Online Identity

In class this past week we have discussed numerous things about online accounts, identities and attitudes that can be portrayed online. According to startribune.com there was an interesting article that showed the online world being a place to meet and interact while gaming in another world the game was “ World of Warcraft”. Acting through an avatar being anyone that you can possibly want to be. In class we learned about reflexive identity which is who we think we are. In this case this avatar was a girl who wanted the bigger bust and crazy hair style that she so desired to be portrayed as. She felt herself online as someone that could be social and interactive unlike herself in real life.
Ascribed identity is how someone else thinks of us. In the article it shows the girl’s avatar to be someone that is easy to talk to and someone who was really good at the online game it appealed to a male avatar and made him want to know more about the player. Eventually both of the players became familiar friends online and furthered this online friendship to a real life friendship.
Class discussions we learned that outside forces can affect our sense of self and what others think of us. The online gaming world can give the online identities to allow us to be anyone we want to be, look like, speak like etc. When gaming you can have the physical interactions that you cannot have with someone say on the phone. The online identity of the gaming world is the most online identity you can have, besides something such as a facebook or myspace.
When online gaming you are dealing with virtual identity, how you present yourself online. Gamers find it neat to see what “ideal” body type the player wants to be, it hardly is ever the same as the actual gamer. World of Warcraft is the most popular of the online identity games. Match.com an online account has 2 million users and they too can make their own online identities. Many choose to play and interact with World of Warcraft because of the physical interaction that gamers can show their true feelings in while playing. In the online world you can have any identity you desire, you can be totally anonymous and have no privacy all at once. All it takes is you at the click of a button.