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Putnam argued that increasing uses of technology and media and the movement from urban to suburban lifestyles have altered society to be less connected in America. The same is true in China, except that the movement is from countryside to urban. Thus, solitude, existing in mega cities rather than traditional Chinese countryside, is considered to be connected with everyday life practice especially for those young female. Online game(MMORPG), regarded as “third space”, was believed to help build up new connections. This studies accordingly intended to follow these young females who played a popular game called World of Warcraft, into their online and offline life to explore the complex mechanism between game playing and solitude. Participant observation (6 months) and in-depth interview (N=40) were employed to collect their life experience data. Our research confirm that MMORPG become a useful way for these isolated young females to gain social support to be integrated into the city: a)online games itself can provide a space for being alone together experience, b)while the online game group can provide females with emotional support whether online or offline. Overall, our research support previous study, arguing that solitude would be treated as “social solitude” in contrast to “solidarity”, rather than traditionally treated as loneliness, anomie, and social disorder.
Key words: urban life, social support, online game, feminism