In the mid 90’s it was becoming familiar that people were developing completely new identities when partaking online.

One of the most interesting areas we studied at University was how the Internet became a safe comfort zone for, in particular shy people who could meet, talk, discuss, relate and share their thoughts, hopes and dreams with other people, without leaving the house. The study (I’ll look it up) found that where they found it difficult to interact socially and feel comfortable in an unfamiliar environment, the opposite was indeed the case when refining themselves a social life online, which would become a safe and comfortable place to be.

Kris, Carole, Alex, Tim and myself were only talking about ‘Online Gaming’ the other day, along with online identity. Gaming online has grown at a tremendous pace, providing real visual worlds where people can walk around, online and trade, build a house, have a family and fight a war, against other ‘real’ players.

Of course, these days, there are lots and lots more people who indeed ‘live online’, building their social network, spending every spare minute logged in, and interacting and communicating with others with a similar lifestyle. Indeed now more and more people, particularly in South Korea are living in virtual game world, run through the Internet, trading real currency, for game currency…selling gaming weapons and wealth online, for cash offline.

Here is some of the links we shared:

BBC News | Losing yourself in Online Gaming.

More interesting is the whole relationships developed online , emerging in the gaming arena, following the countless relationships which are being forged by strangers over the Internet:

BBC News | Life lessons in virtual adultery

Then there are now the people who will kill in real life, to continue their quest online:

BBC News | Fantasies inspire