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"Are we who we are?"

A thought occurred to me the other day.

Turbonutter wrote:
> A thought occurred to me the other day.

Ha ha! Was it painful? Do you want to sit down?

Right, now we’ve got all those stupid thought jokes out of the way, I’ll start again:

A thought occurred to me the other day. Are we different people on the Internet? Well in my case, the answer is yes. On the Internet, especially here, we say and do things that we wouldn’t dream of doing elsewhere. It’s hard to explain why but in general I think we’re more outgoing. The Net is the ultimate in racial equality. There are no faces, no colours, no ages (to an extent) and no physical conditions. In reality someone might be 6 feet tall and rippling with muscles but on the Net you could give him a metaphorical whack on the noggin and get away with all your teeth. The Net has no limits and no prejudice, because at the end of the day you can just log off and walk away. You can’t walk away from life.

It’s the same in games. We do suicidal things because we have no fear. You can always turn it off and start again. If you die in Unreal, you respawn, if you crash in GT3, you bounce back. You have a different character in games because you are different people, either a futuristic gladiator with an inability to die, or a souped-up cabbie with green hair. The game gives you a persona and you take it on.

So, how many other people think they are different on the Internet?

No?

No one?

Argh, sod it. Need coffee…

DeltaJava wrote:
> Damn, this was in a magazine the other day, or in a newspaper
> article somewhere. And that's where you've taken this from.


No, actually I remember something like this was published ages ago in .net, but I assure you it's not copied from it. Go and dig up the article on their website and see.

I would say I am who I am. I am probaly a little different on the net but I don't know because nobody I know in real life talks on the forums.

Hmm maybe im different sometimes and not others.

I've not been feeling myself today.

But that's cos I was at work and would probably get fired. :-)

In real life I am fairly shy and don't talk much.

Er, no. I only read OPS2.

Damn, this was in a magazine the other day, or in a newspaper article somewhere. And that's where you've taken this from.

I expect many of you already know this, but I am rather different on here than I am in 'real life.'

On here I'm outgoing. In real life I'm very shy.

On here I can talk to any new person with no problems at all. In real life I don't like meeting new people very much.

On here I'm fine talking to any girl. In real life I am very nervous around girls, and don't talk to them much.


BUT, if you get to know me well, then I'm pretty much the same as I on here. I hope that doesn't confuse you.

I don't think I'm that different from my on screen persona. Perhaps writing gives me more time to think (and making me less likely to blurt something innaproriate out) but I don't think there's much difference.

It really takes someone else to tell whether you come accross as a different person on here to in real-life, as everyone has their pre-conceptions of how other people think of them.

I guess I try to be the same person but I can see what you are getting at. People don't judge you by what you look like as they can't see you. But there could be a downside to this, unless people accept you and like you by what you write you could be treated as an outcast whereas in real life there are many different ways for people to get to know you better.

I don't know

I just act the same so I guess that means yes I am the same

Ho Humm

Although I don't say cheese as much, I think.

LOL @ Goaty's post

ARGH PHONE

Hate phones :P

I talk more in real life. I don't mean that as a joke as in "I type here but talk in real life", I mean I get involved in discussions more. Here I just mostly sit back and read what others have to say - I only join in if I *really* feel the need to ... like now.