Ultima

We have something required of us which was not required of generations prior, something they took quite for granted. The proliferation of the internet repeatedly puts us in the situation of having to define ourselves. Every email address, every screenname, every new logon, every forum membership, every blog comment requires an identity, and for the first time in history we have to make it up on our own.

This is a boon and curse, of course. Now your last name or skin color doesn't define you unless you want it to. So the question is, what is one to do? A great exercise in this is making an avatar for yourself on this website, pointed out to me by Tom ages ago.


So what do you pick? Do you make your online identity the same as your real world one?



A cooler version of yourself?



Someone vastly different?



Something outlandish?



The choice is yours, and that isn't necessarily a good thing. More on this later.