Detection of Deception in a Virtual World

What is it about?

This article discusses the methods employed by players of the online game World of Warcraft to conceal their identity and to detect those who are concealing their identity. Multimodal communication (that is, communicating by voice and text) is a primary strategy employed by both groups. This paper asserts that identity deception and its practices are highly contextual based on the community and that investigators should take the time to understand the constructs of the community before making an inference about deception.

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Why is it important?

Much attention has been given to those who deceive others about their identity in online contexts. However, as this article argues, some level of deception is often acceptable in some online communities. The community norms should be taken into account before making legal or moral judgments about people who are not truthful about their identity.