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what the voices in my head tell me to write

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Is this the future

I was reading The Age of the Web Hermit today.

Its an interesting and thought provoking article in many ways, at times its just re-hashing old stuff though.

Many years ago I had an idea for a novel where the main character became more and more of a recluse in the real world as his celebrity grew in the on line world. All his communcations were done on line and half the cool people on the planet waited on his every word. People try to track him down in real life but he is careful with his identity.

Eventually I was going to have an investigative reported track him down to a squalid bedsit to find a stinking overweight slob living off pizza and Coke.

I guess now you could have him be more like Neo in the matrix. He could be working a dull 9 to 5 and still be a celebrity on line in the evenings. Thats especially easy if he is a brit and everyone else is on West Coast time.

I chat to some people in Second Life and wonder what their real lives are like. For most people in the game their "1st life" part of their profile is blank or says something like "SL and RL are separate thanks". I also read something on /. about gamers deliberately choosing female avatars to get more freebies. I can see this working in SL for sure. There is the male giving a female gifts to impress her and also the "sisterhood" for want of a better word.

All this blurring of identity is very confusing. You can be who you want to be. You can work where you like. You can do more or less anything. Too much choice can be a bad thing though

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