I am still working my way through Lieve Gies “How Material are cyberbodies?” but felt the urge to reflect on one element of the piece that I have read so far.
Gies quotes Jewkes and Sharp (2003) stating
“when it comes to constructing identity, the line is increasingly blurred between “playful” and fraudulent, inclusive and exploitative, accesssible and extremist, “deviant” and criminal’ pg 315
This is an interesting point and one that will surely become more important as we become increasingly posthuman and more and more become inhabitants in virtual worlds. Where is the line between fantasy and lies? The article mentions the story of an early Internet user who masqueraded as a disabled woman named Julie. She forged some close friendships with women on line but was eventually exposed as a male psychiatrist. Gies uses the word ‘fraudster’ to describe ‘Julie’ but I am not si sure that this is the correct term. Fantasist? Or research (as he was a psychiatrist?) or simply engaged in what he perceived to be some harmless fun where there would be no negative outcome and no victims? These women were obviously upset at being some convincingly duped, but I have not been able to determine if any money was stolen or any laws were broken. So how does this make him a fraudster? Am I a fraudster because one of my World of Warcraft characters is a 6 foot tall male orc and I am clearly not (either 6ft, male or an orc!!)
Tags: identity, virtual world, WOW