Human Desire for Privacy: A Reason for Computer Supported Virtual Life

The present achievement of systems for fashioning virtuality, including avatars, multiplayer on-line games, virtual communities, and virtual reality is very remarkable. This paper presents a theoretical investigation to take account of human desire for privacy as a major momentum for computer supported virtual life. During the analysis process, I newly adopt the notion of the two games called the Virtuality/Reality game and the Privacy/Publicity game that humans play. By doing so, I reveal that humans are the beings who aspire for a virtual life, and privacy is an indispensible premise for virtual life. In particular, presenting Tuareg males´ practice of face-veiling that explains social function of privacy, the paper helps to capture an understanding of the Privacy/Publicity game in more depth. Hopefully the analytic result of the paper provides researchers and system designers with the design rationale to build systems where privacy is concerned in the context of computer supported virtual life.