Ragnarök Online en plats på nätet, ett online-spel, där människor från hela världen möts och samverkar. Det är i detta möte personer emellan som den virtuella miljön Ragnarök Online skapas. Målet med denna uppsats är att visa på hur människor interagerar i, och skapar denna plats på nätet. Varför spenderar folk tid i virtuella miljöer? Är det annorlunda att agera i en virtuell miljö? Dessa är några av de frågor vi kommer att möta i texten. Detta kommer vi att göra tillsammans med invånarna i Ragnarök Online, med dem kommer vi att slåss, jaga och göra hattar. Tillsammans kommer vi att utforska den virtuella miljön av Ragnarök Online. / Ragnarök Online a place on the net, an online game, where people from all over the world meet and interact. In this meeting the virtual environment of Ragnarök Online is created. Because it’s in the meeting between people this virtual place is founded. The goal of this essay is to show how people interact in, and create this place on the net. Why do people spend time in virtual environments? Is it any different to act in a virtual environment? These are some of the questions we will meet in the text. This we will do together whit the inhabitants of this place, we will fight, hunt and make hats ­­– together we will explore the virtual environment of Ragnarök Online.

This study investigates the individual experience of viewing fan art and creative works within fandom, as well as the community’s potential to be a place for learning or to develop creative skills. I approach the fandom of Final Fantasy XIV, a massive multiplayer online game, on the online platform Tumblr, asking for fans’ experience with creative content and community connections. Through inspiration by Henry Jenkins, Olga Goriunova, Kristina Busse, and others, we learn the intricacies of what criteria defines communities, their adaptation to the expansion of the internet and how art has previously been used through online connections. What it is like to be an artist in a space so full of the influx of viewer opinions, other artists and their works, and the invisible ideals created by the communities. Fandom and online community studies are currently an expanding area of interest within the humanities with much still to learn. This study provides a picture of what fandom looks like from the perspective of the fans who actively participate in the culture. Fans find fan art and creative works within fandom to be more personal, inspiring, and a way to find likeminded individuals to connect with. At the same time fans are very aware of the issues fan art and the fandom has, both in terms of ethical and political questions. I believe this study sets up the potential to consider a multitude of future studies that can provide to a better understanding of the fandom culture and visual arts that occur online.