User:Abfunkalicious/sandbox

Hello. This is my sandbox where I can practice using the wiki interface. :) Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 12:55, 27 February 2018 (UTC) Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 13:03, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

Collaborative Essay Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 15:47, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

@Abfunkalicious

@Abfunkalicious

hey Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 22:44, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

How to reply template: Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 22:45, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 13:24, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Stuff I can include for anonymity/videogames essay:
Usernames- grief/ unkindly speech towards other players, hiding behind a username no real accountability, may get banned from game but could easily create new account and restart

avatars- extension of self, a new identity where anything is possible, ready player one film, attachments to the avatar, people paying real money to change look of avatar to please them, paying online hitmen to kill avatars of foes Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 23:03, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

First Draft Essay
Anonymity within video-games allows individuals and groups to create new identities that can be used to explore online virtual worlds and provides an excellent opportunity for individuals to escape from their offline personality.

With an estimated number of 2.2 billion gamers (Newzoo.com, 2017) currently immersed in the gaming community, a discussion about their online identity has never been so justified. When a player downloads or purchases a new online videogame, when it starts the player is often required to create a basic profile such as creating a username or avatar (character) for in-game recognition. The username and avatar becomes the players identity when playing the game as Blascovich and Bailenson describe the use of an avatar as being an embodiment of a human in digital space that carries out that human’s actions (Blascovich & Bailenson, 2011). For most games online, the username is only restricted by the players imagination, unlike social media players do not need to provide their true names, creating an opportunity for the player to play as an anonymous individual. However most game developers do have strict regulations against using offensive or hate speech riddled usernames, often resulting in a permanent ban for that player, but players do mostly have the freedom to create a unique pseudonym for themselves. When a player decides on a username, a new identity has been created, opening up worlds to explore and allows the individual the freedom to escape from their offline personality. Like social media, the same problems such as negative comments and vulgar speech arises with anonymity in the gaming community. Are these negative symptoms just gamers venting from frustrating gameplay or does anonymity allow players to act out and hide behind the mask that covers their true identity without any real consequences. This section will discuss how anonymous identities are affecting the gaming world. Creating an anonymous identity for a game allows the players to immerse themselves into the virtual world. It’s like roleplaying games, created identities are used to project fantasies into the real world but for videogames this is reversed, the fantasies of the players are projected through the identities they create into the virtual world, for many users having an anonymous identity adds to the experience of gaming

Second Draft
With an estimated number of 2.2 billion gamers (Newzoo.com, 2017) currently immersed in the gaming community, a discussion about their online identity has never been so justified. When a player downloads or purchases a new online videogame, when it starts the player is often required to create a basic profile such as creating a username or avatar (character) for in-game recognition. The username and avatar becomes the players identity when playing the game, Blascovich and Bailenson describe the use of an avatar as being an embodiment of a human in digital space that carries out that human’s actions For most games online, the username is only restricted by the players imagination, unlike social media players do not need to provide their true names, creating an opportunity for the player to play as an anonymous individual. However most game developers do have strict regulations against using offensive or hate speech riddled usernames, often resulting in a permanent ban for that player, but players do mostly have the freedom to create a unique pseudonym for themselves. When a player decides on a username, a new identity has been created, opening up worlds to explore and allows the individual the freedom to escape from their offline personality. Like social media, the same problems such as negative comments and vulgar speech arises with anonymity in the gaming community. Are these negative symptoms just gamers venting from frustrating gameplay or does anonymity allow players to act out and hide behind the mask that covers their true identity without any real consequences. This section will discuss how anonymous identities are affecting the gaming world.

Creating an anonymous identity for a game allows the players to immerse themselves into the virtual world. It’s like roleplaying games, created identities are used to project fantasies into the real world but for videogames, the fantasies are projected by the identities into a digital world, for many users having an anonymous identity adds to the experience of gaming. The use of avatars in the virtual world to represent the player began as a visual marker with limited movement attributes and interaction but with advancement of 3D computer technology, avatars have become more human like in form and interaction capabilities. Players in the digital age can now customize their avatars from appearance to personality traits with realistic outcomes. In virtual games like Second Life and World of Warcraft, players have successfully created online identities that help build bustling virtual communities and participate in social activities using their self-representative avatars. If a player decides to use an anonymous username, they can become whoever they want to be in terms of appearance through their avatar, they have the freedom to choose without any judgement. On some occasions, user’s will become attached to these avatars as they represent a second version of themselves but within the digital world, Dibbell states this attachment occurs because the avatars represent our psych id double, the body like self-representation that we carry around in our heads, meaning players will create a perfect image of themselves and project this idea onto their avatars. Being anonymous players allows for greater freedom of creativity for individuals but it does open a wormhole of a darker side of the online gaming community. The gaming community has a reputation for being a brutal place, filled with aggressive teens screaming at each other through headsets and thousands more screaming back. How much of this bad reputation is because of the option of being anonymous within games? Various studies have shown that with anonymity, people tend to be more cruel to each other because they are under the assumption that consequences from their actions will never occur to them (see Zimbardo’s, 1969 & Diener’s 1976 study ). Using pseudonyms as usernames, some gamers act differently from their offline identity because they feel safe, hidden by an alias, and can generate aggressive behaviour towards other gamers. Some players do this on purpose (Trolling) for their own satisfaction but others find themselves venting because of frustrating gameplay. Many online videogames today include player versus player competitive options, which will encourage and often leads to “trash-talking”. Having anonymous users might encourage more trash talk but these small jibes are often present in competitive games outside of the gaming world too. Anonymity in videogames allows for player freedom and creativity but it is almost foreshadowed by players who deliberately harass other players which inevitably affects the gaming experience.