Alter Egos

As I read Alter Egos: Avatars and Their Creators, I found it very interesting how the avatars that the people created were the complete opposite of who they are. It appeared to me that these people created someone with the life and abilities that they wish they had, as if they wanted to escape their real lives. A perfect example is Jason Rowe, who created an avatar with a lot of strength and with all the abilities that he does not have as he has many physical disabilities. Thus I believe that he looks forward into playing with his avatar because it allows him to be "normal" since nobody knows who he really is. In the text he said "the computer screen is my window to the world...virtual worlds bring people together" (Latterell, 56); meaning that people cannot judge him as they do not know what he really looks like so he can be himself. Which this makes me feel that people like him who have created avatars are unhappy with who they are and so they create these characters so that they have a chance to be who they want to be without anyone criticizing them. Overall I enjoyed this reading as it made me realize how you truly cannot know who a person really is just by what they make themselves appear online; their true identities come through when face- to -face.