The secret world of a public persona
Cartoon Just Tuesday
A bit tangential to the purpose of MyWHaT this morning and by no means a cartoon. However, this short film by Gavin Kelly is intriguing.
It depicts 4 *MMORPG players as they describe their online persona’s while the viewer watches them navigate their everyday routine, as their avatars.
The connection is the persona we present in the physical public space, as well as the commons of the internet. For example, what sort of creature are we expressing during a fit of road-rage? Or, who are we when we feel unencumbered by social norms when commenting on an online forum.
More simply, there’s the connection to the act of people-watching. The times when we allow ourselves to wonder what a passerby is thinking as they walk down a street or wait at a stop light.
There probably are warlocks among us, if not zombies.
It’s all connected, right?
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BONUS ROUND. More inner-persona with contrasting portraits at the Daily Dish where the work of photographer Robbie Cooper and his book Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators was highlighted.
An example of the work.
* MMORPG=Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game
I find this fascinating. This brings to mind a parallel to Lucid dreaming. Once you have control over your fantasies… what type of ethical boundaries are created and/or deleted due to the new environment? I would imagine that gamers have “codes of conduct” that have been put in place, same as any other “real life” society has created…
Even more so, this question relates to online environments such as “Second Life” rather than just games with set rules and objectives. Places that you have an Avatar to just EXIST in that space.
Here, I can see this relating to your blog’s purpose. It’s a public space… but virtual.
I like that video too. As mentioned in the article… quite intriguing.