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VI4: N00bz inworld

N00bz inworld

Woody Evans, in Information Dynamics in Virtual Worlds, 2011

Abstract

The initial experiences in virtual worlds mirror other types of initiation, and these experiences can be understood as analogs to rites of passage. Gender and identity impact the initiation experience. Many games include storytelling techniques to encourage the newcomer to quickly buy-in to the new world. Non-game spaces use more passive techniques, but also attempt to initiate newcomers.

Gendered initiation

One of the most important differences between Real Life initiation and inworld initiation, and one of the hardest to ignore, is the factor of gender.

Here we might take issue with Judith Butler’s claim that there’s no such thing as essential gender identity. She says that no gender-based identity exists ‘behind the expressions of gender’, and that the expression itself is more important than any sense of male/female identity. ‘Identity is performatively constituted by the very “expressions” that are said to be its results’ (1999: 33).

In virtual worlds, the perspective that gender is constructed and performed rather than inherent (see also the work of Anne FaustoSterling, C. J. Pascoe, and Anne Balsamo) get more mileage. The identity problems inherent in online communities and virtual worlds make initiation as we usually understand it – which is almost always gendered – decidedly de-sexed. Newbies pick the gender they wish to perform almost as lightly as they pick the colors of their garments, their beard particularities, or their shoe styles.

Yet gender isn’t (can’t be) obviated by virtual identities. For one thing, the person behind the avatar has a gender of some kind. For another, the avatar has its own gender; in fact, the division between genders is often more cartoonishly distinct in virtual worlds than it ever could be in Real Life (think big BIG bosoms and broad BROAD hips for the ladies; wide shoulders and grim-set jaws for the lads). There’s very little that’s either fey or butch in avatars, and that’s true in virtual worlds that build in clear gender differences (like Guild Wars) as well as in worlds that allow a lot of flexibility about look and build and sexual characteristics (like Second Life). Even so, we see in Second Life a lite attitude toward gender because of the inherent transcience built into avatars; avatars are mutable. In this way, we see in Second Life something of the values reflected by Kellee Santiago in building Cloud, which was ‘dedicated to creating an emotionally rich, age[less] and genderless game experience’ (Kafai et al., 2008: 170). Queer Theory isn’t equipped for Samus Aran.

Sex is fundamental to human identity (which is why Queer Theory, with its insistence on the mutability of sexual identity, is so important), and initiation universally happens to individuals who are seen either as boys or girls (for puberty rites), or as men or women (for other kinds of initiations, later life passages, joining organizations, etc.). We may except cases of physical sexual ambiguity (hermaphrodites) or ‘third genders’ (such as the ‘two-spirit’ shamans of Native American tribes).

Victor Turner takes pains to point out the differences between the male and female initiation rites of the Ndembu people of Zambia in the 1960s. ‘Although both boys and girls,’ he says, ‘undergo initiation ceremonies, the form and purpose of the ceremonies differ widely in either case. Boys, for instance, are circumcised, but there is no cliterodectomy of girls. Boys are initiated collectively, girls individually . . .’ (1967). The differences between the purposes and comportment of male and female initiations he spells out in some detail. Again, gender provides order for initiation into the full agency of adulthood.

Those symbols of initiation (the passages, the thresholds, the stairways) that Eliade reminds us run rampant at home and office? Turns out that these symbols are quite common in virtual worlds too. Next we’ll examine the induction period, the initiation into a new identity, in virtual worlds in detail and see which elements inworld provide insight into the issues of initiatory symbols.

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VI2: Cyber personalities in adaptive target audiences

Cyber personalities in adaptive target audiences

Miika Sartonen, ... Jussi Timonen, in Emerging Cyber Threats and Cognitive Vulnerabilities, 2020

Abstract

Target audience analysis (TAA) is an essential part of any influence operation. To convey a change in behaviour, the overall target population is systematically segmented into target audiences (TAs) according to their expected responsiveness to different types of influence and messages, as well as their expected ability to behave in a desired way.

The cyber domain poses a challenge to traditional TAA methods. Firstly, it is vast, complex and boundless, requiring effective algorithms to filter out relevant information within a meaningful timeframe. Secondly, it is constantly changing, representing a meshwork in formation, rather than a stable collection of TAA-specific data. The third challenge is that the TA consists not of people but of digital representations of individuals and groups, whose true identity, characteristics or location cannot usually be verified.

To address these challenges, the authors of this chapter suggest that the concept of TAA has to be revised for use in the cyber domain. Instead of trying to analyze physical people through the cyber interface, the authors have conceptualized an abstract entity whose physical identity might not be known but whose behavioural patterns can be observed in the cyber environment. These cyber personalities (some of which can be artificial in nature) construct and share their honest interpretation of reality, as well as their carefully planned narratives in the digital environment. From the viewpoint of TAA, the only relevant quality of these entities is their potential ability to contribute to the objectives of an influence operation.

As a first step, this chapter examines the cyber domain through a five-layer structure and looks at what TAA-relevant data are available for analysis. The authors also suggest a way of analyzing cyber personalities and their networks within adaptive TAs, to conduct a TAA that more effectively supports influence operations in the cyber domain.

Syntactic layer

The syntactic layer consists of the software that operates the devices of the physical layer (Sartonen et al., 2016). The corresponding cyber personality aspect is a virtual identity: a local user account on a computer or device. In other words, once a cyber personality starts using a new device (computer, mobile phone), a virtual identity has been created in the syntactic layer. A single virtual identity can provide access to multiple network identities, such as e-mail addresses or cloud-based user IDs, and can thus be the means of connecting multiple network identities to a single cyber personality. Linking a physical device, such as a computer on a campus or in a working place, to a virtual identity also provides demographic information about the physical identity of a cyber personality. The browser used by the cyber personality is also a good source of information. It can leave traces of past browsing and other information (such as user agent and operating system) (Wang, Lee, & Lu, 2016).

Again, conversely, supposing we have established a possible connection between the physical as well as the virtual identities of a cyber personality, we can assess the likelihood of the connection being real by comparing the information on both levels. Is the network usage pattern as expected and does it correspond with the physical trajectory? If there are discrepancies, it is possible that the cyber personality is fraudulent, such as an automated social media bot that is not utilizing a browser and is only focussing on application programming interface (Chu, Gianvecchio, Wang, & Jajodia, 2012). Discrepancies can also occur if a cyber personality uses different techniques, such as encryption (Gupta, Gupta, & Singhal, 2014) and TOR network (Haraty & Zantout, 2014), to avoid detection.