Thoughts on the SpacePlace and PlaceSpace Online Simulation
So we had a chance this week to see what happens when conflicts and tensions play themselves out online. What is public and what is private are important considerations. In 45 minutes, we saw:
- Many private issues became the topic of public discussions.
- Characters used language and tone that they likely would not use face-to-face
- Characters created groups to exclude and tease one of the characters
- At the same time, an “Anti-cheating” group was created as a positive response to an issue of cheating that seemed to be going on in school.
- A bullied character, recreated himself online and adopted a “tough” and “humorous” persona online in response to the treatment he received during the school day.
Click here to view all of the character stories if you want.
Please leave a comment about any thoughts that you have related to the simulation and the complexities of interacting with others in an online space. Playing the character was probably a lot of fun, but try to focus your comment(s) on the issues that the simulation raises about what it means for you (not your character) to be a member of an online community. What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? Feel free to come back and reply to comments made by others. This is an important conversation.
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I think the simulation made people act in ways that I never thought they would act. Some people used all capital letters which made you think they were mad, or upset. I feel like a challenge of being online is if someone says something mean to you and you don’t know who they are, you could get really mad. It is not like if it is someone from your school does that and you can just talk to them the next day, on the internet, you might not ever be able to find out who did something mean to you. Also if someone says something mean to you, your first instinct might be to make the other person feel bad, but you have to think of the right thing to do.
I think that this was a great opportunity to see what happens in some cases. I started having fun with it, and always wanted to know what people were going to say back. We got a bit carried away some of the time, but none of us would ever say or do the things that our character (Linda) would do in real life. Some of the choices that we made were rude, but others were smart.
Great comments. Do you think that “just having fun” is something that happens in our real online lives? HOw can we get better at catching ourselves before we get “carried away” and maybe do some harm that we didn’t intend? I think that the observation that it is easier when we are online to act in ways that we wouldn’t when we are face to face. Why do you think this is? You mention some smart choices that some people made in the simulation. What were some of these “smart” choices?
I think that its easier to do because, you know that when you go to school the next day, or if your parents see it, they won’t be mad because its fake. If it was real, I would have been in trouble with some of my friends at school.
It was good to try out, but I think Sharon could’ve hurt some people. I learned to really think about what your sending someone before you speak because I saw people quickly replying mean things to each other. But it was a good opportunity to try out. I have never seen people bully or anything like this before on a chat like this, people just put whatever they wanted too.
I agree with this because it was good to see how it was through a different persons shoes and perspective but some people were just being bully’s.
When you are online, you should think if you could and would say this to someone’s face at school. Even though it is easier to say it online, if that person sees it, it is like saying it to their face.
I dis agree because some people who are really good at tech can see who it is, I think…
sorry that was for another one.
I agree. You should still be respectful online. It’s almost the same as actually talking to the person
I agree. It was getting very fun with the Wire and the Emails. It was a lot like real life only I know none of us would really act that way. A lot of people were mean to each other, and it was funny to see us all arguing after about it, although I wish we went over who was who. I enjoyed it a lot and I hope we do it again only everyone is their own person and we don’t have partners.
In a sense, don’t you get to do this (i.e., ” I hope we do it again only everyone is their own person.”) everyday in real life. How do w make sure that we take the learnings from the game into those experiences that really do matter?
I agree with Lily and Gwen. I have never seen people in my class act that way, but I think that we were all having fun with it. I think for me if that was real life, I would be really upset and not want to go to school tomorrow. After we were called back into the room my group was searching for this one person named Ruth. On Space Place Ruth was being very mean to my character, Beth. When we finally found Ruth, they said that they just wanted to mean and, I thought that it was funny. But I think that if what happened on Space Place had really happened to me in real life I would be REALLY mad. But over all I think that it was a good experience.
So the question then when we are being ourselves online is how to avoid “seeming mean” when we are just joking around. It is hard sometimes when you are face-to-face with a friend to always know when they are joking. It seems like this is even harder when we are online. Why do you think that this is the case?
I think that the simulation was made so people can act the way that they would usually not act and show what its like to sort of be on maybe say the bullies side or someone that would do something wrong or not nice. I also think that it teaches you to do the right thing once you finish. You will realize that what you were doing on this website you shouldn’t be doing. Such as the thing written on the bottom of everyones laminated sheet they mostly were all to do something that everyone shouldn’t do.
I ageee with Gwen. If a person cursed to another person ONLINE, they wouldn’t do that in “real life”
I think that people would never have acted the way they did online, but it was interesting being able to do the things you did knowing that their would be no consequences. I think it was interesting being able to step into someone else’s shoes and try to do things the way they would. I had a lot of fun being part of this work shop and I think that a lot of other people did to.
Do you think that even when people are online as themselves that they are always thinking about the consequences?
I think that the simulation was really interesting because you got to be in a characters shoes and you had to try to think and act like they would. Also you got to act how ever you wanted because you would know that there would be no consequences. I was a little surprised at how mean people were, but I also saw it coming. I think that doing this fake email was fun to a lot of people and interesting seeing how you could act in another persons shoes.
I agree with Sylvie that the simulation was fun and taught us a lot about how to be nice online. I also think that people weren’t behaving like they would if it were real life, but I think some people (not in our school) might actually say these kinds of things online and this showed us how it would feel to have someone write those kinds of mean comments to you. I like this workshop and I would like to do it again.
All you have to do is read through some of the comments on a youtube page to see just how many people out there really seem to enjoy being mean online.
I think it was good way to put yourself in other situations. It’s a real problem and it was really cool to be able to see what’s happening to some people. At first it was uncomfortable to say things that I would never say in real life. Some people got carried away but it was funny because we knew it was fake. In all it was a cool way to learn and now I think everyone is aware of this problem and I hope will never act the way other people do.
At the same time, there was a lot of energy in the room when people returned to the classroom. Even though it was “fake,” people did seem invested in their character. So it is easy to imagine that people can very easily get invested in their own real characters and relationships if things start to get not so nice.
I think that doing this project let me see how kids act to each other in this world even if we don’t act that way at LREI. I was not excepting people to be so mean and I know that if you could get in trouble for acting the way everyone did they would of stopped. I thought that it was a little crazy, someone could bully you online and no one would see you get bullied. I think it was a good learning experience, and I enjoyed participating in it.
That is an interesting thought that the Internet makes it easy to get quietly bullied (i.e., when no one else is around to see the bully bully). That also means that there may not be any people around to stand up as allies to the person being bullied.
I agree with Gwen. A lot of people did thinks that they would not have done in real life. I now that me group would retaliate whenever someone said something mean to us. We weren’t upset or angry but we thought that our character would try to almost attack anyone that said anything bad to him. And after everything happened and we were in the same rom everyone was asking who each other were and instead of us all getting mad, we would just laugh over the stuff we said because we knew that we would not act like our character would act and that we would try to do the right thing instead of trying to make everyone feel really bad about them selves.
I agree. People react because of what happened during the day, and because you are not there that night, you think you can post anything. This creates conflict and you won’t want to go to school the next day.
I think it was really weird to see everyone, not so much get into character, but really get out what they want to say. No one really thought out whatever they said, I even got some cursing. But that’s really because…I mean this is totally fake. If I went to school the next day, I wouldn’t have any friends. I didn’t like how my friend turned against me (OMG RUTH OMG), and how she kept making up secrets and everything. And everyone, I THINK CAPS LOCK IS THE WAY TO YELL ONLINE! ALL OF MEAN RUTH MESSAGES WERE ALL IN CAPS, EVEN ON THE WIRE. I thought communication was awkward…
I think that you are on to something when you comment that “No one really thought out whatever they said.” Do you think that there is something about online communication that makes it easy to just send something off without really thinking about the implications/consequence? If so, why do you think that this is the case?
I think it would be easier to say it online because if you have a username that no one would suspect it to be you, you could get away with every bad thing you do online.
I agree but disagree because yes, THEY won’t know but digital footprint wise, some people who are really good at tech can see who it is, I think…
When you comment mean things online, it can be fun to see how people react, and no matter what they do, they can’t do anything to you because you’re safe behind a screen. It’s even worse if your username is something like ‘fluffybunny64587’ because they have almost no way of figuring out who you are.
I think that this was very interesting because when I returned to the class room I saw people get into fights because of something virtual. I found people when you don’t know who they are they get a bit more mischievous.
I found it fun and interesting. I was interesting to see how people acted online when you didn’t know who was who. It was fun because you got to step into the bully shoes and say whatever you wanted without anyone knowing it was you.
People were mean, but not for real.
They were mean to have fun, which was cool.
This is interesting and important (i.e., “without anyone knowing it was you”). Online interactions let people hide behind fake identities, which can make it easier to be mean.
I agree with caroline. Even though I would never do that. I thought it was fun even though I was being really mean and rude. I was acting like a jerk hat and being just and turd. I thought it was fun becasue I would never do it.
Cool and sometimes not cool. Depending on what people said. Over all, it was ok.
I think in the simulation, what we were writing was somethings that we would never right it wee were actually doing this. Since we were acting as a character, I did not matter in the least what decisions u made, so most people went free for all. I think that sincere were acting as a person, we did not really care what decisions we made. Also if it had really happened, when we came back, people would be fighting, but really everyone was laughing because of how funny it was. Since the email s we sent and received, were not emailed to our selves, we did not care what thesis, and so we came up with carless responses.
Part of the value of doing a simulation is that we get to experiment without the consequences that might follow in the real world. That said, you can imagine how tense things would be if in returning to the classroom people had to stay in their characters and be accountable for what they said and did.
I agree with William because also people were acting way different then how they really act in real life. Some kids were mean to others just because they wanted to act different then they usually do. Everyone thought it would be easier to act that way online because its from different places, and not face to face. There was a lot of mean things said though, but some online wanted to be bullies, the others chose to be allies. There were many situations like that, and a lot of kids chose to become mean.
I found the simulation fun and it was a learning experience. I thought that it was a learning experience because you could feel the emotions that people have when someone say something mean about you on the internet. For example, my character was Rick Moore. Rick had one of the best score on his science test but he cheated. Then on the internet, Will was telling everyone that my character had cheated on the test. When I saw Will’s comment, I was mad but also sad. I was mad because Will was being a total tattle tail. I was feeling sad because it made me realize that I will never cheat on a test.
I thought that the simulation was fun because we were able to talk to our friends without actually knowing who they were. It was also fun because you got to act not like you would in real life. I noticed that some people where not using good digital citizenship and I thought that that was a good leson because we got to see what not so good digital citizenship was so we know how to use it well.
Sorry that was charlie
if someone says something mean to you, your first instinct might be to make the other person feel bad, but you have to think of the right thing to do. People also do stupid things that they wouldn’t do online. It’s the same thing when you’re at a party, people do things they would never do alone in groups.
I agree with Rachel, that people do stupid things without even realizing what they are saying, and then the receiver might take it in a wrong way even though the person that sent it didn’t even mean to be mean.
I agree with Rachel and Rei. When people are mad they think the best thing to do is to be mean, but usually they end up regretting.
So how do people catch themselves so that they aren’t just reacting without thinking things through?
I thought it was a really good idea to do this because it was like actually being in the bullying experience. At the same time it was not helpful because no one would really talk to my character when I was supposed to be a big part. No one respond to my post or the wire or the emails were pointless. It would have been way better if people interacted with my character more.
I think it was a good workshop because we got to see how people in our class would react. I think when people asked people the questions that were on the sheet they were all the same but when we responded i think it is different for every one. I think the answers would be a lot different if mark had not told us that we could say stuff that we would not normally say on the internet.
I thought that the simulation was a very fun experience. It was a very accurate description of what could happen I think that there should be calls and more time to work on the website
Me and my partner were the bullies and what we did and said I would NEVER say to someone. I think that the activity was fun and I liked being in a role of a character. I think that a lot of people felt bad about what we “said” and we made up a lot of rumors and got mad at people and made everyone hate us. I thought that this was a good experience because we got to see what it’s like from the bully’s point of view even though it makes you feel bad…
So what things can we learn when we shift perspectives? What might be motivating the bully?
I thought that the simulation made us act in ways that some cyber-bullies and in ways that we would never act. If you thought hard about the simulation you’d notice that you acted way differently than you ever would.
I think that when we were given a persona and no one knew which character was which class member, we acted in ways we would never during school or via email. If you were given a bullying character it may have felt fun to yell at friends but when you think about it, you would never do that in real life.
But it does happen and sometimes by people who would never claim to be a bully. If that is true, what can we learn from the simulation to make it less likely that these sorts of things happen?
I think everyone just wanted to have fun with it and were not afraid to say anything. That’s because they got to be a character they were never going to see again and when they came back to class everyone would be themselves. But that’s how people act on the internet they swear at someone that they are never going to meet and they think it’s just fun it’s not a big deal but it could be very hurtful. So maybe it wasn’t the biggest deal I mean no one really meant it, but if you are in a conversation on the media and someone swears at you, you don’t know it’s a joke and maybe it isn’t. Some of the stuff people wrote sounded just mean and a little realistic like they actually meant what they said. On the other side of the conversation you don’t know it’s a joke.
And how does it feel to be on the receiving end? It’s hard to hear unkind things from people you don’t even know. So I imagine that it’s even harder if they are people that you know.
I think it was fun being mean to people on the simulation. In real life I think people say mean stuff also. When someone writes something bad to some one I think they will regret it later.
I agree with Luke. I feel like I would never do something like that ever in real life, but because I knew that nothing could happen to me because of it, I felt ok doing it.
I think that the simulation was really fun. I found it mysterious because no one knew who everyone was. It was also fun being mean to people in the simulation. I think it made us a much different person compared to who we are now.
I agree. I really liked it but I though it was really weird. Especially when you are typing things you wouldn’t normally type. I like how we had a template to work with, almost like we were undercover at a different school, talking to different people who you knew about and you were someone they knew about (your fake persona). It was so awesome!
I want to do it again! 🙂
the simulation itself was good everyone did as they were told in the papers but everyone got mad at each other and everyone wanted to kill each other like the card game we played last year when each got a different set of rules and everyone got mad.
I think the simulation made me realize how some people are actually acting in ways that we acted and never would have acted in anyway in our real lives, mean and obnoxious and rude in many ways. It made me realize that some people are being treated this way. We only spent an hour being mean and getting treated poorly, but some people spend months. Like “James Tinker”, with no friends being bullied constantly. I think that made all of us more aware that we need to stop cyber bullying.
The simulation was really interesting because it made people do stuff they really wouldn’t do as a person. It really just taught us how to act like bad people and after we realized that we shouldn’t act like that in real life. It really taught us why we shouldn’t cyber bully and be allies. At the end everyone asked who was who, once you realized who that person was you wouldn’t believe that it was them talking because they would never do anything like that. The main idea is don’t cyber bully people or just don’t bully its not right.