Blog 5:The Dismantling of hell

As I've mentioned briefly in previous blog posts, the gaming focused Facebook group called 'monster hunter hell' was taken down and later re-built. What I had not mentioned in detail was the fact that it was the largest open group on Facebook that focused specifically on the monster hunter video game franchise, having over 1,500 members at its peak. The group functioned due to 'mob mentality', where the largest group of like-minded members set the unwritten rules for the group,enforced simply by a lack of introduction of different ideals. When a few particular individuals of another group decided to report the group for months straight, without cause, the Facebook automatic system removed the group suddenly, and without warning. After around a day or two, the lack of group notifications was picked up by the former members, causing many, including myself, to seek refuge in other groups, yet hold the same kind of humor as we once did as a singular entity. We kept our sense of self, in respect to originating from the same group, so in other groups, and even playing the game online, we could identify each other by our distinct styles of humor and critique. In a sense, this created the very first 'diaspora' (Mung, 2005) of Monster Hunter Hell, where the destruction of the group led to members attempting to integrate into other groups, but retain the values, beliefs, and cultural values of Monster Hunter Hell. This is an example of an internet diaspora, as defined by the definitions of Victoria Kuttainen (2015, slide 4), with the diaspora needing a hub of origin and links whether real or imagined between the members of the various poles of the migratory space; in this case the hub of origin being the facebook group, and the links between the members being the values and trademark humor types, such as 'in-jokes'.

                                                      An example of a real-life diaspora, shown geographically.                                    Retrieved from: http://ventureburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/lebanon-diaspora-map.jpg
References:
Mung, E. (2005). Diaspora, Spatiality, Identities. In E. Mung, Comparative European Research in Migration, Diversity and Identities (1st ed., pp. 33-46). Bilbao: University of Deusto.

Kuttainen, V. (2015). Week 7 lecture notes. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.edu.au