Sunday, November 14, 2010

Online Bodies.

After I finished reading Taylor's paper Life in Virtual Worlds I realized that I almost overlooked an important aspect in for my research - plural existence.

I always thought the differences between online self and offline self could only exist where there was an avatar in place. For example, on Habbo Hotel, my avatar's name was Zidla and looked nothing like me. But, now I'm wondering if plural existence can be if the online self representation is the same as the offline representation (ex. a vlogger who films himself doing everyday things).

Even though the vlogger is filming his everyday life, he still has to decide what to edit out and what to keep. It may very well be that the parts he chooses to include construct a different version of who he actually is.

This seems really obvious now but I think I didn't pick up on this possibility before because the difference between online self and offline self is much more recognizable with the aid of an avatar. For example, this was me on HabboHotel, 5 years ago.
Very different from the real me, I'd say.

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