Alter Ego

''Our City of Heroes moments are moments of release that allow us to escape long enough to complete a few missions.''

''I just wanted to win respect from people in the game, to be somebody in the EverQuest world. But it cost me. Everything else in my life started to suffer – my social life, my schoolwork, even my health.''

''The difference between me and my online character is pretty obvious. I have a lot of physical disabilities in real life, but in Star Wars Galaxies I can ride an Imperial speeder bike, fight monsters, or just hang out with friends at a bar. I have some use of my hands – not much, but a little. In the game I use an on-screen keyboard called ‘soft-type’ to talk with other players. I can’t press the keys on a regular keyboard so I use a virtual one. I play online games because I get to interact with people. The computer screen is my window to the world. Online it doesn’t matter what you look like. Virtual worlds bring people together – everyone is on common ground. In the real world, people can be uncomfortable around me before they get to know me and realize that, apart from my outer appearance, I’m just like them. Online you get to know the person behind the keyboard before you know the physical person. The internet eliminates how you look in real life, so you get to know a person by their mind and personality. In 2002 at the UO Fan Faire in Austin, I noticed that people were intrigued by me, but they acted just like I was one of them. They treated me as an equal, like I wasn’t even the way that I am – not disabled, not in a wheelchair, you know. We were all just gamers.''

''I designed Thalia to look the way that I aspire to be when I’m older. I know the kind of person that I want to be, because I see some women like that, in real life or in films – like the character Aunt Meg in the movie Twister. I perceive them as friendly, graceful, comfortable with themselves, and very open and friendly and welcoming to everyone else around them. That’s how I want to be, and in some ways, by creating my Hero’s Journey character to look like my own future goal, it gives me something to visualize and work towards.''

''It’s like having an avatar as a boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s more like your partner. I definitely don’t get confused between my real self and my virtual self. When I’m acting I have to concentrate on my role. In the game I just try to be myself. If anything, my avatar has to concentrate on being me.''

''People buy more from my little girl dwarf compared to the old male dwarf I used to have, even though they sell the same things. Because I’m very polite, people think I really am a little girl.''

''I discovered virtual worlds a bit more than a year ago and it was a real shock. A positive one! I am a fan of all Marvel comics and also epic fantasy books. I have dreamed so much thanks to them and when I started to play online, it was as if all the stories I had read were coming to life! Megatox is me and I am Megatox, one does not go without the other. When I switch on City of Villains I am there with my own personality, the real and the virtual blending together. I simply step into a void bringing me to that Otherland. I spent a lot of time designing my costume because I really wanted it to be exactly how I wanted. I love this machine design I made, and the yellow and black colours are a mix I like a lot. The face is not like mine but I wouldn’t mind it in the real world. Megatox is all that I would like to be – strong, famous, respected, feared by some, daring, the talk of the town. This is why we complement each other. Together we make one complete person.''

People have different reasons for having an 'alter ego', There is nothing wrong with this, it's just when people get obsessed with their online life and forget aspects of their real lives when things start to go wrong, health and social problems occur. The image and quote that made me realise 'alter ego's' can be good for people was the one with the highly disabled boy and his perfectly functioning avatar. He said his online life allowed people to get to know him before judging him because of what he looks like in real life. This boy's second life helps his real life.