Nations Imagined Online: A Case Study of the Villoux Server System

Abstract

Online communities have become commonplace in the modern world, developing on nearly every website and application. These communities can develop on a singular website, e.g. forums like Reddit and 4Chan where like-minded people can discuss and share ideas and websites like Facebook and Twitter which capitalize on social interactions; they develop around gaming platforms, e.g. Xbox live chat or Minecraft servers; and they can develop on applications solely developed to engage with other people, e.g. Internet relay-chatrooms and TikTok. The communities formed from these online services may differ in purpose but ultimately all function within the realm of an online community. I pose the question “How do governing structures in online civil society organizations influence individual behaviors?”, and conducted a case study on the Villoux Server System, an online service based on gaming but rooted in community-building that operates within an institutional framework similar to structures among geographically-bound communities.