University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Building the digital dreamscape: virtual worlds, the subconscious mind and our addiction to escapism

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Building the digital dreamscape: virtual worlds, the subconscious mind and our addiction to escapism

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Content Building the Digital Dreamscape:
Virtual Worlds, the Subconscious Mind and
Our Addiction to Escapism
By
Ginamahre
Fulton
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI
SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the
degree
MASTERS OF FINE ARTS
(DESIGN)
May 2021
ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Early virtual worlds and its contributions to escapism 2
Social web-based gaming / virtual spaces of the 1990’s-2000’s 3
Second Life and Instant Messenger Virtual Universe (IMVU) 7
The significance of digital anonymity in cyberspace by racialized groups 8
Chapter 2: The exploration and expansion of boundaries through the World Wide Web 11
Black vernacular performance in digital media 13
Early web design and technological advances 13

Chapter 3: Background 16
Building spaces of comfort 17
Childhood home 17
Digital influences 18
Dream-like spaces 19
What is dreamscape? 20
Notable dream studies and their conclusions 21

Chapter 4: Methodology 23
World building process 23
Conclusion 23
Bibliography 25

iii

Abstract
The creation of the world wide web and it’s expanding accessibility across nations has
had irreversible effects on human socialization. The transition from text-based communication to
new utilizations of picture, video and 3D -based communication changed the scope and types of
interactivity users experience. The introduction of virtual worlds in the cyberspace attracted the
attention of young millennials within this era, giving them the freedom to not only communicate
through threaded discussion forums, but to enter a new realm of multimedia communication that
encourages individuality through avatar creation.
1
The virtual world promotes individualization
by giving humans not only the ability to have diverse physical features, but also to escape the
human form entirely through more fantastical representations of the self in the digital world. On
the other end of the spectrum, racialized groups in developed nations and the entirety of
undeveloped nations have been forgotten or intentionally left out in the initial growth of web
access. Communities experiencing poverty and lack of technological development were unable
to connect to the world wide web. In many educational spaces, this is referred to as the digital
divide.
As a teenager, I gained my first personal laptop as a Christmas gift. With internet access
now available at home, I learned how to gather information online and download hundreds of
how-to books, television shows and songs that weren’t accessible to me in the offline world
outside of my local library. Through my exposure of different subsets of the cyberspace, I had
the ability to engage with diverse communities of people who shared similar interest in popular

1
Jerry Kang, "Cyber-Race", Harvard Law Review 113, no. 5 (2000): 1130, doi:10.2307/1342340.

iii
media and gaming. These communities are spaces that would be difficult for me to
infiltrate in my everyday life because of the barriers placed through race and gender.
Within the early text-based chat environments, the primary demographic of users were
White males. Many used this closed digital space to freely engage in bullying, emasculation of
their peers, racial motivated profanities, as well as exchange images that reinforce their
stereotypical beliefs about gender, class and ethnicity. Throughout my investigation I will
discuss the intersections of my racial background in relation to my virtual physical identity, my
experience of the cyberspace relative to my experience of the dreamscape, and the contributions
of early internet culture to my personal design work and creation of my series of work titled
“LUSH”.

1

Introduction
In the World-Wide Web, there exists millions of communities all co-existing in separate
digital societies. These forums created a space for people to connect through common interests
or requests. As the internet permeates the lives of people around the world, the boundaries
between reality and the virtual world become blurred. Things that we say and do online begin to
affect our offline lives as well. As racialized groups gained access to the cyberspace, this created
new possibilities for social interaction and interracial communication.
2
Although racial
minorities can and do experience racism in the virtual world, the ability to change one’s
individual identity within the virtual world increases their scope of communication and begins to
blur the barriers of segregation and oppression that create obstacles within the real world. The
exploration of this phenomenon is explained in theories of the Cyber-race.
3
By removing the
face-to-face interaction that can trigger racial bias for minorities, they are able to experience a
new reality detached from how they are perceived within their everyday life.

2
Kang, 1136.
3
Kang, 1136.
2

Chapter 1: Early Virtual Worlds and Its Contributions to Escapism
In the early use of cyberspace socialization within the 1990’s, the lines between the real
and virtual worlds were very clear and defined. The importance of the internet had not yet been
cemented and many that did use the internet for socialization were limited to a text-only
experience. Starting as a predominantly 2D space utilized mostly for the retrieval of information,
there existed small subsets of social communities interacting through text-based online forums.
4

Users have to visit a website that hosts the forums and communicate through posts focusing on a
specific topic. Today, the social forum site known as reddit is most dominating force in this
aspect of threaded discussion on the web. In order to actively socialize in these spaces, the user
must initiate conversation through text, either asking a question related to the forums interest or
provide insight to an issue submitted by another user. When users engage in the activity of
pulling information from online sources such as searching a topic on google or reddit, this is
known as pull action since you “pull” the information from various sources, which is one of two
types of actions within the cyberspace.
5
On the other end of the spectrum is the push action,
which is experienced most commonly through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
The push comes from the information being “pushed” from user to user through likes and
follows on social media sites. There is no active work for someone on a social media site to
become engaged within that social sphere, people can send you direct messages, tag you in posts
or send friend requests without you actively engaging others. Instant messaging did begin to

4
Brigitte Jordan, "Blurring Boundaries: The "Real" And The "Virtual" In Hybrid Spaces", Human Organization 68,
no. 2 (2009): 181-193, doi:10.17730/humo.68.2.7x4406g270801284.
5
Kang, 1133.
3

introduce users to the beginnings of a pull effect as users could be contacted directly through
their usernames by people on their friends list inside a messaging software.
As the use of instant messaging grew, so did the desire to express a physical response
through the cyber space. Although the chat rooms of the 1990’s and early 2000’s were limited by
the 2D text environment, many users added individuality to their messages by adding emoticons
(the use of keyboard symbols and keys to create facial expressions) to show emotion. These
simple keys had a very limited ability to convey how a user is feeling and the text-only dynamic
was a large barrier between the real and virtual worlds. At the same time, the use of multiple
forms of media within the World Wide Web expanded rapidly as Net Art begins to take the
spotlight, and expand what people thought could be done using the web. This was the beginning
of the transformation of the cyberspace as artist, designers, and engineers around the world
began to develop programs to solidify their creative vision in a new medium. Many began to
code their own websites in HTML, configuring their own corners of the internet. As others took
on a larger task, transforming a largely 2D space into a 3D platform.
Social Web-Based Gaming / virtual spaces of the 1990’s-2000’s
The turn of the millennium was an incredible time for the proliferation of virtual spaces
residing on the internet. In June 1999, a web development software company known as the
Macromedia firm officially released Flash 4, a graphics program used for creating interactive
animations on the web
6
. Macromedia also launched the newest flash player alongside the vector-
based program
7
. Although Flash 4 was still primarily a 2D animation tool, the added a
ActionScripting feature which permitted designers to add multidimensional interactivity to their

6
Stuart Dredge, Web 3D (repr., London: Laurence King, 2002), 22-27.
7
Stuart Dredge, Web 3D (repr., London: Laurence King, 2002), 22-27.
4

flash work that was unachievable before
8
. Because of the widespread use of flash 4 to embed
videos and games onto websites, its development grew rapidly and the program itself soon came
a staple in the visualization of multiple forms of media consumed online.
9
For example, a site
focused on hosting user created videos like YouTube and a site focused on hosting online game
platforms would both be using Macromedia Flash technology to power the interactive and media
aspects of their site.
10
Many artists and designers created their own 3D flash projects using this
widely popular digital tool. Although it is only one subset of Net Art, a lot of computer-
generated art utilized this media at the time. As web designers applied this new medium to their
projects and challenged the restrictions of its capabilities, they began developing the beginnings
of 3D on the world wide web.
11

Over the last 25 years there have been numerous web-based chat clients and software
created with the intention of being a long-term replacement to physical contact. Web based
clients like GaiaOnline, Club Penguin, Meez, and Neopets allowed visitors to access their virtual
worlds through their hosted servers and buy customized content for their avatars and pets using
credit cards on their site. This allowed visitors to log in and access their accounts from any
computer. In the early age of social networking, this was ideal for many people who did not have
access to the web in their homes. Having a personal computer did not become widely popular in
the initial years of web-based chat clients, and only existed in the homes of the wealthy until the
mid-1990’s to early 2000’s. This made virtual worlds hosted online ideal since they could be
accessed simply by a URL with all of the user data hosted on its own server. Today, with the

8
Dredge, 10.
9
Dredge, 10.
10
Dredge, 10.
11
Dredge, 10.
5

prevalence of home computers and more sophisticated digital chat software, a majority of the
web-based clients have now gone offline due to a decrease in daily users.
Other more memory heavy clients like RuneScape, IMVU and Second-Life required
users download their software onto their personal computers in order to access the full features
of the software program. This allowed the simulated environments to become more dynamic than
the chat rooms using web-based 3D programming. Through their software you can buy homes,
host parties, and develop your own simulated clothing through the 3D software of your choice.
Something that was initially seen as a social pastime has become a fully monetizable hobby, as
more knowledgeable users-built a following through their avatar creation and clothing design.
Second-life and IMVU both are examples of the beginnings of blurred lines between the virtual
world and the real world as users of these programs change their individual identity to their
preference. Through the 3D cyberspace, users can develop a new persona separate from their
physical appearance, building deep connections through an environment that allows them to
become someone different entirely. For example, someone who is introverted within their reality
may be viewed as extroverted through there virtual selves. This hypothetical user could have
many reasons that inhibit their ability to communicate easily in a physical space such as social
anxiety or sensory overloads to the outside environment. The existence of the virtual cyberspace
can remedy a lot of those problems. Within this section I will be discussing the development of
interactive virtual spaces in the web and the importance of racial anonymity in racialized groups.
In 1999, two web designers from Finland known as Aapo Kyrola and Sampo Karjalainen
were asked to design a website for a Finnish rap band named Mobiles.
12
The two came up with a

12
Stuart Dredge, Web 3D (repr., London: Laurence King, 2002), 22-27.
6

retro-style virtual disco environment that was so successful it grew into its own virtual
community.
13
The digital club space for Mobiles skyrocketed into popularity amongst web
designers, and became a gathering place for digital creators because of the appealing design and
unique mix of vintage game aesthetics.
14
The pair decided to continue their success by creating
their agency Sulake and releasing the latest version of their hit disco environment under the
name Habbo Hotel in 2000. This new version of their digital dance space was created to appeal
to a more conventional internet users outside of the web design world.
15
The ability to enter chat
rooms and connect with other users around the world was no different than the text-based
environments that people were used to. But the ability to create and visualize yourself within the
digital world was a new and exciting feature.
16
This opened the door for more distinctiveness
between users and allowed people to feel more engaged with those that they socialized with by
being able to see them in the virtual realm.
17
Habbo hotel’s design focused more on spatiality
and world building, users could gather around a table in a café and see other users occupying the
space just like in the real world.
18
The bird’s eye view within Habbo Hotel provided a new
perspective inside cyberspace, and operated much like the perspective inside many arcade
games, making it a successful mix of new and old technological concepts.
19

13
Dredge, 25.
14
Dredge, 25.
15
Dredge, 25.
16
Dredge, 26.
17
Dredge, 26.
18
Dredge, 26.
19
Dredge, 26.
7

Second Life and IMVU
Second life is one of the oldest and most prolific virtual world platforms online.
20

Created in 2003 by Linden Lab in San Francisco, California, it reigns as the largest platform to
date with millions of active users around the world spanning across 150 countries.
21
Since its
creation, Second Life has been used by many different types of individuals including educators,
businesses and more utilizing it as an environment for education, entertainment, socialization,
and shopping.
22
Since its launch, Second Life has been known to be a creative space and
technological tool for things like simulations, group meetings, work training and prototyping.
23

Because of Second Life’s open world design, it allows you to experiment with different work
solutions within the one environment.
24
Similar to Second Life is another 3D chat software
known as IMVU. This program was founded by software developer Will Harvey in 2004 in
Mountain View, California.
25
Before creating IMVU, Harvey designed another interactive
computer software known as There.
26
There’s concept also involves the avatar personalization
seen in IMVU and highlights the initial 3D environment idea Harvey had for building a real-time
communication.
27
IMVU is still a large competitor to the Second Life universe with around 7
million monthly users.
28
40% of IMVU’s audience comes from the United States, and 60%
mainly coming from Canada, the UK, France, and Brazil.
29
Breaking into a text-only dominant

20
"Second Life Work/Faqs - Second Life Wiki", Wiki.Secondlife.Com, 2021,
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_Work/FAQs.
21
Second Life Work/Faqs
22
Second Life Work/Faqs
23
Second Life Work/Faqs
24
Second Life Work/Faqs
25
WIRED Staff, "Instant Messaging Goes Graphical", Wired, 2004, https://www.wired.com/2004/09/instant-
messaging-goes-graphical/.
26
WIRED Staff, "Instant Messaging Goes Graphical”.
27
WIRED Staff, "Instant Messaging Goes Graphical".
28
"IMVU - Official Website - World's Largest 3D Avatar Chat Game.", IMVU, 2021, https://about.imvu.com/.
29
"IMVU - Official Website - World's Largest 3D Avatar Chat Game.".
8

field, the creation of graphical avatars increased the importance of personalization in the
cyberspace. It is the only platform known to have a 3D social network alongside their virtual
social software.
30
In the beginning, IMVU users were limited in the ways in which they could
access the IMVU world. Without a PC or laptop with adequate memory, you were unable to
become fully connected to the IMVU community. Since expanding to the Apple store as a
software app, they have expanded their demographic of users by allowing access to the IMVU
virtual space on personal cellphones and tablets, removing the restrictions of the PC software
requirement.
The Significance of Digital Anonymity in Cyberspace by Racialized Groups
The existence of the cyberspace can have major disruptions in the human understanding
of race and race relations. This is because of the ability for online users to modify their physical
presentation in the digital world. The alteration of personal identity opens the door for different
racial groups to practice anonymity online.
31
Given the ability to hide one’s race provides the
opportunity for more interracial interactions, as users lose the ability to make assumptions based
on the appearance of others and are now forced to have social interactions without predetermined
racial bias.
32
On the other end of the spectrum, our virtual presence creates a new existence of
digital transmutation.
33
The act of digital transmutation relates to the user’s ability to identify
and communicate as another race online.
34
This could be beneficial in experiments involving the
exploration of ethnic meanings and the deterioration of stereotypes through exposure. But in
practice, digital transmutation has been very harmful to minorities as the cultural exchange

30
"IMVU - Official Website - World's Largest 3D Avatar Chat Game.".
31
Kang, 1134.
32
Kang, 1135.
33
Kang, 1133.
34
Kang, 1135.
9

becomes cultural consumption. For example, both millennials and generation-z have adopted the
use of Black vernacular because of its growing popularity through social media. Many that
utilize this kind of speech and refer to its use as “internet slang” do not understand its creation
through the development of African-American culture and the historical contributions its
development.
Through my perspective as an African-American woman, my social understanding
growing up in the United States showed me that having darker skin or kinkier hair can be seen as
less attractive. Along with the psychologically reinforced preconceived ideas about race instilled
in society, it may be harder for me to make friends with other racial groups. As we navigate this
world, our social interactions can not only be harmful to our mental health but it can change our
perception of self. Cyberspace alters society and how we engage it in several key ways. For one,
the existence of racial anonymity online promotes racial integration.
35
My ability to visit to the
virtual world as a child created an outlet for me to relieve social anxiety and build friendships
regardless of my physical appearance. In many ways, practicing racial anonymity online was a
subconscious defense of my mental health. As I bypassed the wave of misogynoir that I had been
known to expect in my physical reality, I gained insight on what it would be like to be viewed
beyond my skin color, even if it were restricted to the times in which I was allowed to be online.
For racial minorities our experiences in our physical reality, which has been built upon
generations of racial conflict across national boundaries that still prevail to this day, reinforce our
perception of racial biases and stereotypes.

35
Kang, 1136.
10

The existence of digital anonymity can also be a reaction to violent or derogatory remarks
that racial minorities have received online. Their choice to be anonymous could be a direct
response to the social interactions they have confronted in some social circles on the web. If you
have no interest in concealing your racial identity, how would this affect how you navigate the
cyberspace? Is racial pseudonymity a necessity in order to access certain social circles online as
a racial minority? How does the ability to conceal our lived identities affect digital
diversification over time? The internet contributes to a larger majority of our societal shifts in the
modern age. As more rely on their virtual realties as an escape from the disparities of their lived
experience, it is important to discuss how this safe haven has become a necessity in the exchange
of information, emotion and comfort in our lives. Though out my writings, I attempt to piece
together different studies of community interaction within the cyberspace. Exploring not only
race relations and the history of virtual influence, but how these dramatic technological shifts
have contributed to the development of an online generation. Through research and personal
understanding, I set the foundations of my thesis exploration. By creating my own virtual realm,
I mix my physical memories with my digital persona. Telling stories pertaining to race, nostalgia
and escapism from our lived experience.

11

Chapter 2: The Exploration and Expansion of Boundaries Through the World
Wide Web
Alongside the fun and interactive aspects of escapism in the cyberspace exists the
undesirable and violent aspects. Similar to the members of virtual society who go online to build
relationships with other users online, there are some that dedicate their virtual experience to
creating disorder and often create argumentative environments in any space they enter. In terms
of boundaries, this community of internet trolls thrive on promoting the destruction of them.
Trolling communities existing on well-known forum sites like 4chan.org, use their digital voice
to promote racist, anti-Semitic and misogynist views.
36
The beginning of one of America’s
largest trolling websites starts with its creator Christopher Poole, who created the site in 2003
after discovering a Japanese forum known as Futaba.
37
The general theme of the Futaba website
was to be offensive and obscene.
38
Users posted anything from gore, to fanfictions and
pornography.
39
Poole’s fascination with the digital freedom portrayed in this community lead to
the creation of 4chan an open forum site which hosts several subcategories of interests that went
online in 2003.
40
The name chosen comes from Futaba’s web address, which was 2chan.
41

4chan’s subcategories actually cover a wide range of interests like /mu/ for music or /fa/ for
fashion. 4chan itself has a several communities like these that exist simply for mutual interest
and building virtual communities. But the darker realm lives in the category known as “/b/”
which is the random forum. The /b/ or “random” subcategory is where users basked in their

36
Jamie Barlett, The Dark Net (repr., Great Britain, UK: Melville House, 2014), 37-41
37
Barlett, 37.
38
Barlett, 37.
39
Barlett, 37.
40
Barlett, 37.
41
Barlett, 37.
12

anonymity to “flame” others with insults or share memes that have conservative or stereotypical
values. Some of the regular visitors of /b/ were considered to be a part of the hacktivist group
known as simply Anonymous, and they used the forum to regularly schedule digital attacks in
the name of anticensorship and government overreach. The Anonymous group has existed
alongside the 4chan trolls for many years, but isn’t aligned with any racially motivated ideals
that the typical users share.
42

You don’t have to be a member of the “dark net” to face the breaching of boundaries in
the world wide web, popular companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok have all been
known to gather your personal data or track your activity in the name of “user experience”.
43
On
other occasions the blurring of boundaries in the virtual world is a welcoming and collaborative
experience. Today, it is not uncommon to see a brand use augmented reality (AR) as a marketing
tool by having interactive 3D mock ups of their products. On the Instagram app web designers,
as well as celebrities connect with their audience by creating usable face filters that further
promote their brand. The expansion of gaming using virtual reality (VR) technology is another
instance of humans reaching new levels of integration with the world wide web that were
previously unreachable. Instead of looking into our static 2D computer screens, we are covering
our eyes to increase our field of vision in the virtual world. Our standard flat desktop that we are
used to experiencing on PC could now become a physical desk in VR. The separations between
our physical embodiment and our simulated existence are further fragmented by the use of
virtual world platforms in VR. Not only are we able to reimagine ourselves as different
physically through 3D programming, we can now fully immerse ourselves in our virtual

42
Barlett, 37.
43
Jaclyn Diaz, "Amazon, Tiktok, Facebook, Others Ordered To Explain What They Do With User Data", Npr.Org,
2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/12/15/946583479/amazon-tiktok-facebook-others-ordered-to-explain-what-they-
do-with-user-data.
13

communities by seeing our personalities through VR goggles and using physical moment to
convey emotion online.
Black Vernacular Performance in Digital Media.
The prevalence of social media has also had a negative effect on racialized groups online.
Today, the popularity of speaking in African-American Vernacular English has dominated social
media culture, so much to the point that it is consistently referenced separately from its origins as
“American Slang” or “Gen-Z Culture”. This interest in Black vernacular has also led to many
believing that it is socially acceptable and more beneficial to masquerade as an African-
American person in the digital world. This is not to gain perspective of the Black American
experience, but to gain popularity through a newfound fascination of Black Culture. Within my
thesis, I will address the effects of the cyber race on virtual identity and social integration.
Growing up on the internet has not completely removed me from my racial identity, but removed
barriers that existed in my reality. As I aged, so did the social climate of the digital world. Social
networking began to change our relationship with race and encouraged diversification in the
virtual world.
Early Web Design and Technological Advances
Within my thesis work I aim confront my physical past in the digital future. The main
focus of this body of work and its conceptualization is the internet as a whole and its role in the
continuous development of social interaction in the virtual world. As a late-millennial, the
internet was already in a series of rapid expansion by the time of my existence, and I have been
lucky enough to be a part of the last generation of humans to see its innovation implemented in
many different forms. Although the use of the world wide web takes many forms to this day, in
14

its early development, designers had no yet been grounded to the concepts of modernism. May of
the designs for the integration of the internet into other technological products leaned more into
unconventional territories. Products like cellphones didn’t have the streamlined appearance that
they have today. The use of buttons became obsolete in a modern touch screen phone. The phone
has also taken the job of many other products like an mp3 player, calendar, and reader, all thanks
to our ability to access the internet and download applications that fit our needs. From cellphones
to laptops to smartwatches, the internet has grown into a key part of our everyday lives.
As an African-American living in a pre-gentrified and educationally undefunded
Washington, DC, I did not gain regular access to the internet until the early 2000’s. My first
computer was a clunky Windows 99 PC with no interne connection, and my first phone was a
prepaid Nokia running on Virgin Mobile that was mostly used to buy ringtones of hit songs and
text my mother after school. I was excited and still very privileged to have these things
regardless of my financial background. Having a cellphone was the greatest form of
independence for a middle schooler in the mid-2000’s. Today, it is not unusual to see children as
young as three years old quickly and methodically swiping across their tablet screens as if it were
an extension of themselves. It is amazing to witness this transformation of technical development
in my lifetime, and I am often envious of the children who do not have the restrictions of
libraries and computer labs to enter the cyberspace. On the other end of the spectrum, I am very
grateful for developing and growing alongside technology, experiencing it in its many clunky
and less immediately gratifying forms. The expansion of the internet as an informational and
social tool led to the development of more experimentation in design in the search of futurism.
Web designers, engineers, and computer scientist were eager to envision what futurism meant in
the new digital world. The unknown created by this new universe led to some of the most
15

innovative and fearless concepts in the design of not only highly sought-after computers and
cellphones, but also televisions, radios, and mp3 players as well. From plugging into the landline
and going offline when someone needed to use the house phone, to watching videos in a quality
no greater than 240p on the early existence of YouTube, I reflect on how all of these moments
connect to my own growth as if the world wide web were growing alongside me.

16

Chapter 3: Background
As I read The Dark Net by Jamie Barnett and Mass Effect: Art and the Internet in the 21
st

Century, I began to make connections between my love for the internet, my virtual identity in my
youth, and my interest in the dream world. Through my thesis I explore my experiences in the
dreamscape and its connection to my waking life. I reflect on the recurring places and people I
encounter in this unconscious realm and why I return to these spaces for relief in times of stress.
Through my research I’ve been able to make connections between my interests in the
subconscious mind and cyberspace. Similar to the virtual world, the dream world can be used as
a form of escapism. My ability to escape realism and visualize my own utopia through lucid
dreaming made the act of sleeping just as much of a tool for escapism as my use of an alternate
identity within the cyberspace. Although there is less control on the functionality of dreams,
leading to some being more negative in their experience than others, our desires, passions and
buried thoughts can reemerge and live in our subconscious thoughts. As I faced major shifts in
the trajectory of my life by moving to Los Angeles and readjusting to my living environment, I
found myself consistently dreaming about my hometown in Washington, DC. Some buildings
may present in different places or have different furnishings, but the feeling of knowing exactly
where I was and what it felt like was a recurring theme. In each city I’ve lived in from
Washington, to Baltimore and Los Angeles, I’ve grounded myself by exploring my environment
always given me a better perception of my atmosphere. My reflections on these habits brought
perspective to design concepts and the behaviors I enact to feel secure in different surroundings.

17

Building Spaces of Comfort
Through my body of work titled LUSH I’d like to recreate the atmosphere of early
internet games and virtual communities based on my childhood relationship with the digital
space. The name was created through the sensory experience that I have felt in both the
cyberspace and dream space. By building my own virtual world, I have the opportunity to shape
the simulated environment to fit my memories and desires. This concept is meant to expand my
connection to the audience by giving them the opportunity to explore the virtual world in my
image. This increases my capacity to tell a narrative story through interactive play, as players are
engaged by not only what they see on the screen but the context of the setting in my work.
Within my simulated space, I incorporate small sections of my childhood home as well as surreal
spaces that utilize objects, people, and perceptions I’ve written and recorded within my dream
diary. Through this I blend both of these influences, good and bad, into one virtual space.
Allowing players to glimpse into my subconscious mind and reflect on the real people, emotions,
and experiences that were shared in the early internet world.
Childhood Home
Growing up in Washington, DC I had the memories of generational decay,
underdevelopment, and the commodification of my community through “urban renewal”. These
elements are consistently referenced within my work. I had a unique childhood living with my
grandparents in the suburbs of the downtown area. As an African-American, I am very aware of
the racial inequalities and underdevelopment in our communities across the United States. These
racial disparities have barred a lot of Black American families from investing in their own homes
and owning property. My grandfather and grandmother grew up in the same neighborhood their
entire lives, and when they got older, married, and had children of their own they invested in the
18

corner house on Crittenden and 8
th
St. This house is where my thesis begins, it is the foundation
of my development of the virtual space. While living in this home I sensed the comfort and
reassurance of my grandmother. I also had the company of my aunts and uncle, who were all
younger than 15 at the time. This house was old and sturdy with wood floors.

Digital Influences
In the creation of LUSH, the memories I’ve collected from my childhood are expanded
through the format of gameplay and narrative illustrations. Physical and emotional experiences
shared by the subconscious mind are often communicated through my work by building
interactive sculpture and video installations that discuss the act of lucid dreaming or self-
reflection. Beginning with the development of my personal virtual world, I have relied on my
memories and my dream journal to reimagine these places in a more physical form. These
illusory virtual spaces were created to tell stories about the clairvoyance expressed through
adolescence, imagination and the growing necessity of the cyberspace in social interaction and
development. Within the digital world of LUSH, the foundations of my memories begin to find
life again in a world of my design. The conceptual development of this work emulates the
technical and graphical era of the 1990’s, which were the beginnings of 3D animation being used
in film, gaming and across the web. Millennial designers are channeling the nostalgia of this
nineties era by created new “old” games that emulate the early styles of 3D web and console
19

games, this design trend is known as PS1.
44
It is called PS1 because of the first-generation Sony
PlayStation console. This gaming system hosted 3D games that had very small memory limits,
causing the characters and environment to be rendered using minimal polygons (low-poly) to
conserve as much memory as possible during gameplay.
45

Dream-like Spaces
Throughout my research, I’ve been connecting my personal experience to the theories
and findings of other philosophers who focus on dream studies such as Sigmund Freud. Within
my own dreams and recorded journal entries, there was a significant distortion of events, places,
and people within the space. Although these dreams reference the realism in their origin of
human memory, they revert to their natural state of surrealism in practice. Our minds ability to
store information allows small parts of our walking life to enter our dreams in strange ways.
Within the subconscious mind, there can be recollections hidden from the waking state, which
can manifest itself through our dreams.
46
Inside the readings of The Interpretation of Dreams by
Sigmund Freud, the notions of manifesting visions and the importance of memories in dreams is
referenced and discussed through several theories.
47
Later within my readings, I touch on the
theories that most connect to the ideas behind the world of LUSH and my own personal
interpretation of my experience in the dream realm. Our minds ability to bring memories that
were previously unknown to the surface is not only powerful, but can also be seen as mystical or

44
Leon Hurley, "Here’s How To Create A PS1 Demake, And Vote On What Game Gets The Retro Treatment
Next", Offical Playstation Magazine, 2017, https://www.gamesradar.com/heres-how-to-create-a-ps1-demake-and-
your-chance-to-vote-on-what-game-gets-made-next/.
45
Leon Hurley, "Here’s How To Create A PS1 Demake, And Vote On What Game Gets The Retro Treatment
Next".
46
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (repr., New York: Basic Books, 1955), 41-73.
47
Freud, 43.
20

spiritual. For example, within my own dreams, I cannot manifest the appearance of a deceased
friend or relative through pure grief or willpower, but they can appear to me aimlessly in an
environment unforeseen and their presence would bring me excitement and a sense of relief. As
if they came at a time which they were most needed, not wanted. Not as if they came to provide
dire information for the meaning of life, but as if they came just to check in, and settle any
anxieties I may have been facing at that time. The subconscious dreamscape can mean different
things to many different people. Similar to my virtual self, I am also very connected to my dream
self. These realities all exist parallel to each other in my mind, as I build attachments to each
state of being. Within my work, I echo my visions from the dream space, and the emotions
attached to them.
What is Dreamscape?
The foundational understanding of dreaming and its connection to the psychological state
is still being studied and theorized to this day. There are still many unanswered questions as to
why we have unconscious visions and their relationship to our buried memories.
48
In the
exploration of The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, we can find theories,
experiments and notes shared by notable philosophers like Johannes Volkelt and Ludwig
Strumpell that discuss their experiences of the dreamscape. It is notable that within the readings,
Freud reiterates the belief that anyone who recollects their dreams has the possibility to
experience the evidence of memories within the dream that relate back to their waking life.
49
The
human mind and its gathered knowledge from waking thought and suppressed recollections is
one of the bases for which dreams build their visions.
50
One of the most fascinating and

48
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation Of Dreams (repr., New York: Basic Books, 1955), 41-73.
49
Freud, 45.
50
Freud, 48.
21

unexplained topics of the dreamscape is the material chosen to manifest within each encounter.
The things that we consider to be the most significant are not and the most insignificant
happenstances dominate our train of thought.
51
Freuds conversation on the prominence of
childhood recollections within dreams resonated with the ideas behind the development of
LUSH. The realization that dreams are constantly highlighting parts of our lived experience
which we have previously forgotten is a part of the core themes that I am conveying to the
audience.
Notable Dream studies and their conclusions
Within the writings of Freud in the Interpretation of Dreams, He discusses several
accounts of different philosophers and theorists, as well as his own recollections of the dream
space. In each remembrance of their dreamscapes, they all individually note the significance of
their in the waking life and its contributions to their subliminal manifestations.
52
For example,
Sigmund Freud himself converses over a dream that he had which involved a doctor he had
visited in his native town.
53
Inside his dream, the doctor had the face of one of his secondary
school teachers and was missing one of his eyes.
54
When Freud awoke, he enquired about this
vision with his mother and discovered that the doctor he had visited over 3o years ago for a
minor injury also had one eye, and there was nothing that occurred in his daily life to cause him
to think of this doctor in his conscious state.
55
Freud also reinforces this concept of unearth
memories by quoting Hildebrandt, stating “I have already expressly admitted that these dreams
sometimes bring back to our minds, with a wonderful power of reproduction, very remote and

51
Freud, 51.
52
Freud, 51.
53
Freud, 50.
54
Freud, 48.
55
Freud, 50.
22

even forgotten events from our earliest years”.
56
The philosophies expressed and explored
throughout Freud’s writings communicate the necessary focus of memories in the discussion of
the dreamscape and surrealist visions. Freud vocalizes the difficult task of visualizing the
unconscious experience, and attempts to pull together the encounters of his peers and mentors to
map the different states of the subliminal mind.

56
Freud, 48.
23

Chapter 4: Methodology
World building process
As a mixed-media artist, I am interested in conveying these complex narratives of the
dreamscape in different mediums. By using different mediums, each chapter of LUSH story is
seen in different visual universes, similar to how I perceive the dream world. No two visions are
the same and even recurring characters in the dreamscape can reappear with a different physical
manifestation. The pulling of memories into the dream world leads to a lot of distortion that
brings a whimsical presence to the atmosphere. Many things that happen in this realm lean into
surrealism as the environment and the objects that occupy it both transforms continuously
throughout the hallucination. These feelings of erratic manifestation will be recreated through
experimentation with 3D modelling and animation to mimic the psychedelic effects of the dream
space. The 3D game environment created for LUSH will be accompanied by a 3D personality
representing my likeness, designed using low polygons and faces within the model will allow me
to create a loose aesthetic for the persona that is similar to the aesthetics of early web and
console games.
Conclusion
Before the development of Lush, I continuously referenced the dreamscape as a narrative
space throughout my design work. My foundational concepts focused on location-based
installation art and storytelling through illustrative pieces. I explored how my experience in the
dream world connects to my lived reality and how my environment contributes to this surreal
space. Within the development of LUSH, I’ve utilized a year of dream journaling to fuel the
contextual relationship of the dreamscape in my virtual world. The visons that resurface within
24

my dreams often connect to my childhood home, relationships, and experiences. LUSH is a
combination of my virtual identity and subconscious identity. I reference them both as forms of
escapism throughout the social experiences of my youth. By continuously reminding me of
encounters I’ve long forgotten, I am caught in a loop of self-reflection and rediscovery. Many of
times has a dream reminded me of a passion or interest that once had, giving me the opportunity
to repeat the feelings of excitement that I used to receive from that interaction. Some encounters
within the dream space force me to confront my own inner faults by placing me in uncomfortable
situations that I avoid in my waking life. In many ways, our dream world can be a reflection of
our deepest insecurities and mirror issues that we often bury deep into our subconscious mind.
The world of LUSH is meant to be a culmination of my memories, passions, insecurities, and
fears in a fun and interactive atmosphere.
25

Bibliography
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Anonymity, And Social Category Salience On Online Dating Outcomes". Computers In
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Dredge, Stuart. Web 3D. Reprint, London: Laurence King, 2002.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation Of Dreams. Reprint, New York: Basic Books, 1955.
"IMVU - Official Website - World's Largest 3D Avatar Chat Game.". IMVU, 2021.
https://about.imvu.com/.
Jordan, Brigitte. "Blurring Boundaries: The "Real" And The "Virtual" In Hybrid
Spaces". Human Organization 68, no. 2 (2009): 181-193.
doi:10.17730/humo.68.2.7x4406g270801284.
Kang, Jerry. "Cyber-Race". Harvard Law Review 113, no. 5 (2000): 1130. doi:10.2307/1342340.
Rainie, Lee, Janna Anderson, and Jonathan Albright. "The Future Of Free Speech, Trolls,
Anonymity And Fake News Online". Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 2021.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/03/29/the-future-of-free-speech-trolls-
anonymity-and-fake-news-online/.
Cornell, Lauren, and Ed Halter. Mass Effect. Reprint, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2015.
Rickford, John R., Greg J. Duncan, Lisa A. Gennetian, Ray Yun Gou, Rebecca Greene,
Lawrence F. Katz, and Ronald C. Kessler et al. "Neighborhood Effects On Use Of African-
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United States Of America 112 (2015). doi:10.1073.
"Second Life Work/Faqs - Second Life Wiki". Wiki.Secondlife.Com, 2021.
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Barlett, Jamie. The Dark Net. Reprint, Great Britain, UK: Melville House, 2014.
Staff, WIRED. "Instant Messaging Goes Graphical". Wired, 2004.
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Diaz, Jaclyn. "Amazon, Tiktok, Facebook, Others Ordered To Explain What They Do With User
Data". Npr.Org, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/15/946583479/amazon-tiktok-facebook-
others-ordered-to-explain-what-they-do-with-user-data.
Hurley, Leon. "Here’S How To Create A PS1 Demake, And Vote On What Game Gets The
Retro Treatment Next". Offical Playstation Magazine, 2017. https://www.gamesradar.com/heres-
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Asset Metadata

Creator Fulton, Ginamahre (author)

Core Title Building the digital dreamscape: virtual worlds, the subconscious mind and our addiction to escapism

School Roski School of Art and Design

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Design

Publication Date 05/03/2021

Defense Date 03/01/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag 4chan,Black aesthetics,Black culture,Black vernacular,blackfishing,Cyber-Race,cyberspace,digital forum,digital space,dreamscape,Forum,IMVU,OAI-PMH Harvest,second life,virtual community,virtual identity

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Fung, Alice (committee chair), Ellenburg, Jason (committee member), West, Jennifer (committee member)

Creator Email gfulton@usc.edu,ginamahre@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-459401

Unique identifier UC11668641

Identifier etd-FultonGina-9590.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-459401 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-FultonGina-9590.pdf

Dmrecord 459401

Document Type Thesis

Rights Fulton, Ginamahre

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA