Sunday, July 11, 2010
Habbo and Identity
When I first started this project i really didnt see the point and and kinda questioned its academic merit. However, the more time I spent in this virtual world pondering the issues asked of us I realized there are all sorts of things you can take away from this experiance. One topic that stands above any other is identity. In these virtual worlds anyone can be something that there not or in some cases something they are. There are hundreds of different categories of rooms to enter and I tried to enter as many as i could and listen to what people were saying. For instance, i spent sometime hanging with people who wanted to be or thought they were vampires and slept all day and played all night. There were punk rock rooms with people who listened to only a certain type of music and dont forget the hot horny single women who wanted to play out their fanasties via cam. I also found there was a big homosexual population that gathered which made me think that this might be the only place they could be themselves and it habbo serves as a channel through which they can meet other people who wont judge them. As lame as it is I was on Habbo on a Saturday night and found that these type of distinct rooms were full and thought that it was might be because they dont have any other friends to hang out with on the weekend or that the people they feel most comfortable with are all members of Habbo and thier online facing the same issues. But it reminded me of the movie , "Boiling Point", about phone sales and one guy says to another it doesnt matter who you are in reality because when you're on the phone you can be anybody. I can see where people would want to spend time in a virtual world because their indentities are for the most part confidential. Also if you arent happy with the way you look then you have the opportnity to be change your looks and create any image you want to. You just have to be able to seperate fanasty and reality. My question is do you think it is healthy that people can act how they want,be someone else and treat people how they want or do you think it can make people forget who they really are?
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People being able to act as they want in a environment that keeps most real harm away is with out a doubt a positive outlet for them. These worlds allow us to do things that our lives would never permit. I suppose that someone with enough crisis could become confused and gain a skewed vision of the line between their life and the avatar's, however, this should not happen. If someone is not stable, or sound enough in their own skin, than it is easy to assume that there are many other things in this world that could cause confusion about their identity. It all comes down to whether or not you can handle it. Can you manage to keep the distinction between the world around you and the fantasy pixels?
ReplyDeleteI think that Internet play can be healthy for some people. If someone is really really upset or pissed off, I think it is better for them to take out their aggression and express why they are upset somewhere rather than letting it build up inside of them and eat them away. If people just want to get on the Internet to prove that they are jerks and a-holes in real life as well as online, then no it is not healthy. That is just stupid, wrong, uncalled for and frankly irritating as all get out. If a person goes into a game or a chat room environment, legitimately upset that is one thing, then it is healthy to vent. Some people think it is just ok to use the internet and virtual worlds to be jerks, a-holes, sluts, and perverts. These are the people giving cyber relationships bad names. I think that these are the people that are showing the most of themselves. They are behaving the way they would in reality. I don’t think that the Internet makes people forget who they are as individuals. I think the Internet makes people a hell of a lot more impressionable. I think people on the Internet just like to have fun being a bit different from whom they actually are in reality. It is one of the benefits of the Internet. When a person walks away from their computer they still have to be who they are.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don’t think it makes people forget who they are, but I think it can have adverse affects. But first, I do agree that virtual worlds give people the opportunity to be exactly who they want to be, whenever they want. I think it’s a fantastic forum to meet new people, explore yourself, and a safe way to open up. I think some people who make virtual world friends are serious about it, and those people may be their closest friends. There’s nothing wrong with that. I think it allows people a sort of anonymity in knowing you most likely won’t meet your VW friends in real life.
ReplyDeleteAs far as virtual worlds go though, I think one back lashing that could occur is when it comes to people who aren’t confident in the way they look. Hiding behind an avatar, in some cases, could continue to hinder one’s self esteem. Let’s say you had a friend on a virtual world, you talked every day, and a real friendship was built, and one day this virtual friend of yours wanted to become your friend face-to-face. Now, hopefully the confidence in the new friendship would make confident in meeting, it could also cause anxiety. Questions of, oh no will they think I’m ugly? I don’t look like my avatar, what if they don’t like me? Sure, these questions may be far fetched, or completely irrelevant, I don’t know, but the possibility of face-to-face interactions, in my opinion, could be an insurmountable hurdle for some. If these questions have always haunted someone who didn’t have loads of self-confidence, why would this situation be any different? I think virtual worlds can be friends or foes when it comes to being who you want to be, and acting whatever way you choose.
My question is do you think it is healthy that people can act how they want,be someone else and treat people how they want or do you think it can make people forget who they really are? I dont believe it it necessarily unhealthy. It becomes unhealthy when you lose a grip with your actual reality. Many people look to the internet as an escape from reality. I believe that games like WoW and Everquest give the user a healthy escape from reality ( assuming they dont become obsessed) because it allows people to become a warrior, or a mage. Habbo Hotel on the other hand is a social networking tool. If you create a new identity on habbo essentially you lying to everyone about who you are. Granted this is what I did through my Habbo experience, but I was not looking to hook up with girls or make friends on Habbo. Just to reiterate, I dont believe it is unhealthy, but I think that there is a fine line that can be crossed.
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