Strickland and Roos, 2007).
5. Conclusion
Second life is indeed a beneficial example to the transition of postmodern culture. The constant shift in Second Life as a virtual reality game, has proven to depict the constructs within which modern and postmodern culture have explained to be a significant yet unfixed construction of the ‘real’, and the transitional shifting of time. (Barker & Jane, 2016). In contrast, the concept of realism has been unable to show things as they truly are, additionally, modernism has formulated the idea that representation is difficult to identify, as it uses nonlinear, non-realist modes of representation while trying by all means to keep the notion of the real.
This assignment has given a brief importance and understanding on the core characteristics of postmodernism as a framework of reference, so as to depict the importance of Second Life as a substantial example of postmodern culture, and distinctly highlight its presence and role within each one of the characteristics of postmodernism. Based on the theoretical arguments and crticisms, it is evident that Second Life is a broad concept to define in that it clearly shows that it is explainable in itself, however, there seems to be a sense of understanding in the context of relating postmodern culture and modernism to this phenomenon of Second Life as a virtual reality game (Barker & Jane, 2016).
In conclusion, the outline of this assignment has indeed proven to have given a strong stance so as to formulate a basic understanding of how exactly Second Life has been chosen as a sufficient example of postmodern culture, all through the critical evaluation of theoretical evidence and theories. Indeed, the formulation of th virtual reality game, Second Life, blurs the distinction between reality and fantasy, in most instances fantasy, being at the forefront of the two.
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