Inside a Bridge Community

In my daily activities on the Internet, I generally frequent asynchronous spaces; the little synchronous communication I participate in is limited to interactions with those I already know. Therefore, in order to participate in a synchronous environment without relative unease I had to rely on a skill not called upon in over four years: Contract Bridge.

I was slightly apprehensive about how I would be received at the Bridge table, especially since success in the game relies not only on your own skill but the skill of your partner. Since I had long forgotten things like bidding conventions, which are integral to setting the tone of the game, I was relieved to see that rooms at Yahoo! Games stratified according to ability. I entered a room for beginners.

Upon sitting at my first table, West and I were immediately greeted by East: “Hello, ladies!”. It seemed my avatar was more important than I thought. Other than this initial greeting, the only conversation at the table was end-of-hand acronyms congratulating the success of the winner. After East and West had left the table, I chatted with South for a few minutes before he/she excused him/herself from the table.

The cues I received from South were greatly reduced due to both the nature of the exchange (over a game of cards) and the medium (CMC). Instead of a male or female avatar, South was displayed only as a dog wearing a hat. However, upon South’s departure I was disappointed to see my partner go; I perceived my partner to be an (intensely) open, agreeable, extroverted, and conscientious bridge player. But how did I arrive at this impression, especially considering the limited breadth of our conversation?

My extrapolation from our conversation to South’s personality could be explained by the hyperpersonal model. Since most of our exchanges were for encouragement or congratulatory in nature, I exaggerated this positive input when constructing a schema of his/her personality. Other aspects of my impression of South corroborate the hyperpersonal model: his/her use of congratulatory acronyms (through possible selective self-presentation) led me to believe that he/she was a regular in the room and a better-than-average Bridge player.

Since I was able to create such a strong impression from our brief encounter, I wonder how South interpreted my apologies and amateur game play. It’s something I’ll have to keep in mind from now on.