Abstract
This Prospectus specifies the plan for a research project in Second Life. Below the reader will find an introduction to Second Life as well as the area in Second Life that I plan to research. Also I will briefly cover the methods I will use to conduct this research and who and what it is exactly that I plan to study. I will examine possible limitations I may run into while researching as well as what I believe my research may achieve.
Introduction: Research Problem
Second Life is a virtual world produced and operated by Linden Lab. While Second Life has the appearance of a typical video game it is really quite different and better referred to as a virtual world or virtual environment. Unlike a standard video game there is no way to “finish” Second Life, nor are there levels to pass. Instead, Second Life is a social platform allowing people to do whatever they want to do with in this virtual space. Users can be whom they want, when they want and how they want with nearly no limitations. Just about everything in Second Life is created by users, meaning that people with the know how and desire can produce anything from a cowboy hat to wear, to a tree to place in their virtual back yard (or living room), to a functional helicopter. Users can buy and own real estate in Second Life with Linden dollars, which have an actual US dollar exchange rate, and people have been known to actually earn (real) money with their Second Life investments.
(Second Life: The Official Guide by Michael Rymaszewski, Wagner James Au, Mark Wallace, Catherine Winters, Cory Ondrejka, Benjamin Batstone-Cunningham)
As noted just about anything is possible within this virtual world of Second Life. The community of practice I selected, after spending time in-world investigating alternatives is, for lack of a better term the “virtual club scene”. This can include dance clubs, bars and raves of all sorts. The club scene, or nightlife in Second Life is a fairly large one which will allow me to branch out into a variety of clubs. I will be studying the weekend nightlife of Second Life and since Second Life is operating around the world 24/7 there’s always something going on. With that said there is a wealth of opportunities to research with in this community.
There are indeed a wide variety of areas that one could potentially research and study with in such a community but my efforts will be focused towards one area with in the community. I intend to research the club-goers as a whole, and my work will most likely be done in at most 2 or perhaps 3 different (but similar) locations. I will be trying to get a good understanding of the “regulars” in the nightlife environment. This will include gaining a better understanding of the happenings in the field as well as a better idea as to who exactly the “regulars” are as opposed to a less experienced participant.
Below I will briefly go over some terms that may not be familiar to the reader:
Avatar
An avatar is a virtual representation of the user in Second Life. This may represent what the user looks like in real life or something completely different. Avatars vary in almost any way imaginable, from size to age to clothing to human to not so human.
SL
SL is the acronym for Second Life
Method
Qualatative Approaches to Researching
For my research I will be using a few different qualitative approaches while in the field. The first of which will be the use of semi-structured interviews. The interviews I conduct will likely be done outside of actual club events as I will want to take advantage of different means of research while the more major events are taking place. This is the only approach I will be utilizing that could possibly take place outside of the field.
The second approach is the “passive presence” approach. I will remain in the field and my presence will be acknowledged but I will not be participating in the events around me. This will allow me to take detailed notes while in the field. However this approach will likely draw unwanted attention and could possibly altar the events around me to proceed as they would under normal circumstances. I will likely use this method as my identification as a researcher becomes public knowledge.
The third approach will probably be the most used, and that is the “limited interaction” approach. This will be much like the second approach but as the name suggests my participation in the scene will be limited, allowing me to take notes as well. Of course taking notes is less of an action to keep away from in SL as compared to real life since the people around me will not see me physically typing or writing in a notebook.
Subject Protection
Anonymity is a priority in this research and no names of both the subjects involved as well as the locations used will be released. The subjects and landowners in SL are made aware of this via a virtual note card that details the subject protection protocols that I will be using (This note card can be found at the end of this paper). I will make sure to have informed consent of the landowners whose land I will be working on as well as the permission of the subjects involved in any interviews, all of whom will remain anonymous and have a copy of the subject protection note card.
As previously mentioned the population I will study will be the SL “nightlife” or club scene. The population as a whole will consist of clubs, raves and bars and any other recreational location in association with the idea of a real life urban (or not) night or party scene. This will consist of anyone ages 18 and above (Younger people are on a second “teen grid” in SL) involved in some way with the SL nightlife.
Sampling
The sampling strategies I will use will be strongly based around peak club hours. I will take advantage of posted events (there is an event search tool in SL that will allow users to see posted events along with their date and the time in which they are scheduled to start) in an effort to have the largest possible turn out to sample from. The best times will be evening hours on almost any day of the week with Thursday through Saturday being optimal. Being that I will only frequent at most 3 different locations I will be able to get a strong understanding of who is who at each location. I will want to conduct my research on the people that I see frequenting the scene that have no direct relation as an owner or managerial position with in the location in an effort to find the “average” club attendees among the group.
Time Management
I will want to attend events in their entirety to get an accurate idea of the activities in the field. Most events last 2 to 3 hours (as scheduled) but can drag on through out the evening depending on the occasion. It may also be wise to arrive early at the event locations to get a better idea of the pre-event “rituals”. With that said I will spend time at events at varying rates per week. One week I will spend a heavier amount of time in the field and the next I will spend less time in the field and more time out of the field dealing with data processing and notes.
I will be doing reviews of relevant literature once I have begun to collect a substantial amount of data. The literature I will review will be focused on qualitative field research and ethnography. One book I will likely be reviewing is “Field Research: Strategies for a Natural Sociology” by Leonard Schatzman and Anselm L. Strauss which covers strategies of ethnography.
Potential Limitations
Researching in a virtual environment as opposed to a real one can have both advantages and disadvantages. One major limitation of examining a social scene in SL is that there can and will be conversations taking place right in front of me that I will not have access to since they will be done privately via instant messaging. Unfortunately I only get the representation of ones avatar that they decide to make public. Being that the club environment is a very socially oriented one there may be a higher frequency of private conversations taking place.
Another issue is that due to the size of my chosen population I will simply not be able to research all of the club environments. That said I will only have research done with in a handful of clubs and my understandings will be based off of the clubs I do research and not necessarily the club scene as a whole.
As previously stated I will be limited to the version of the subjects that they make public which could lead to inaccurate information in some areas of my research. The subject too could alter this public image if my identity as a researcher is revealed. I do, however, hope to avoid these inaccurate portrayals by conducting my own loosely structured (as to give the illusion of a conversation) private interviews to get an accurate view of the subjects on a more personal level.
Discussion
With this research I hope to provide some insight as to the reasons why people participate in this virtual nightlife and club scene in SL. I hope to discover what the subjects want to achieve and what they want out of such a virtual environment. Potentially this research could shed light onto what people truly desire in these events and locations and could possibly improve upon the events and locations themselves.
The findings in my research may allow us to have a better understanding of what takes place in a virtual social gathering and what similarities or differences there are as compared to a similar real life social gathering. This research may hint at what relevance a virtual social environment may have in the future in regards to social networking via the internet.
Appendix: Informed Consent Document
Below is the note card that will be given in SL to land owners and subjects to gain informed consent. The note card will physically (in a virtual sense, anyway) handed to other avatars in world.
My name is Matt Williams/Zerodividedby Infinity.
I am an undergraduate student enrolled in an introduction to research methods class (Multimedia 444: Field Research In Virtual Worlds) at Bradley University in Peoria Il, USA, that is being conducted in Second Life.
We are learning to do field research/ethnography and will not complete projects this term. But next semester, if we decide to do a project, our projects feature observation of a “community of practice,” that is, a group of people doing similar things in a cultural setting. I am observing this area at this time as I consider what work I might do next term.
My observations are merely descriptive: I’ll take notes about what I see and I may summarize those notes in my paper, in class presentations to my classmates, or on my web-blog about this research. The blog is found at: < http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/333/bloglinks333_07.html >.
I will not record or publish either the SL or RL name of any avatar/person. Any observations about avatars or recording of their talk transcripts would take place only after having obtained the explicit permission of that avatar/person and would only happen after the name of the avatar had been changed via secret coding scheme. I will ask you if I can have your permission to use your talk as an exercise in learning about observing and taking notes. Any pictures taken in SL, that serve as explanatory information and which might include avatars, will be modified so that avatar names and identifying characteristics are blurred/blocked.
We will also learn how to interview informants about the communities of practice that we are studying. In this class, our conversations are informal and preliminary to actual data collection and interviewing. These conversations are, again, voluntary and only with the informed permission of the avatar/person/informant. To avoid linking you personally to your responses with an informed consent your completing the interview (survey) will imply consent. Will may copy out the chat transcript from our conversations/interviews. When we do, we will change/code your name so that there is no recorded connection between you/your avatar and the data. You may choose to withdraw at any time without penalty by simply telling me you wish to stop.
You may follow the progress of all of the class, at: . Information that we describe on our blogs serve as our gift to the communities of practice who share time and knowledge with us; perhaps our perspectives will help residents more fully understand and appreciate their activities.
If you have questions regarding the study, you can contact me, in world or our of world via email at , or my teacher, Professor Beliveau in world or out of world as Ed Lamoureux at ell@bradley.edu, 309-677-2378.
Do you read English clearly enough to understand this form and to respond?
Do you have any questions? May I observe your behavior in this setting and make notes about it as part of a class exercise (rather than data collection for analysis & publication)?
Thank you for your time and consideration of my requests. Do you agree? ______
-Zero
Friday, December 14, 2007
Report on my interview
The subject I interviewed was one of about 6 to 8 people on the dance floor that was not directly affiliated (from my point of view) with the club itself. I told the subject briefly about what I was doing, trying to keep the conversation as natural as possible. I then asked if I could ask a few questions and I then proceeded to give her the subject protection note card. The subject agreed and I began my interview process. I first asked about the kinds of activities and behaviors that she would typically find occurring in club environments. She responded by saying that the activities she witnessed were “relatively tame and expected”. I then asked if she attended any similar (club/night club) events outside of SL, she responded “no”. I then inquired about her feelings on SL clubs as a dating or singles scene and she believed much of the activities and conversations that take place are definitely “singles behavior”. I asked if the relationships that develop from this remain in SL and she was unaware but personally felt they remained in SL due to distance in real life that would most likely separate the people. I then asked what she believed might be the primary reason for attending these events in SL, she responded by saying that “it’s a way for people to be free, relax and be somebody else”. The interview concluded at this point. With this interview I had hoped to get a better idea as to the reasons people attend clubs in SL and behave in the ways that they do. While I wanted to have more in-depth responses, the responses I did receive were adequate and they helped to confirm the behavior I felt was going on.
-Zero
-Zero
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Note taking in SL
Below is a sample of some research notes I took while in Second Life.
FN - More have finally showed up, though not many. They are situated at the bar, some seated, some dancing near by. Quoting one patron “*holds up lighter*. I moved closer in, to the bar now. Engaging in small talk now with some around me. The bartender offered a trade of my hate for a drink. The DJ is talking with everyone, everyone, ‘workers’ included are talking. Conversations consist of dancing, clothing…comments on one guy “looking younger” tonight. Clothing consists of 80’s hair rock to modern day urban club outfit to leather vest, much of the clothing is all a bit bright and very much as one would expect as party clothing. Almost everyone is dancing or standing by the dance floor.
ON – People (Members)
more people showed up, but it was a very slow increase in the number of people, more people would come and go as the night went on, about 10 people dancing was the average.
MN – People (Members)
It would be a good idea to try and “mingle” with as many people as possible, maybe get an idea of what they talk about more privately?
ON – Conversation
The conversation started off as typical bar conversation and small talk and eventually would get a bit more personal.
ON – Clothing
The clothing consisted a lot of the things you would see in 80’s rock (hair) bands. Bright colors, animal skins, tight pants, long blonde hair, excessive make up.
TN – Clothing + conversation
The clothing seemed to date people as references were made to being a teenager or growing pu in the 80’s, placing a few of the members if not most in the 30’s-40’s range.
ON – Activity
Everyone was dancing excluding me, the DJ, club owners/managers and bartender
MN – Activity
Would be a good idea to blend in more and dance with everyone, this would cause me to stick out less as I did draw some odd attention just sitting at the bar.
-Zero
FN - More have finally showed up, though not many. They are situated at the bar, some seated, some dancing near by. Quoting one patron “*holds up lighter*. I moved closer in, to the bar now. Engaging in small talk now with some around me. The bartender offered a trade of my hate for a drink. The DJ is talking with everyone, everyone, ‘workers’ included are talking. Conversations consist of dancing, clothing…comments on one guy “looking younger” tonight. Clothing consists of 80’s hair rock to modern day urban club outfit to leather vest, much of the clothing is all a bit bright and very much as one would expect as party clothing. Almost everyone is dancing or standing by the dance floor.
ON – People (Members)
more people showed up, but it was a very slow increase in the number of people, more people would come and go as the night went on, about 10 people dancing was the average.
MN – People (Members)
It would be a good idea to try and “mingle” with as many people as possible, maybe get an idea of what they talk about more privately?
ON – Conversation
The conversation started off as typical bar conversation and small talk and eventually would get a bit more personal.
ON – Clothing
The clothing consisted a lot of the things you would see in 80’s rock (hair) bands. Bright colors, animal skins, tight pants, long blonde hair, excessive make up.
TN – Clothing + conversation
The clothing seemed to date people as references were made to being a teenager or growing pu in the 80’s, placing a few of the members if not most in the 30’s-40’s range.
ON – Activity
Everyone was dancing excluding me, the DJ, club owners/managers and bartender
MN – Activity
Would be a good idea to blend in more and dance with everyone, this would cause me to stick out less as I did draw some odd attention just sitting at the bar.
-Zero
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Setting up a practice interview
I will conduct a practice interview with 1 of 2 people I have received permission from. The first person will be known as Subject-A, she is sort of co-owner/architect of the land I’m researching on, she is responsible for just about everything on the property. Subject-B is the second person I may interview, she is the actual owner of the land. The two of them mix into the crowd and are among, if not the most active members of the area.
What I want to get out of the practice interview is a better idea as to why people “club” in SL. I approach the question from a few different ways.
Below are some of the questions I will ask:
1 What kinds of activities/behaviors do you find typical while people are in the club?
2 What similarities do you see in terms of what people want out of this virtual club environment that are the same or similar to what people want out of a RL club environment?
3 Do you personally attend similar events in RL that you do in SL?
(If yes apply question 2 responses)
4 Clubbing can be seen as a sort of dating/singles scene. Do you find people “hooking up” in the SL club environment often?
(If yes inquire about the seriousness of the relationships)
5 Do a wide variety of people attend your club or is it primarily common acquaintances?
6 If you had to choose, what would be the main reason people come to your club and why is that?
-Zero
What I want to get out of the practice interview is a better idea as to why people “club” in SL. I approach the question from a few different ways.
Below are some of the questions I will ask:
1 What kinds of activities/behaviors do you find typical while people are in the club?
2 What similarities do you see in terms of what people want out of this virtual club environment that are the same or similar to what people want out of a RL club environment?
3 Do you personally attend similar events in RL that you do in SL?
(If yes apply question 2 responses)
4 Clubbing can be seen as a sort of dating/singles scene. Do you find people “hooking up” in the SL club environment often?
(If yes inquire about the seriousness of the relationships)
5 Do a wide variety of people attend your club or is it primarily common acquaintances?
6 If you had to choose, what would be the main reason people come to your club and why is that?
-Zero
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Mapping a Virtual Space
I recently was able to obtain access to a land area via a land owner in SL for my studies. My assignment was to map out an area in Second Life and the following image is the result. I took an overhead shot of the land that I have access to and designated (via Adobe Photoshop) the hotspots on the central area of the land which will be significant in my future studies. I've highlighted the essential areas of the property as well as the areas that are commonly frequented/important to the general population based on my observations.
Special thanks to those people that will remain anonymous in allowing me to have access to their land :)
-Zero
Special thanks to those people that will remain anonymous in allowing me to have access to their land :)
-Zero
Subject Protection
Below is a copy of my subject protection notecard (the card is a virtual notecard that can be given out to other avatars in Second Life) that I will hand out to those that will be researched or potentially researched. In essence this guerentees subject anonymity and gives the subject a better understanding of what I am setting out to do/more information about me.
My name is Matt Williams/Zerodividedby Infinity.
I am an undergraduate student enrolled in an introduction to research methods class (Multimedia 333:Introcution to Field Research In Virtual Worlds) at Bradley University in Peoria Il, USA, that is being conducted in Second Life.
We are learning to do field research/ethnography and will not complete projects this term. But next semester, if we decide to do a project, our projects feature observation of a “community of practice,” that is, a group of people doing similar things in a cultural setting. I am observing this area at this time as I consider what work I might do next term.
My observations are merely descriptive: I’ll take notes about what I see and I may summarize those notes in my paper, in class presentations to my classmates, or on my web-blog about this research. The blog is found at: < http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/333/bloglinks333_07.html >.
I will not record or publish either the SL or RL name of any avatar/person. Any observations about avatars or recording of their talk transcripts would take place only after having obtained the explicit permission of that avatar/person and would only happen after the name of the avatar had been changed via secret coding scheme. I will ask you if I can have your permission to use your talk as an exercise in learning about observing and taking notes. Any pictures taken in SL, that serve as explanatory information and which might include avatars, will be modified so that avatar names and identifying characteristics are blurred/blocked.
We will also learn how to interview informants about the communities of practice that we are studying. In this class, our conversations are informal and preliminary to actual data collection and interviewing. In MM 333 we are learning the process of interviewing rather than collecting interview data. I will only keep track of our conversation in order to hand in an assignment to my teacher; no data will be analyzed or published.
These conversations are, again, voluntary and only with the informed permission of the avatar/person/informant. To avoid linking you personally to your responses with an informed consent your completing the interview (survey) will imply consent. Will may copy out the chat transcript from our conversations/interviews. When we do, we will change/code your name so that there is no recorded connection between you/your avatar and the data. You may choose to withdraw at any time without penalty by simply telling me you wish to stop.
You may follow the progress of all of the class, at:. Information that we describe on our blogs serve as our gift to the communities of practice who share time and knowledge with us; perhaps our perspectives will help residents more fully understand and appreciate their activities.
If you have questions regarding the study, you can contact me, in world or our of world via email at, or my teacher, Professor Beliveau in world or out of world as Ed Lamoureux at ell@bradley.edu, 309-677-2378.
Do you read English clearly enough to understand this form and to respond?
Do you have any questions?
May I observe your behavior in this setting and make notes about it as part of a class exercise (rather than data collection for analysis & publication)?
Thank you for your time and consideration of my requests.
Do you agree? ______
-Zero
My name is Matt Williams/Zerodividedby Infinity.
I am an undergraduate student enrolled in an introduction to research methods class (Multimedia 333:Introcution to Field Research In Virtual Worlds) at Bradley University in Peoria Il, USA, that is being conducted in Second Life.
We are learning to do field research/ethnography and will not complete projects this term. But next semester, if we decide to do a project, our projects feature observation of a “community of practice,” that is, a group of people doing similar things in a cultural setting. I am observing this area at this time as I consider what work I might do next term.
My observations are merely descriptive: I’ll take notes about what I see and I may summarize those notes in my paper, in class presentations to my classmates, or on my web-blog about this research. The blog is found at: < http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/333/bloglinks333_07.html >.
I will not record or publish either the SL or RL name of any avatar/person. Any observations about avatars or recording of their talk transcripts would take place only after having obtained the explicit permission of that avatar/person and would only happen after the name of the avatar had been changed via secret coding scheme. I will ask you if I can have your permission to use your talk as an exercise in learning about observing and taking notes. Any pictures taken in SL, that serve as explanatory information and which might include avatars, will be modified so that avatar names and identifying characteristics are blurred/blocked.
We will also learn how to interview informants about the communities of practice that we are studying. In this class, our conversations are informal and preliminary to actual data collection and interviewing. In MM 333 we are learning the process of interviewing rather than collecting interview data. I will only keep track of our conversation in order to hand in an assignment to my teacher; no data will be analyzed or published.
These conversations are, again, voluntary and only with the informed permission of the avatar/person/informant. To avoid linking you personally to your responses with an informed consent your completing the interview (survey) will imply consent. Will may copy out the chat transcript from our conversations/interviews. When we do, we will change/code your name so that there is no recorded connection between you/your avatar and the data. You may choose to withdraw at any time without penalty by simply telling me you wish to stop.
You may follow the progress of all of the class, at:
If you have questions regarding the study, you can contact me, in world or our of world via email at
Do you read English clearly enough to understand this form and to respond?
Do you have any questions?
May I observe your behavior in this setting and make notes about it as part of a class exercise (rather than data collection for analysis & publication)?
Thank you for your time and consideration of my requests.
Do you agree? ______
-Zero
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Attending a Second Life event
I was asked this week to attend an event to make observations in Second Life. After some lengthy searching to find disappointingly limited results I stumbled upon on event in my second night of looking.
The event took place at a similar dance/rave environment that I had frequented before during my groups research. The central building was a large box like warehouse, which was visually unappealing from the outside. Through the windows towards the roof you could easily make an assumption about what was going inside of the building via the multicolored spotlights inside. Surrounding the building appeared to be just cement texture with a red path leading into the main entrance of the event.
I arrived 15 to 20 minutes before the event was said to begin. With my prior knowledge of the event I was expecting a rave with at least a couple of “battling” DJ’s and a possible best-dressed and best dance competition.
Inside the building was a large circular dance floor with 2 large (record) spinning tables on the front and back of the area. To the sides of the tables and the circular dance floor were lounge areas on either end, most of the seats were unoccupied. The lighting was a bit overwhelming; the ceiling was covered in multicolored lights, spotlights. The walls and floor were covered with an assortment of signs and colored light panels.
The event began at the top of the hour (11pm central, 8pm server) and a global/area announcement introduced the first DJ to perform. He briefly spoke on the mic and began to play techno music. Throughout the event various instructions were given to the dancers/attendees having to do with dance offs, dance contests and best dressed competitions.
As this was transpiring I was seated back in one of the near by lounge area chairs. I soon noted that I did not stand out and my attire actually did blend in well enough with the other people at the event. There was a wide variety of clothing choices which contained anything to mostly nude, to 3 piece suit, to MC Hammer-like jump pants.
I would place the people in the event into 3 generalized groups. First the group I would place myself in: I would label us as outsiders/wall flowers. For what ever reason the people in this group would be either separated from others on the dance floor, in the lounge area or anywhere with in the building away from the center of the activities. The second group will be called the regulars or partiers: These were the ones on the dance floor with no hint at local affiliation. They may or may not have been frequent visitors to this particular rave. This group was much more outspoken than the first group and seem to feel perfectly at home in this environment. The third group did have a visible local affiliation to this particular event and space: This group consisted of the owners/manager types and the DJ’s. These people were responsible for the event transpiring. They called the shots, the music and anything else. They were mostly associating themselves with one another but certain members of this group seemed to be responsible to greeting newly arriving guests. They were friendly and seemed to be very accept of newer people, this suggested to me that it was not a closely knit group OR that this event in particular may have been an anomaly that was more open to public than other similar events might be. My reason for suggesting that is the unity among the owners group that could be noticed through out the events entirety.
The event went on in similar fashion through out the night with a total of 3 DJ’s spinning/playing. I made my leave as I noticed the area to gradually empty out. As the group dispersed there was a noticeably higher concentration of members of the owners group. Fortunately I was able to fraternize with the owners group and make a few acquaintances that could be advantageous for later studies.
The event took place at a similar dance/rave environment that I had frequented before during my groups research. The central building was a large box like warehouse, which was visually unappealing from the outside. Through the windows towards the roof you could easily make an assumption about what was going inside of the building via the multicolored spotlights inside. Surrounding the building appeared to be just cement texture with a red path leading into the main entrance of the event.
I arrived 15 to 20 minutes before the event was said to begin. With my prior knowledge of the event I was expecting a rave with at least a couple of “battling” DJ’s and a possible best-dressed and best dance competition.
Inside the building was a large circular dance floor with 2 large (record) spinning tables on the front and back of the area. To the sides of the tables and the circular dance floor were lounge areas on either end, most of the seats were unoccupied. The lighting was a bit overwhelming; the ceiling was covered in multicolored lights, spotlights. The walls and floor were covered with an assortment of signs and colored light panels.
The event began at the top of the hour (11pm central, 8pm server) and a global/area announcement introduced the first DJ to perform. He briefly spoke on the mic and began to play techno music. Throughout the event various instructions were given to the dancers/attendees having to do with dance offs, dance contests and best dressed competitions.
As this was transpiring I was seated back in one of the near by lounge area chairs. I soon noted that I did not stand out and my attire actually did blend in well enough with the other people at the event. There was a wide variety of clothing choices which contained anything to mostly nude, to 3 piece suit, to MC Hammer-like jump pants.
I would place the people in the event into 3 generalized groups. First the group I would place myself in: I would label us as outsiders/wall flowers. For what ever reason the people in this group would be either separated from others on the dance floor, in the lounge area or anywhere with in the building away from the center of the activities. The second group will be called the regulars or partiers: These were the ones on the dance floor with no hint at local affiliation. They may or may not have been frequent visitors to this particular rave. This group was much more outspoken than the first group and seem to feel perfectly at home in this environment. The third group did have a visible local affiliation to this particular event and space: This group consisted of the owners/manager types and the DJ’s. These people were responsible for the event transpiring. They called the shots, the music and anything else. They were mostly associating themselves with one another but certain members of this group seemed to be responsible to greeting newly arriving guests. They were friendly and seemed to be very accept of newer people, this suggested to me that it was not a closely knit group OR that this event in particular may have been an anomaly that was more open to public than other similar events might be. My reason for suggesting that is the unity among the owners group that could be noticed through out the events entirety.
The event went on in similar fashion through out the night with a total of 3 DJ’s spinning/playing. I made my leave as I noticed the area to gradually empty out. As the group dispersed there was a noticeably higher concentration of members of the owners group. Fortunately I was able to fraternize with the owners group and make a few acquaintances that could be advantageous for later studies.
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