ABSTRACT
It is apparent that Voluntary Distributed Computing is far from a solitary pursuit. Instead, it is one that necessitates collective behaviour, including competition with other volunteers, both in the project itself and in the greater VDC universe. This challenges the perception of VDC as involving isolated individuals downloading software to use up their idle PC cycles, with no contact with other people doing something similar. In fact, involvement in VDC is leading to unlikely and unusual collaborations involving volunteers who are simultaneously building communities and engaging in competition with other volunteers and groups of volunteers.
