the aspect of week 7 i found most interesting is the construction of an online "self". i've been thinking about that a lot lately - i guess hardly surprising, as i decided to do the virtual communities topic for my critical essay.
everybody has heard the scary stories about people creating fraudulent identities on the internet - for me personally, i remember when we first got the internet at home that my parents gave us a big lecture about how anybody can pretend to be something/someone online. but there is more to the construction of online self than the stereotypical creepy old man.
i have never been into the whole role playing games online, but it is evidently something that so many people participate in, truly an example of the global village that the internet has provided. it reminds me of a daytime show i saw briefly a few weeks ago - oprah i think - where the topic was centred around a young teenage girl, who spent basically all of her time (and pocket money) on this online game. she had created an avatar, a house for her avatar, a car for her avatar... it wasn't so long ago i didn't even know what an avatar was. even mtv has jumped on the role playing bandwagon and created virtual communities in relation to their programming - virtual hills or pimp my ride, anyone?
the renaissance of these online communities (mmorpg is definitely easier to remember than 'massively multi-player online role playing games') has led to the question of where does it end? will mmorpg gradually replace real-life interaction? these days you can get your groceries online, your clothing online... and now you can also "live" online. my generation, and certainly the ones following, are interspersing their RL's with their VL. how far will it go? no doubt for some, it has already reached the point where living vicariously through a fictional, three dimensional self has overtaken reality.
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