Sherry Turkle gives a strong opinion of the world on the screen otherwise known as the virtual world. The virtual world according her is a real place in which people can create there own personalities. MUDs known as, multi-user dungeons or domains are based off of the fantasy game, “Dungeons and Dragons.” MUDs have expanded to not only role-playing fantasy games but to huge social networks where users can get immediate help with home skills, movies, and even sexual advice. According to Sherry Turkle these MUDs often blur the line for users between real-life and the virtual world. With the ability to become anyone or anything behind the screen of your computer it allowed people to change there personality at will. Turkle says, “MUDs are dramatic examples of how computer-mediated communication can serve as a place for the construction and reconstruction of identity” (pg.14). This quote is a great point about the opportunity given by MUDs to its users to expand a person’s imagination.
After using AIM for a week and communicating with a random person during that time has only supported Sherry Turkle’s arguments about the virtual world for me. In the AIM project we had the ability to become anyone or anything; to say whatever came to our minds to this randomly chosen person in class. Just like in MUDs as Sherry Turkle states people have the ability to go into character or keep their same personalities. I had noticed when creating my character Gerald Bohaggins that I always had this extreme fixation as a kid to grow up in a “hood.” I did not notice until now that my character is close to what I always wanted to become when I was a child besides some personality differences and there is no “rags to riches storyline.” The character I used in the AIM project allowed me to become someone else which gave me the power to say things I would never say to another person because of the fact that there was no face to face interaction. Having the ability to hide behind a computer screen as Turkle states gives the user the ability to change there personality whenever they please.
