Das Leben kein Traum

Rupert Lemmel-Seedorf
2013 unpublished
The presented thesis discusses Second Life, a virtual 3D world where each player can lead a self-determined life with electronic counterparts. The possibility to create avatars freely and at the same time the absence of a binding narration, which would predestine actions and results of the participants, give Second Life the character of an intuitively playable representational stage. The fact that creative and gaming freedom coincide here creates a special form of theatricality which will be
more » ... lored. To answer the research question after forms of expression of playing and theatricality in Second Life, I have chosen the following contextual key areas: knowledge and information society, internet and civil society, virtual worlds, concepts of gaming, computer games, theatrical playing, Theatrum Mundi and Second Life as subjects in contemporary drama. The answers are embedded in the history of technical, social and economic components that surround us and change physical life in a way that allows virtual life to become possible. Computer and internet develop into a medium of convergence that combines the real and the digital world. In this context 'combine' means more than bring together or match. It means to merge continuously. The reality of the world conveyed by media begins to compete with the world experienced beyond the computer. That leads to a virtualisation of socio-communicative structures which are expressed in digital identities. It is made transparent that playing is a basic motive of human acting, as described by Helmuth Plessner and Johan Huizinga. Self-determinedly and according to their social status people use the computer and the internet to present their individual and networked lives. That is documented in the analysing part of this thesis with the rise of social software and Web 2.0 and will be illustrated concretely using the example of Second Life. From 2006 to 2008 Second Life experienced media attention to an extent that deserves the word 'hype'. But also after disappearing from general pe [...]
doi:10.25365/thesis.27848 fatcat:hwddgnz57nglznagtd572oeo5i