The accessibility of an Internet -
created identity in many ways. People feel more free when they are online,
maybe in real life they are being neglected or alone - no one to talk to. In
the online world, you can be anyone you want to be.
In the article "After Egos in
a Virtual World" by Ketzel Leuine, a person named Becky Glasure and
her avatar Slygion Physic in an online role playing game City of Heroes.
"Maybe I just exclude it, I don't know. But I feel like I'm this short
person with this squeaky little Filipino voice and no body want to pay
attention." Glasure's first online game was Everquest and her
avatar was female. But all everyone noticed were her pixel breasts . . . Fed
up, she switched identities . . . She called him Stygion Physic - Stygion from
the River Styx, Physic for healing. That's the closest thing she could get to
"Bad Medicine" . . . with her changing avatar, her pleasure in the
game changed. "When I play this big guy, everyone listens to me," she
says. "Nobody argues with me. If there's a group people standing around, I
say 'Okay, everyone follow me!' And they do. No questioned asked."
(Levine, 135-136). What Gleasure is expressing in the real world, she is this
small, weak woman but online, she is a strong man that everyone listens to.
Before she changed her avatar, no one noticed her but her breast
which that is what everyone thinks about, she thinks negatively about herself
in the real world which no one should criticize.
A game designer named Celia Pearce
has a different story that actually impacted on her friend's life that helped
her . . . "For instance, I have a very close friend . . . She's kind
of shy and extremely conscious of pleasing other people. When she came into the
game, she took the character of a necromancer." In the game, a
necromancer is the master of the dead." She begun to become much bolder,
stronger, and more assertive as a result of playing this
character," Pearce adds. "And she was able to carry that
over into her real-life interactions." (Levine, 137).
In some ways, it helps people
improve on their daily lives. Personally, I play an online game that really
helps me out with my issues at home and school. I made online friends (mostly
male) that I can really trust even though we are complete strangers. I
never give out my personal information. My online name that I use is
Kyra Greenleaf. Race: Elf/ Demon. Age: unknown. Eye color: Icy cold
blue that changes into blood red when I get mad or upset. Hair color
for Hair color for Elf: Caramel brown with side braids and back is
fishtail. Clothing for Demon: Black long sleeve shirt,
slacks, sneakers. Clothing for Elf: Day- Forest green
tunic, brown vest with brown pants, brown knee high boots. Night-
Forest green tunic, brown vest with brown pants and forest green
cloak. Occupation for both: Assassin. Weapons for Demon: Hand to hand
and pistols. Weapons for Elf: Hidden twin Elvish daggers that are placed
on my back underneath my clothing, bow and quiver, and hand to hand. Online, I
am a fighter. I can do whatever I want.
When people go online and play
these online games, it makes me feel free which I never get if I was at home or
at school. Another place that I really feel freedom is with my best guy friend,
Michael. He is the only one that really understands me and my problems.
All of my life, I never
had what people called "Real friends". I made friends then a year
later, we grow apart. It's been like this since I can remember. Right now my
"friends" that I hang out with, they're really rude, I can't handle
people who are like that. My mother taught me the way that I should
speak, be kind, respectful to her, others, and myself, never curse . . . Another
place that I USED to have freedom was band.
Within the last five years that I
was in band, my last year of band was the most fun for me. It was really fun,
it felt like family; everyone understood me and I was going through . . . then
again, they were more advanced than me so I had to keep up with them on
everything . . . learning drill, music, going to football games and
competitions . . . it felt like home. I made some great memories that year
with every single band member . . . two seniors that fought with
each other 24/7 arguing but then made friends again within 10 minutes. My
captain brought out "the pen" and all the seniors and the
band teacher laughed while I was in COMPLETE denial, I thanked him later for
that. At my first competition, a person from drum line and I were sleeping
underneath the bleachers for a nap and my captain put his jacket over me since
I had NO idea that I was supposed to bring one to these things . . . he let me
keep it for the night.
The four years before that, it was
also fun but it didn't feel right, people were being
rude including many other things. This year when my band teacher
left in 11th grade, I was mainly sad but I knew what was going
on with her so everything worked out in the end- kind of. There is a new
band teacher that really gives me and the other band members
problems. The band teacher really doesn't say anything about games
until the day before or the day of, criticize all women that
is there, favor the men. It's based on "survival of the fittest"
is the way I think about it but this person only saying good comments of
the men and saying rude things about women, it’s not right. This is
like getting the right to vote for women. We fought over 72 years to
get the right to vote. Still in countries still don't have the
right to vote today.
I
was happy . . . the only place that I was happy besides being with my mother.
There are many places that I
didn't feel free until now . . . not being in band, doing what
I was originally going to do, art.
The Internet is in my
opinion one of the best ways to relieve pain, just mainly to just be yourself.
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