Every day, millions of users interact in real-time via avatars in online environments, such as massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). These online environments could potentially be unique research platforms for the social sciences and clinical therapy, but it is crucial to first establish that social behavior and norms in virtual environments are comparable to those in the physical world. In an observational study of Second Life, a virtual community, we collected data from avatars in order to explore whether social norms of gender, interpersonal distance (IPD), and eye gaze transfer into virtual environments even though the modality of movement is entirely different (i.e., via keyboard and mouse as opposed to eyes and legs). Our results showed that established findings of IPD and eye gaze transfer into virtual environments: ( 1) male-male dyads have larger IPDs than female-female dyads, ( 2) male-male dyads maintain less eye contact than female-female dyads, and ( 3) decreases in IPD are compensated with gaze avoidance as predicted by the Equilibrium Theory. We discuss implications for users of online games as well as for social scientists who seek to conduct research in virtual environments. Read more...

Objectives To describe mass media use in teenagers (television, mobile phones, computers, Internet and video games) and to analyze its influence on teenagers' health and development. Material and methods We performed a cross sectional study by means of a survey of 884 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 years old who were in the third and fourth years of high school in six towns in Cantabria (Spain) in June 2003. The statistical analysis consisted of uni- and bivariable descriptive statistics. Results All the teenagers had a television set at home and 24% of families had four or more television sets. The presence of distinct mass media in teenagers' rooms was 52.5% for televisions, 57.8% for computers, 52% for the Internet and 38.7% for games consoles. The most frequently found media in teenagers' bedrooms were radio/cassette players and compact disks with 76.8% and 67.4%, respectively. Teenagers watched television for an average of 3 hours per day on weekdays and 3.2 hours per day at weekends. They played games consoles for an average of 0.69 hours per day on weekdays (41 min) and an average of 1.09 hours per day (65 min) at weekends and used the Internet on weekdays for an average of 0.83 hours per day (49 min) and an average of 1.15 hours per day (69 min) at weekends. A total of 87.2% of the teenagers, especially girls, had a mobile phone (91.6% of girls versus 82.4% of boys; p < 0.001). The average age at which teenagers had the first mobile phone was 13 years old. Expenditure on mobile phones amounted to 15 (sic) a month in girls and 10 (sic) a month in boys, and mobiles were mainly used for sending messages. Nearly half the teenagers (46.4%) took their mobile phones to high school and reported they had an average of three mobile phones at home. Most (82.1%) surfed the net but boys preferred surfing and downloading games and girls preferred chatting and sending e-mails. Sixty-two percent of teenagers had been to a cybercafe and 40.8% has visited a pornographic web site, especially boys (33.1% of boys versus 7.7% of girls; p < 0.001). Nearly two-thirds of teenagers (71.5%) had a video console, especially boys (87% of boys versus 57.2% of girls; p < 0.001) and they started playing with them at an average age of 8.8 years. Boys preferred video games with shooting, fights, sports and driving, while girls preferred adventure video games. Nearly a quarter (22.2%) spent money on video games and cybercafes (an average of 27.06 (sic) a month in boys and 16.81 (sic) a month in girls) with no significant differences between sexes. Conclusions Society as a whole and especially health professionals should increase health education on mass media consumption, by stimulating reasonable use of mass media and teaching teenagers to be critical. Parents should set a limit of less than 2 hours/day to the use of mass media and should avoid their presence in teenagers' bedrooms. Prepay mobile phone should be used and switched off in inappropriate places. Parents should supervise and educate teenagers about video games, Internet access and e-mail usage in adolescence. Read more...

No sooner is a visual medium invented than it becomes used for pornographic representation - games are no exception. This paper chronicles depictions of sexual intercourse within game content and the presence of pornographic imagery that utilizes the game aesthetic whilst attempting to examine some of the motivation behind its creation and use. Unlike historical accounts of the stimulating effects of art, such as men’s arousal at the realism of Sansorino’s nude Venus, or Pliny’s account of a man’s infatuation with the sculpture of Aphrodite of Caridos, sex in games exists within a cyber-culture that offers access to a broad range of erotic, graphic and specialized pornographic materials. The authenticity of digitally mediated experiences – desire-driven assemblages of the social and technological – is given consideration in terms of whether the perceptual nature of sexuality is undergoing a transformation, allowing for wider patterns of variation in erotic sub-cultures. This paper recognizes how these sub-cultures remain focused upon, and constructed around phallocentric fantasies and desires, but begins to reflect on how the substance of the body and the sexual object is continuing to shift and diversify. Read more...