False identity.

Identity has always been a complex concept. Goffmans work on identity to me was always quite clear and I could relate and understand it in relation to my vision of my own identity. Identity, Goffman argues, is played out through a variety of roles which all make up the self. I can understand this as I see my self as a sister, a friend, a daughter, and how all these different roles make up who I am. However the internet has made this a whole lot more intrinsic as we are now able to play these roles all at once. Also we are not limited to the physcial aspects which are attached to our identites, such as race or gender. I think games such as second life are really interesting in the fact that they give people the opportunity to completly create their own identity with out any restrictions, and its great being able to explore who one wants to be. However, from my own experience with the game I would have such a blast accessing a wide range of my many selves when I got off and came into the real world i started to realise the many restrictions which were in it. A documentary I watched really highlighted this point with people finding that they like the identity they had created so much online that they had become discontented with their real life identity. The people got addicted to playing out a false identity online. So maybe having this option to become who ever you want on the net is not such a good thing. It may just be giving people false hope and really teasing them with a fantasy and you become disheartened by your real life identity.