Chapter 7 Summary by David Altenburg, G10, 409b, Fall 1998, University of Hawaii

Report on Chapter 7 Summary

"Aspects of the Self"

Life on the Screen by Sherry Turkle

In chapter seven, Sherry discusses the aspects of how and why our personality can change when confronted with the non-physical realm of cyberspace. "When we step through the screen into virtual communities, we reconstruct our identities on the other side of the looking glass." In that statement she makes the comparison of logging onto the web as a physical act where we (as people) have the opportunity to become anybody we like. No body can see who one really is on the web(in the physical sense), so what ever aspect of one's personality they want to portray to others will be who they are in cyberspace.

Since the focus of this chapter uses many examples from virtual communities, Sherry rely's heavily on the interactions on MUD's (Multi User Domains/Dungeons). MUD's can be one of two things: either places where people log online to chat, or to role play in a game type setting. A majority of MUD's are based on the popular 80's game "Dungeons and Dragons", and can be just as (if not more) addicting. As in chat rooms, MUD's allow the user to 'portray' their character to be whom ever they like. E.g. Give it an alternate personality, gender, set of ideals one would not normally express openly to others in person.

Such is the case in one example of a school teacher who uses three different characters (handles) on an IRC (Inter-Relay Chat)- which are live forums for online conversations. The three 'handles' her interests tend to lead to (for topics of discussion) are: A forum on he war in Yugoslavia, a Melrose Place discussing forum, and she is active on numerous sexual chat lines- looking for a good time. She uses these multiple chat lines to express a particular side of her personality that she feels 'needs to be expressed'. Possibly by repressing the urges to actively discuss these issues IRL (In-Real, or away from the keyboard) she has become dependant on the use of these virtual communities to express these elements of her personality that would not be accepted (or considered- extreme) by society.

In MUD's, one can be 'whom ever they want to be'. Right from the start, the option of gender is offered for the character, and once playing. Since no body knows who the person 'really is', one can express a certain part of their personality that can fool others into believing that they really 'are' this person (Sherry is speaking of personality and gender). One person interviewed described the addiction of MUD's as "addicting because things happen fast, and you can't really be part of the action unless you are there every day. To get the thrill of MUD's you have to be part of what makes the story unfold." Like in real life, MUD's constantly change and evolve in alliances, goals, and group directed activities (quests).

Next Sherry discusses the issue of Role Playing Vs. Parallel Lives. In this section she used numerous examples (of which 2 will be briefly described).

First was the story of Gordan, who grew up in both Florida and California since his parents were divorced and he was passed between them. He never had many friends growing up since he was overweight, and wasn't around in either place for long. Right before college he went on a trip to India where nobody knew who he was (on the trip with him) and he found he could make good friends. This idea of a fresh start followed him into college and before long he discovered MUD's. He began experimenting with different aspects of his personality (that he wanted people to see on the net), and created numerous characters. One was outgoing, jovial; while another seemed older/wise, reserved and quiet; then of course another was of opposing gender and was flirtatious and sexual. "The slippage of Gordan's online personality extended to his real personality and when Sherry met him, he was engaged to a woman he met on the MUD with one of his personae, and her with her persona. The relationship started out as an extension of their real personalities, but blossomed when they got to know each other in person.

In this chapter there are numerous other examples of how a character the person portrays on a MUD begins affecting their real personality (many times beneficially by allowing the person to become better in touch with a certain part of themselves). The above example however should be enough to get the general idea.

In Summary: Many people desire to be more than what they are. The disassociation between an individual's personality and the many facets that make it up can be a major cause for the addictive tendencies they express when encountering a MUDding environment. Some people yearn to express certain aspects of their personalities. Sometimes it can be psychologically beneficial, because they are getting in better touch with themselves, and their 'characters' traits can start affecting their IRL personality. However, sometimes it can be damaging as a person becomes dependant on the gaming world, and their social skills deteriorate due to the dependence of the virtual community to express themselves becomes easier than it would be IRL (perhaps because they have kept themselves isolated on the computer for too long).