Timely Update

I was searching around on the internet and I found some new resources that I wanted to share when thinking about the Turkle article. First is the article that says that most men who play female avatars in online games do so just to get free stuff. Slashdot.org has a little bit of interesting follow up (read at a level 3 threshold to avoid the stupid comments). It really seems to put down the idea that most people play these games to explore identity, rather just to win. People note though that once voice chat is brought into these games the ability to construct these new identities lessens, no hiding that baritone.


I'd like to also note that there is something that is the modern day graphical equivalent to MUDs and that's Second Life a game where you are capable of sculpting your avatar and your own section of virtual land into anything you want. This is the case where I'd argue that increasing technological advancements are hindering open identity play. Sure, I can theoretically do anything I like in Second Life but I need to be able to program and have artistic skills in order to have this freedom. Has anyone here played Second Life or know anyone who has? I'm curious about how it works in constructing identity and mostly the limits. In the past I could just type my description into a MUD and that was who I was, now the barrier of entry to self-expression is higher.

Another thing that Turkle talks about SimLife and how computers interacting in unexpected ways represent a "post-modern computational aesthetic" (Turkle, p. 238). She discusses what would happen if the organisms could move from your computer to others. Well, a game that does just that is coming out soon, it's called Spore and it deals with a lot of the same issues that SimLife did only on a slightly more persona level. In a video presentation creator Wil Wright discusses how the universe your evolved creature lives in is populated, via the internet, by creatures that other people playing the game have evolved (check near the end of the clip). Now from the point of view of this article this is revolutionary, the organisms are living outside of the control of their creators! I find myself kinda shrugging at this. They're still only doing what they were programmed to do, the programs have just become more complicated. Has this new aesthetic come around? Or have things gone a different direction than where Turkle thought they'd go 15 years ago?