Culture Medium

My guild on World of Warcraft is very Southeast Asian. As far as I know, it's composed of people from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, as well as expatriates of the same living in the United States and Canada. However, other than the occasional "lah", "lor", or "liao" it is sometimes hard to determine a guildy's nationality, our great online addiction seemingly masking our differences in culture, society, and upbringing. Of course, there is only so much World of Warcraft can do. Before this guild and before my 5-month OLA-induced hiatus from Azeroth, I was part of a guild from Australia and I found the differences in outlook and attitude disconcerting at times. With this guild, I feel more relaxed and at home, in part because, to my mind, it feels more "Asian." But of course, several months spent raiding and spamming instances with Aussies did make their culture a lot less alien to me. Up to now, when I have to say "yeah" in-game i say "yer" and when I have to say "sorry" I say "soz."

I tend to think that some sort of global culture and consciousness is being formed on the internet. A culture that is based not on nationality or religion, but a culture based on shared interests, aspirations, and worldview. With the prevalence of internet communications, there is a lot more ground-level cultural exchange going on. To make an analogy of it, speciation occurs because populations are isolated from each other. But put those isolated pockets of individuals back into contact with one another and the reverse happens, people become more tolerant of their differences and more willing to embrace their commonalities. To quote Genki Sudo, "we are all one."