From Amy Jo Kim

I'd like to present a short interview passages from Amy Jo Kim who is an online community architect. You can find whole article from http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communitywhatwhy.htm
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Amy Jo Kim, online community architect, has suggested that there are two ways we participate in online communites: "the kind where you're yourself and the kind where you are playing out a fantasy role. For example, the Well is a good example of a place where people are fundamentally themselves. It is not very hard to figure out someone's real name... But there are many online communities where you (a member of the community) actually can't find out who someone's is in "real life." People are role playing, and playing out a fantasy role. Many game communities are like that." (from an interview with Amy Jo Kim, 4/99)

Ms. Kim goes on to say, "I think that these two kinds of community play very different roles in people's lives. The gaming-oriented communities will affect you emotionally, but they won't tend to integrate into your life as what I would call 'augmented reality' communities do. I define these two types as "augmented reality" where you're "you," and you're there to integrate with your life -- deal with the issues in your life. The fantasy communities that are about escaping from who you are and pretending to be someone else. So much about augmenting reality is more about shaping your life. I think that the augmented reality type of communities have become progressively more entwined in people's lives."

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