Relationships, Community, and Identity in the New Virtual Society

摘要

In India, where for centuries marriages have been arranged by families, online dating services such as BharatMatrimony.com are profoundly changing embedded traditions. MyGamma, a Singapore-based mobile phone social networking site, has millions of users throughout Asia and Africa, giving social networking capability to people across continents -- no personal computer necessary. In China, individuals have been participating in wang hun (online role-play marriages). These gaming sites are causing actual married couples to get divorced on the grounds that this constitutes adultery -- even though no face-to-face meetings ever took place. The future of falling in love may be online. Dating sites, once considered a gimmicky way to meet and connect with new people, have grown immensely in popularity, thanks in part to the convergence of information technologies and digital entertainment. More and more people regard the virtual world as a place where they can establish and maintain safer, less demanding relationships on their own time.