I have a friend who doesn't play WoW, but his roommate does. As a psychologist, my friend is a more astute observer of individual behavior than I am. At lunch one day, he theorized that we tend to play World of Warcraft with the same attitude that have in the real world. On this surface this statement seemed to be correct. People in game and in life vary from kind, helpful souls to nasty boorish trolls.

I like to think of myself as WYSIWYG (what you see what you get). I try to portray myself online with the same values that I feel define me as a person. I set goals and work hard to achieve them. I consider myself a good friend. Every once in a while I go too far and take on the role of martyr in both game and in life. This is something I'm proud of; on the contrary, I wish I could stop myself from doing it.

On the flip side, the anonymity of the Internet seems to get the better of some people. People say and do some of the most outlandish and offensive things online- particularly in-game and on the WoW official forums. I'd like to believe that they would not behave the same way to people they met on the street. I have found at least one inconsistency of my own: I am more likely to give a dollar to a homeless person in a park than to give gold to a beggar in Orgrimar.

How similar is your WoW self to your real self?

Tags: Anonymity, Goals, Inconsistency, Personality, Trolls

Filed under: Virtual selves, Breakfast Topics, Forums