Games: A Way of Life

Even before the well known publication of White & Le Coru’s: “Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement” (White & Le Coru, 2011) was released, Robin Linden, developer of the successful MMORPG “SecondLife” had this to say of the players of the MMORPG genre:

"When it came to what to call the people in the world, we knew we didn't want to call them 'users', although that would be the most typical thing for software. However, the word 'users' doesn't do a very good job of describing the two-way nature of Second Life, where the people involved are providing content and contributing to the experience.

We also thought about 'members' (boring!), 'citizens' (too political!), and 'players' (too game-y). 

'Residents', however, seems most descriptive of people who have a stake in the world and how it grows (Linden, 2006)."

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArti  cle/3171/3049

http://forums- archive.secondlife.com/139/e9/125712/1.html#post1190127