Critical Response #8 11-1-07

For this blog, I have decided to talk about Sherry Turkle's discussion of identity in video games. Turkle talked about different people who play MUDs and what their identities were in these games. Some of the people that she talked to said that they have four different characters in four different games that represented either different sides of their personalities or people that they wish they could be. That didn't come as a shock to me because I think we all have sides of ourselves that we don't share with people, but wish every now and then that we could. But by being able to create a character on a game that is nothing like you, it gives people a chance to let that side of their personality come out. No one has to know who is playing that character, which spares the creator from judgements from other people. In a society like ours, where there is so much emphasis placed on beauty and other superficial factors, a lot of people are labeled as outcasts because they don't fit the "mold". But through video games, they have a chance to be one of the people who fit that mold, they don't have to be an outcast anymore. That fact, I believe, has a lot to do with why people flock to the games, where you can create an avatar and leave the outcast persona behind.

While I was reading the section on MUDS and video games in general, it made me think of the lead singer of my favorite band, Breaking Benjamin. Ben, the lead singer, is a self-proclaimed hardcore gamer and in an interview that he did, he was asked why he liked to play video games so much. He answered by saying that he really enjoys the idea of going to a totally different world, where there are no rules; you can totally immerse yourself in it and leave your life behind for a little while. As I thought about this quote and the things that Turkle was saying, it clicked in my head that being able to immerse myself in another world and leaving my life behind is one of the main reasons I started playing video games in the first place. There have been a countless number of times where I have had a bad day or a stressful day, and the first thing I do is turn on my PlayStation to try and just get away from it all. I don't have problems that don't have solutions and I don't have to deal with people that anger me. I think that having the ability to immerse ourself in another appeals to a lot of people and it provides a getaway for people who lives might not be the greatest thing in the world. Its an outlet that I think a lot of people enjoy and would be lost without it.