Online Identities: The Blurry Line Between Reality and Fiction

Alright, so I am not a gamer nor do I spend my time on fantasy games creating different identities for myself but that doesn’t mean I do not have an online identity. Social media in general is a great platform for people to develop a new or advanced identity, something different from their physical identity. There are different degrees to this. Some people create a whole new reality for themselves online and others enhance or slightly alter their identity. The argument that many are faced with is if online reality is truly reality.

Online or virtual identity is becoming more popular as technology advances. Very common platforms for creating online identities are online games. Internet reality gaming often requires one to develop a complete identity for them self, both physically and spiritually. Insecure about your body, gender, height, race, religion? Never fear reality gaming is here! Well not quite actually because there are many pros and cons to developing an online identity to this intensity. Not only are there psychological factors of living two different identities, one physical and one online, but the fine line of reality and fiction can become deteriorated.

I’m not sure I really alter my identity through social media to a great extent but I’m sure there are aspects about my identity that I fabricate on Twitter. For me, I am in the process of graduating, so I limit swearing and try to promote myself as a professional in the communications field. Therefore I think online identities range in very different ways. 

In Finding Your Identity in Online Games Mark Ramirez discusses the positive attributes of online gaming. He demonstrates that through what is called Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMOPRG’s people can often find happiness in their physical world. Players can customize their online identity in terms of physical appearance, voice, possessions, and professions. Ramiriez says that online games enhance gamers’ lives where ones identity created in the online world can flow into their identity in the physical world. I would have to agree that online gaming does provide a good platform for online identities to prosper into peoples’ real lives, but what about those people who take it to the next level?

A specific game called World of Warcraft allows people to not only build a complete online identity but also form relationships through these identities. A video called Identity and Relationships in Online Gaming points out that this game provides a simulacrum between online reality and physical reality. This makes me think of the concept of “cat fishing” where one pretends to be someone else online and starts a relationship with someone using a fake identity. For one, this isn’t fair to the other person in the relationship and for two this requires and intense fabrication of one’s real identity. Someone can be homosexual and act as a woman to find a man, or a pedophile can act as a young girl to talk to other young girls – scary. These instances are more serious and I’m not saying all online relationships are like this but there are many possibilities.

I want to tie in the concept of blended or augmented reality here, where there is no distinction between real life or online life; a reality where the online world and offline physical world relationships merge. Take the new phenomenon of Google Glass for example. If you have not heard about this new product because you live under a rock it is basically a way to live your life though a pair of glasses; the ability for your technological world and physical world to blend. There are pros and cons to this, for instance how great is it that technology can now allow you to do so many things through a minor chip in the corner of your vision, on the other hand how disturbing is it that your whole life can be filed into an online database now owned by Google, yikes, didn’t think about that did yah!

Online identities can be an extension of ones reality or can create a whole new world for one to live their life, but the blur between them is becoming more and more fine.

Toodleoo from another participating citizen of media

Elyse

Is it Pronounced ‘Meme’ or ‘Meme’?

Who doesn’t like a good meme? A meme is a form of remix culture (see previous post) and it rebels against mainstream media by spreading through citizen media. A meme is a type of popular culture expression.

Some examples of memes that I have come across are usually humorous because they take an original image that was not meant to be funny and slightly alter it to something that can be understood by the culture as a remix into something humorous. Check out some examples below:

                       

 

Notice how these examples all involve an original image and they are remixed only with a caption added to them but suddenly the image has a completely new meaning?

Memes can also be in the form of videos, also usually humorous. One I personally enjoy is Ultimate Dog Tease where a human does a voice over to a dog’s mouth movements. I also enjoy LOL MEME gifs a remix that shows mini clips of scenes and change the background music to create a different experience. Know Your Meme is a great website to check out, it is filled with current and reoccurring memes.

My question is who makes money off of these memes? The answer is usually no one. It seems to me that copyright often neglects the underdogs. As citizens, we get a laugh out of these memes, but there is more to it than just that. If the meme is free for us to view, change, edit, and distribute than most likely the original owner to the image is not making money off of it.  In my opinion it is almost like memes are often forced “copygifts” as McKenzie Wark would refer to it. In result of a lack of copyright, citizens are allowed to take someone’s original image and change it and make it their own. On one hand this is great because it allows citizen media and remix culture to prosper, but on the other hand wouldn’t you want some credit for your work?

In The Meme Machine Susan Blackmore talks about how memes work and expresses that they are destined to be spread throughout the public (14).  Memes are created as a form of citizen media and remix culture, they are not created for an individual’s pleasure but for a culture to share and disperse amounts each other.

Many people think of memes as jokes, but there is much more to it than that, they are cultural representations of being apart of an online public sphere that allows citizens to participate in media and feel a sense of empowerment in a world where mainstream media dominates.

Arrivederci from another participating citizen of media,

Elyse

The Remix Culture - it's not just for DJs!

In my opinion a remix culture is surrounded by concepts of authorship, participatory culture, culture jamming and more, through platforms of text, music, and art. One can argue that a lot of media around us are remixes. There are different types of remixing yet they all have a strong connection to citizen media.

Marshall McLuhan demonstrates that our lives are changed and human relations are altered with every new media.  A remix culture is a culture with forever changing social relations. One type of remix, transformative storytelling, blends existing works into new works however it does not diminish the original character’s identity rather it places them into new circumstances. An example of a popular transformative storytelling remix that we watched in class is The Buffy vs. Edward Remix which portrays the original characters of Edward Cullen and Buffy the Vampire Slayer but put together in the same environment. The remix uses clips of both of the characters speaking in their original context however it mashes the clips together to create a new story.

Another type of remix is called 'supercut' where the remix is create to reveal aspects or hidden messages of something that may be missed in an original work. The Lord of the Rings: Gandalf Remix portrays clips of Gandolf throughout the film but creates an aspect of him that viewers would not recognize from watching the original film by portraying him as fun instead of serious even though the clips are the same.

Culture Jamming is a component of the remix culture because is disrupts original works in the main stream media with the intention to have viewers acknowledge hidden messages. Adbusters is an example of culture jamming because they take popular brand advertisements and alter them to reveal hidden messages or point out reality and negative aspects of that brand’s product. In Henry Jenkins' Blog he argues that the Media Reform Movement and culture jamming such as adbusting actually corrupts the minds of young viewers as much as the original advertisements do because they strip the viewers chance for their own judgments to come through and create more ideologies. 

The remix culture can be present though many platforms, however it thrives on the Internet in result of the rise of the online public sphere, as discussed in my earlier posts. Remixing in terms of citizen media is a tool that reveals messages to citizens and in result allows them to see hidden aspects of original works, but does it really create innovative thinking or just encourage citizens to think in another direction?

Adieu from another participating citizen of media,

Elyse