what I was reffering to was this

online you are very bare. me and tuco dont agree with each others beliefs, and thats all you get online, so we dislike the only things we know about each other. I have friends who are the polar opposite of me. One in particular is a very right winged christian conservative, a bit of an american jingoist, and very pro government. I hate all his views, and I think they are stupid. but he is a reall nice guy. he is so much fun to be around, and he always makes me smile. he is the shoulder I cry on and one of my best friends. if I only knew him online I wouldnt know how he likes his tea or how great of a singer he is.

ask yourselves, think of someone you get alon with, but idelogically differ with. if you only knew his ideas, and not his little quirk would he still be your friend?

Oh i know what you mean, its kind of like that with my fiancee, i get on with her booth in reality and in text, but its the little quirks she has that i later look back on and smile.

Another one was a friend called Tom, he was very very religious, which i am not, i'm agnostic, but thats for another debate for another time, his views and beliefs drive me crazy, since he preaches, but it was how he was normally that made him a friend.

My question was, why do we change who we are online, your statement only made me think of it. i know for a fact i'm different in reality then i am online, so how you or anyone else see's me isn't really the person actually typing these words. In reality i'm a caring person - or i'd like to believe that.

But online i'm rather impulsive, i think only of strategy, and for this site, a way of ruthlessnes to ensure i win a game, i act on impulse of openings, i display a character fit for the game, rather then who i really am :P

people i believe change themselves, or parts of who they are online, be it for insecurity reasons or not - but to me their not who they are online, my fiancee is an example of this, as am i and probably so many other people.

I find it extremely hard to act and think exactly like i would in reality - and display it all in words, its so much easier to just pull the 'i dont give a fuck' card, and act angrily or just become distant even if it actually does bother you.

Its easier to be someone your not, because then you don't have to face it both in real life and in a game or forumn.

We all have beliefs, and many people tend to disagree with each other - call it a natural flaw with mankind, as humans we are all given the right to believe and think however we want, and the likiood of 2 people agreeing on EVERYTHING is very small indeed.

Ask yourself Pandora, do you express yourself, act and speak online how you do in real life? are you 100% you both via text and in reality - if you are..i would bow on my hands and knees to you :P simply because i myself find it impossible to do :P

for the most part I would say so. I tend to be alittle less assertive usually, but thats just because I dont lke to anger people.

I think it's hard to think of people online as, well people

when i get fucked up i fuck up enough shit regardless of on or not online. so that is one way you are wrong about there being any difference :P

you're swearing ratio is roughly 1/8 lol

Personally, I think it's the internet's ability to surpass physical limits and be anyone that you want to be. You can change your name, appearance, style etc. online. Which one of us wouldn't want something or another in ours lives to be a bit different? The internet gives us the freedom to explore those alternatives to different degrees, and often we exagerate a bit. Look a Second Life, its successes are due to the fact it offers people a chance to 're-create' their lives, if you will. The internet simply allows us to express our personalities in entirely new ways that we are often too shy to develop in the physical world around us.

"There are two kinds of people in this world...

those with loaded guns and those who dig."

On-line, those two become:

a) those who use websites to try to be who they would like to be, and
b) those who use the internet to be who they are...

I know it sounds arrogant but I believe this. I am firmly in the second category. The only thing about Flashman, apart from the game-talk, that is not straight is my user name, and that was chosen simply to match the nature of the game itself as well as because I very much like the Flashman books.

There's online, and then there's Diplomacy online. Online, I try to be who I am, only more so. In Diplomacy, there might be some advantage in having your opponents believe that you are a seventeen year old girl. Or a feckless clod....

some interesting points, though Pandora - i still look at people online as other human beings, i try and treat them how i in turn would like to be treated - unless of course they just piss me off.

As for emotional breakdowns, to mere momens of anger, thats just a display of emotion - which isn't what i'm trying to nail precisely. Even someone with multiple identities online will get moments when their more natural emotions take over, and they'll show hatred or sheer anger at everyone, but that isn't really who they are.

You cannot define a person when their just in a pissed off mood. What gets me is how people pretend to be someone their not, but not in a small way - more in a huge way.

They act, speak and do everything differently, as if their so insecure they cannot bare to show their true selves just in case people don't like it.

Some people think again that its related to public perception, first impressions and an overal need that as humans - we wish to be liked by other people.

Some other people obviously find nothing good about public perception, they pretend to live life how they really wanna, though nothing is really that free when it comes to how we as humans live :P

Diplomacy is a game of speech, and so we naturally have to try and be the wiser person, we need to try and plan ahead, make and break alliances, no one in real life really goes about their life like this.

I spoke a lot about strategy to someone not to long ago - but in real life i very hardly ever talk about strategy, simply because the things we learn in fantasy or whatever we can't process and use in reality.

But it happens on such huge scales at times its just unreal. Peoples entire personality is simulated, but it doesnt really exist in the real world, we act so different that we could basically have 2 personalities, a game personality and a natural personality.

No wonder mental health issues have been rising over the last few years, with so many technological advances that force some people to completely change who they are for the sake of a game, i bet you get a few people who mistake 1 personality for another.

look at a game like diplomacy, trust killing is basically the main thing this game brings, you ally, you do good - you feel good, then some sucker betrays you and you feel crap.

Unless you understand the true nature of this game, then such trust bonding i bet could probably hurt people in sever ways, i knew one person who's left this site because they stopped *trusting* people :P

i on the other hand, have never trusted people, so a betrayal is kinda natural to me ^_^

what is a feckless clod anyway

I'm guessing the opposite of a 17 year old girl?

idk. well its his name. so hes what like a 74 year old man

a feckless clod is basically an idiot. pretty common slang...

not around here. where is it common

southern england? where is here for you?

we live in america. we move alot, usually chicago, new york, or somewhere in between

" no one in real life really goes about their life like this."...I'm not so sure XiangYu....all our life we react to stimuli, plan our responses [good or bad, appropiate or not ]to achieve some goal....and thats just on the conscious level...thats what makes us such a social animal and we can play with this in real life and in games...creating and maintaining a persona is a creative act.