The Online Gaming Revolution: A Fabricated World.

Unlike Facebook or other such social networking platforms, the online gaming world requires very little, to no, real-life auto/biographical details. Instead, the user ‘creates’ his or her own personal profile, including name and an image to represent their in-game character. A female can even to choose to be a male and vice-versa. The user does not have to share any real-life personal details with other players whatsoever. The online gaming world is literally, in itself, a narrative and players can completely fabricate a new persona and bibliographical details for themselves. In fact, it can even be said that one of the reasons people become so addicted to online games that provide social interaction with people all around the world is because they are able to adopt a new personality and immerse themselves in a fantasy world completely free of the burdens of the ‘real world’.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4265407.stm

In his work ‘There is no “I” in network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography’, Laurie McNeill says, “…imagining the Internet as a realm for Dionysian excesses of identity play, where selves could be put on and off with a few keystrokes.” In online games, such as Evony, the players are even encouraged to become someone else, so to speak. McNeill continues on to talk about how our online ‘self’ is ‘collaborated with the site’s network’, meaning that the site itself encourages people to display certain details in a particular way. In the online gaming world, whilst the bibliographical details provided by the player are mostly fictitious, Evony gives the player a title and rank within the game, such as ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’ and ‘Knight’ or ‘Prinzessin’. The images provided are made to be sexually appealing. All of this encourages the players to act a certain way or to become a character within the game.  

(www.evony.com)

In previous lectures we focused on power in social networking, looking back at that, it can further be said that in an online game, the administrators of the game still hold the majority of the power. The case still remains the same when it comes to ‘online identity’. Whilst administrators are unable to dictate what sort of persona the players put on, they can steer them in a particular direction by choosing what information can be put on display and monitoring chat rooms for ‘foul language’ and the use of languages other than English. Players can be banned, prevented from speaking or given a brief warning for improper use of language or improper behaviour online. 

References:

McNeill, L. (2012). “There Is No "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography.” Biography 35.1, 65-82. Biographical Research Center.

Van Luyn, A. (2012). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 4: Networked Narratives (Lecture 4 PowerPoint slides). Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au 

Waters D. (2005). Losing Yourself in Online Gaming. Retrieved from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4265407.stm