Hmm... Identity

Like the other few posts I am a little skeptical about this argument that people engaging in MUDs or online simulations may have a better sense of self or have a defined identity. If anything, I think the individuals who engage in these activities do it because they are appealing to them and are a form of entertainment. Perhaps in some cases it acts as an escape, where it is possible to assume the identity of something completely different from themselves. I think there is still something extended from them into these characters. Most the people I have known who play World of Warcraft or Dungeons and Dragons pick things in these games that they like in their personal lives. For example, I had a buddy who was into mid-evil swords, so whenever he played D&D, he would equip himself with one of these swords because that was what he liked. Like Justin, I played an online game in high school occasionally that I wasted numerous hours on, but why I did it was because I thought it was fun and I had friends who also played it. Granted it wasn't a game like WoW or D&D where you create your attributes, but I still didn't find myself being apart of the game or identifying with the computer characters. It was hobby that my friends and I shared.

Ultimately, I think that when people do things like "computer cross dressing" or assume a different race in a game than they are in real life, they are doing it because technology makes it possible for them. It seems like more of experimenting through things that are possible as entertainment or curiosity. I don't know if it really is a new phenomenon to use media as an escape. Before computers and the internet, people deluded themselves to think about the world in terms of how a certain musician or film star presented it. Several people are escaping there lives all the time or at least trying to make them more worthwhile. I think that finding out more about yourself through media happens often, but I think the form of media used is situational and it varies from person to person.