http://blogonomicon.eponym.com/blog/Humor/_archives/2007/6/17/3028535.htmlAs a young adult who is a member of two social networking sites (facebook and myspace), an online gaming community (x-box live), and a few message boards; I can say that I know about the difference between online Dave and real life Dave.
I like to believe that real life Dave is a reasonably nice guy and fairly intelligent. But like a lot of people, my online personality is far different. I steer clear of anything racial and extremely derogatory, but I am fairly competent at breaking a newbs spirit. Part of playing an online game for most people is getting the other team so angry that they play bad or say something stupid so that you get a laugh out of it. There are common insults that you hear online include; “that’s what she said, “your mom (something sexual or derogatory)”, or something as simple as “you such at this game”. Time to think of an insult while in the midst of a frag fest is limited so you mostly get the most simple of insults. This mostly applies to x-box live where the main form of communication is talking to each other over a headset.
Message board Dave is generally more thoughtful than x-box live Dave. Since the form of communication is slower, I generally think about my responses longer. I tend to use more thought out insults and attack people more thoughtfully. I am also generally a nicer guy.
Yes I am a different person online, as are most people. Since there are fewer barriers to separate people in cyberspace, we get less self censorship. What are the consequences of being an asshole online? Pretty much nothing; you may get banned from a message board or have your virtual profile get deleted, but it is nothing detrimental. Who really cares about how we are perceived online when location and identity are not an issue?
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